fender1

I was wondering what other folks might use to track ride data? I have an iphone 5 and was looking through some of the choices. They all seem to do quite a bit but I don't really have a need for most of the features. I was looking for accurate speed/distance and elevation change. I don't see myself with the phone mounted and using it for real time maps or heart rate monitor or sharing data with other folks etc. Any suggestions?

RobbieTunes

Couldn't say, but I like "just the facts, ma'am" approach.

Phil_gretz

I can't help, as I don't track or analyze any ride information. But why not ask over on the electronic subgroup? Those folks should know.

oddjob2

Strava

fender1

I would ask over there but I am afraid I would get lots of suggestions from people who really enjoy the tech aspect of it. I don't. I am like you and do not track anything at the moment. My goal was to put together a local route for hill repeats. I have a couple of large hills in the area and was curious of the elevation changes.

The Golden Boy 

I just use the free version of "Map My Ride."

I just ignore the facebag, bluetooth, sharing and whatever else content. It gives me a good map of where I've ridden, how far, how much elevation, how fast...

websterrr

+1

DiabloScott

oddjob2

^ I can do a 25 mile loop around here with less than 40' change in elevation.

-holiday76

Also strava, as do most folks i ride both mtb and road with. You can also upload data to your strava account from other devices. I had an old garmin gps watch with a bunch of old rides i did this with.

Rijnton

MotionX-GPS

MotionX® | MotionX-GPS Overview

Andybrads

Strava, tried a few and this works best for me.....free version of course.

CardiacKid

I use Runkeeper. It tells you all the basics and is free. Just make sure you close it when you are finished because it sucks the battery. I am not even sure it would last through a century ride.

smorris 

I've tried MapMy Ride and Runkeeper, but I ended up using DigiFit. I don't particularly care for all the bells and whistles offered on almost all of the tracking apps, and I'm not interested in the competition aspect of Strava and similar ones. I've been doing cardiac rehab, and have a keen interest in keeping my heart rate within reasonable levels. I found DigiFit to work the best with my rehab workouts, walking, biking, etc. It overlays the map with my route, but more important to me, the overlay is color-coded for my heart rate range, so I can see where I worked the hardest. It also shows elevation, speed, and all the usual features.

It is free to use, but adding the heart rate monitor feature is $1.99 or something like that. I opted for the $6.99 bundle of features, although I haven't used most yet. I use it with the Polar H7 heart rate monitor, which is one of the few Bluetooth HRMs. DigiFit connects with many of the other health and monitoring tools available, as well, such as FitBit, Withings scale, MyFitnessPal, etc. So if you are like me and need to keep track of your health concerns, it works great. I attribute a good portion of my 33 pound weight loss to keeping track of these, and partnered apps make that easy to do.

Steve

non-fixie 

I've been using the free version of Strava for a month or two now - gathering evidence for the Clunker 100 Challenge - and I quite like it. Gives me route, distance, speed and elevation (not that we have any):

daf1009

Strava...you do not have to use the competition or social...although I use the social with friends....

Chrome Molly

I use the free version of map my ride, and find it is nice that it runs in background and gives you audible 5 mile splits with mileage and MPH. My phone will last through a 6 hour workout, and still have juice for calls when done with the ride.

When it comes to "other features" keep in mind that GPS does an absolutely horrible and almost completely inaccurate job calculating elevation.

When in full training mode (which is rare), I wear a strap heart rate monitor with a wrist readout (so I can see it instantly), and when calculating elevations for similar training to more competitive hilly rides, a barometric pressure based altimeter will be more accurate.

pastorbobnlnh 

I've been using LogYourRide. One down side is that if you leave the App on as the main screen, the screen stays on the entire time and never turns off. This runs the battery on the phone down quickly. I overcome this with a spare USB battery or by switching to main screen, at which point LogYourRide runs in the background and your screen turns off.

tmh657

Map My Ride. I have found it does the best job for my needs and the auto pause feature actually works. Endomondo auto pause was a joke and it went through a battery charge in less than a 40 mile ride. Perhaps it's my phone but MMR is a lot less power hungry.

OldsCOOL

Strava.

Stevensb 

Cyclemeter has served me well for the past 3 years or so.

Brad

Ray Dockrey

I use the Wahoo bluetooth heartrate monitor and thier bluetooth speed and cadence sensor. Wahoo has their own app which is really, really good. The nice thing is it can upload to Strava when done. I would use Strava but it won't show live cadence data while cycling. It records it but doesn't show it live. The Wahoo Fitness app shows everything.

i really liked Cyclemeter but it really ran the battery down. Even using the other battery life isn't real good so I bought an external battery pack.

Gallo

strava or cyclmeter

southpawboston

I've used a bunch, and in the end, Strava is the easiest to use, still has all the features I want, and seems to take the least amount of battery time from my iPhone. So Strava. But then, I no longer use it because I bought a dedicated GPS bike computer.

DiabloScott

This is simply untrue - I think you're just trying to justify paying $300+ for a device. The elevation data from my phone on Strava is completely within acceptable margins, and barometric altimeters are not without their own accuracy problems.

Here's a snap I took from my ride Saturday and a friend's ride on Wednesday - exactly the same route for all the important stuff, a little different at the start so the scale is slightly off, but I wrote in the reported elevation for each case at the Summit.


I submit that this is significantly better than "absolutely horrible and almost completely inaccurate". The only place where the Android graph is a little off is on the descent where I lost the signal at a couple spots - this is rare, usually it tracks very well - you can check my Strava profile - I've done this route quite a few times.

The Garmin chart I'm sure has a very nice total climb calculation, but it's clearly wrong on the actual elevation, and yes, it was calibrated at the start.