Fog_Man

I bought an iPhone 6+ to replace my obsolete iPhone 4. What to do with iPhone 4? Could have sold it on eBay for a few dollars. I could not bring myself to mount my new iPhone 6 on the handlebar of my Surly Troll. Hmmm

The iPhone 4 has a good GPS chip, plenty of memory and a nice and bright full color screen. I considered the Wahoo RFLKT to compliment my heart rate and cadence sensors. But the RFLKT screen just did not compare with my old iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 has Bluetooth 3, not Bluetooth 4; therefore I would need either a BT4 adapter or an ANT+ adapter. With all this considered, perhaps adapting the iPhone 4 to be my dedicated cycle computer would not be cost effective. But, then I saw it on Amazon ...

Wahoo has priced slashed their Fitness Bike Pack for iPhones 3G,3GS, 4, and 4S. The Amazon price had been $129.99 and I got it new for $30.99 Since I have Prime, there was no additional shipping charge. The Bike Pack includes a secure and weather resistant case, built in ANT+ adapter, and a mini USB charger plug for charging up the old iPhones - good thing since my old wide charging plug was about end-of-life.

I keep my iPhone 6+ safe in my rear pack; I listen to Pandora from it through my BT LG-HBS750 earbuds. The iPhone 4 does the work of speed, cadence, and heart rate display and tracking, and the mapping works great as well. When I get back home, my iPhone 4 automatically logs onto my WiFi; map is updated, and I can upload to Strava.

So for $31, my old obsolete iPhone 4 has new high value to me.

Amazon.com: Wahoo Fitness Bike Pack for iPhone: Sports & Outdoors

Fog_Man

My wife also had an obsolete iPhone 4, which was also replaced by an iPhone 6+.
The $30.99 Wahoo Bike Pak includes cadence and wheel rotational speed ANT+ measurement devices.
So, I purchased a second Wahoo Bike Pak for her and mounted the iPhone 4 & Wahoo based bike computer on the handlebar of her new Surly Troll.

Catinella

I have a old iPhone 4 I would like to use as a bike computer, but the GPS doesn't work on it without a plan. How do you get the mapping/GPS to work without a plan?

Athens80

The GPS is hardware built into the iPhone 4.

All you need are maps. There are apps (such as Google maps) that allow you do download and store the maps in advance via WiFi, so that you don't need cell service to download them while you ride.

Fog_Man

Your GPS reads from satellite; it does not need to triangulate on cell towers. I do not have a cell phone subscription for my iPhone 4. I do carry along my iPhone 6+ secured in my pack on my rear rack.

Confirm that in <settings><privacy><location services> is switched on. Your track will be correctly recorded in Whoo Fitness if you choose to use that app; when you can access WiFi, you can upload to Strava, or whatever app you choose.

If you want your iPhone 4 to also be capable of navigation, then go to App Store when you are connected to WiFi, and query "GPS navigation offline." Lots there. I have downloaded free maps.me Have not had a lot of need for it. If you ride back country on your Mtb., then an offline topo map may also be appropriate.

The obsolete technology has plenty of good use left, and the price is typical heavily discounted. You might be able to purchase a good iPhone 4 and a Wahoo Bike Pac for iPhone 4 for less than a RFLKT; you will have a better bike computer , and save money.

Fog_Man

1.5 hour ride today.
Screen on full brightness
iPhone 4 battery at full charge at start, and 43% at end of ride.

Fog_Man

repeated same today with same results.

Fog_Man

To "Noglider" who referenced here that he needed multiple mounts for an iPhone 4, either purchase a bag of zip-ties which hold the Wahoo mount on, then can be cut off when you switch bikes - or better, which I have done, purchase several of these NOS at about $30; the price is right for multiple purchases.

jhouston

I've just purchased this same setup for my old iPhone 4, but I can't get it to charge thru the mini USB port on the case. Has anyone else had issues with this?

My phone charges fine when I take it out of the Wahoo case and just use the iphone's 30 pin charger.

Fog_Man

My and wife's charger work fine.
The mini-usb is merely a pass-through. Lots of aparatus use mini-usb, so try another. Confirm the mini-usb works on another device, then plug in securely to the iPhone Wahoo cradle.

Good luck

jhouston

Thanks for the input. I actually figured it out over the weekend- I read somewhere that if your iphone's port is dirty that it can inhibit it from charging in certain situations, even if it works fine with the 30 pin-to wall connection. I cleaned up the port as best as I could and then it started working

dr_lha

The biggest issue with using an iPhone 4 is that the elevation measurement on it sucks. In comparision an iPhone 5 is much better, and an iPhone 6 (with barometer) is a vast improvement. However, if you use Strava it really makes no difference, as they throw out the GPS elevation measurement anyway!

Fog_Man

For only $30, I can last a year before obsolescence. Perhaps two years. I do not pay a premium to be at the leading edge for consumer goods of the season. Being a laggard is just fine for me.

DBordello

I love this idea. I was just looking around for a sensor / computer setup. I am thinking I will pickup a iPhone 4 ($30) and this kit ($30) and be good to go. Are people satisfied with this solution?

BeastBikes

I use my old iPhone 4 as well and i'm definitely satisfied with this solution.

DBordello

Just to circle back.

The bike shop had trouble getting a magnet cadence sensor to work on my bike, a Trek 7.4 FX. The crank was too far away from the frame. So, I told them I'd handle the computer myself.

Looking at the high-end, and cheap-end computers, I couldn't make sense of it. The cheapest wireless computer was $60. The most GPS ones were way more. An iPhone can do everything a bike computer can do, and more. I picked up a iPhone 4 on craigslist for $40. I coupled that with the Wahoo bike pack.

The bike pack contains a mount, waterproof case, ANT+ adapter, and speed+cadence sensor. I installed, but was having similar issues with the cadence sensor. I finally got that shimmed to work, but then couldn't get the speed sensor to work. I gave up, and picked up the Garmin inertial sensors. They are fantastic. Easy to install and use.

So far, I like the solution. I estimate my iPhone can run for 3 hours, streaming music, tracking, and screen on. I typically turn on wireless tethering on my android phone for the iPhone to talk to. I use the Wahoo app, and upload to Strava at the end. I wish this was automated, but not a big deal. The Strava app cannot use an ANT+ speed sensor for realtime display.

Any tips and tricks are certainly appreciated. So far, it seems like a good setup.

DBordello

I recently updated the Wahoo fitness app on my iPhone 4 (iOS 7.1.2). It now immediately crashes after the splash screen. Has anybody else experienced this?