RPK79

I'm not talking about GPS for speed, I use a sensor for that. The GPS output to maps after the fact are much more accurate, in my experience, from the Garmin than they ever have been from a phone. Cell tower assistance is fine I guess, until you get to an area with no service. I like to ride in areas with no service quite often.

Stevensondrive

Am I the only one who thinks headphones on a bike is dangerous??

i use Garmin 500 and MapMyRide on my iPhone

Seattle Forrest

My dedicated bike computer is better, but if I didn't have it, a smart phone would be good enough.

redlude97

dedicated computer, simply because I don't always ride at the same time of day and always have a fully charged phone. IME a fully charged smartphone with the screen on to display your data in real time with full brightness to read only lasts a few hours at most, whether an android or apple. Draining your phone battery on a long ride can be a hassle for the ride, or even for the rest of the day if you need to be out and about after a long morning ride

Lost In Thought

I just picked up the Wahoo fitness pack for a spare iPhone 4 that I had just sitting in a drawer. $30 on Amazon, comes with speed, cadence sensors and an ANT+ waterproof case/bike mount. It's worked pretty well the first couple rides I've done. If you're interested in optimizing battery, you can jailbreak the phone and delete things manually that might drain it. Or on AT&T iPhones, locking then removing the SIM card (if yours is a spare, like the one I'm using) disables the cell radio scanning, which will greatly reduce battery consumption. Plus an external battery in the saddle bag with a cable routed nicely below the TT when needed allows extended battery.

Gramin

Absolutely... especially in crowded areas, like Chicago, on the MUP / LSP, where there are tons of pedestrians, skaters and cyclists, and you're riding slow, and can't hear someone yelling "LEFT!" behind you, and then you cause the yelling cyclist to have to swerve because you go hands-free to change your music thus veering to the left...

And to the OP, you can always look into something like the RFLKT (and I think Cateye has one or two) computer that is simply a small display, using the GPS and other sensors of your phone to perform all the computing. The biggest drain on your phone is the screen, so by using something like the RFLKT, you no longer need your phone screen, and thus battery life is significantly longer. Some of the corresponding apps also permit users to utilize ANT+ and BT sensors, which will be a more reliable indicator of metrics like speed.

MCODave

I ride with android phone in pocket with Strava running, display off. I have heard folks say to put it on airplane mode (or whatever turns off data without turning off GPS), but I haven't messed with that. No problems with battery life at all doing it this way, in fact comparing the battery before and after the ride it seems like it hardly changed, at least no more than it would had I just occasionally used the phone for those couple of hours.

On my handlebars is an ancient Cateye wired computer that tells me speed, distance and time. That's pretty much all I need during the ride.

MileHighMark

Never Forget:

Willbird

My RFLKT+ would not talk to my Wahoo TICKR HRM with phone in back pocket of jersey, tried all 3 back pockets. To get Wahoo Blue SC, and TICKR both working phone still had to be on the bars, which sucks.

Bunyanderman

I happened to go down at over 20mph last month, I am certain that any phone mounted to use on my bike would have been destroyed beyond usability. I had some pretty nasty road rash, and a broken hanger. I would of hoped for someone to come by, even though I was riding a good 3 miles from any popular roads.

I don't use either, and maybe I should but that's not where I like to invest my money. I just record with the phone in my back jersey pocket, I never really feel like I am missing anything with out any live updates.

jtaylor996

I'm using a polar m400 watch for most everything y'all want, and I love it.. except that this damn watch won't integrate their cadence sensor. You need to buy the more expensive watch to do that.

I get heart rate, GPS (exceptionally accurate compared to strava on my phone) speed/location, and the polar flow app on the phone I like better than strava anyways. I can do all sorts of custom displays on the watch, even.

The only issue is cadence for me So I'm looking at maybe splurging for a garmin 500.

For me (I have a heart condition), getting real time super accurate heart rate is the #1 feature I need. So I need to make sure I can get that properly on the garmin, then I'll add cadence. I guess the garmin app must not suck since everyone is using it...

StanSeven

A phone makes the rider look like a nerd. Plus it's huge and detracts from the bikes looks. If you crash, you are looking at several hundred dollars to replace. A cycling computer or GPS is rugged and likely won't get hurt. Plus they are almost waterproof.

LUW

+1
Besides, come on, you can't leave your phone alone even when on your bike?!?

dpd3672

Garmin Forerunner 920 for EVERYTHING. I like having all my workouts in the same place, including non-cycling activities.

I used to use my phone, but I found that the distance calculations were often considerably off...when compared to my Garmin on a known course (as much as half a mile on a 5k run, for example. Almost a full mile on longer runs of 10-20 miles) Sometimes the numbers were almost exactly the same, but way too many times there was too much error for my comfort.

KickinA

The new moto-g is cheap at $180 (cheaper than a nice Garmin bike computer) and is waterproof enough that you could swim with it (IPx7). If you get a nice rugged case, I'm sure it could handle most crashes, but it will be bigger than a small bike computer, but then again, you won't get as many functions as a phone.

BTW, nerds rule the world now, so its OK to look like a nerd on a bike :-) That fact that you post on an internet bike forum qualifies you as a bike geek and computer nerd :-)

ColaJacket

Not necessarily. I went down last week at >20mph. I had my Samsung S4 in a Otterbox Defender attached to my stem with a Nite Ize. And it stayed on without any issues.

GH

cderalow

Garmin Edge 800.

Had been using an iPhone with Cyclemeter and bluetooth sensors, but it was only good for about a 5 hour ride. after that, battery life was non-existent.

The garmin went 9 hours with plenty of life left to keep going if I had wanted to.

Bunyanderman

Those Otterbox cases are nearly indestructible, so that makes sense. Something that just holds the phone to the bars would offer no protection, that's when you are out of luck.

ColaJacket

I agree, but I'm hard enough on my phone anyways, that it stays in the Otterbox 98% of the time.

But the Nite Ize is also good, because the phone didn't come out of the strap.

GH

Bunyanderman

Then it makes perfect sense for you, and for probably most people too.

I have a hard time turning a 7mm thick device into something closer to 15mm, when I payed a ton for not a lot.

phil_k

Cateye stealth 50.
So cheap, but has ability to track heart rate (ANT+), power(ANT+), speed (GPS or magnet/ANT+), time, cadence(ANT+), all the usual. No gradient or turn by turn nav, but it has GPS for uploading your rides to your online site of choice once you get home. Accurate, decent battery life, waterproof, small, etc.

jamisFan

Not a GPS watch per se, but I use a Casio STB-1000 linked to my phone. I'm super happy with it. Keeps the screen on the phone off all the time and the battery will go from 100% to 55% (give or take) over 4 hours. But with Bluetooth connected to 4 different devices (watch, CSC, HRM, speaker), GPS running and LTE also running, as I'm listening to music the entire ride.
I'd say it's pretty decent for a phone.

Sorry for the double post, I forgot to click on reply with quote the first time.

stockae92

Pretty cool, I just read up on it. Not a bad choice per say.

Seattle Forrest

Garmin Edge 20 bike computer is $129.99; Edge 25 is $169.99.

rbk_3

Plus one to this. I love this combination. The Wahoo battery lasts from months and months and works great with my duo trap cadence sensor and Wahoo HRM.