iphone4 mapmyride v cyclemeter

[rudeboy]

I am about to take possesion of my first smartphone, which app would you recommend?
I assume the best choices would be mapmyride or cyclemeter but are open to anything.

Most of my riding is around the M7 bike path and surrounds at the moment and already have cheap bike computer that measures speed/distance/time/cadence etc. Would be more interested in elevation and split times etc.

[ozdavo]

I have been using Runkeeper & Strava for a while, but have just grabbed Cyclist Pro GPS+ to try.

Strava has the best online features (that I've tried), and if I ever move to a Garmin, it interacts nicely with it. But saying that, they all have options to output data files that can be loaded to virtually any other.

I have a few of these which are great for mounting things to yours bars/stem. I ride with the iPhone on my stem.

[santacruzscott]

I can't go past Runkeeper.
Has a setting for most sports.

I use it in the Mountain biking , Cycling and walking modes.
Works perfectly for me.

[rudeboy]

still waiting for delivery of my phone so haven't had a chance to try any yet but has given me plenty of options. I just don't know which to try first

[sherlock]

Strava. The website is fantastic and the stumbling across segments can give you an excuse to step on the gas so you're not down on the charts.

[RobertFrith]

There are a swag of apps out there that'll do what you wanna do, most of them are cheap or free so it can be worth outlaying $10 and trying a few out (your new smartphone could easily cost up to $1000 after all)

Any GPS exercise tracker worth it's salt will automatically upload your ride/run/walk/sail workout to the web where you can massage its metadata for the pleasure of your viewing public. Check that the app will export (or import) tracks, that way you can interchange rides with other apps or services like bikely.com.

Runkeeper, mapmyride, endomondo, trails and Strava are all worth checking out.
If you're interested in competition Strava is the go. It compares your performance on user defined stretches of road or path against other Strava users. They recently changed the parameters of their free offering making it much more attractive than it had been previously.

The single biggest limitation with smartphone apps is the limited battery life. If you ride 100km you will almost certainly flatten an iphone battery. 100+km distances will have you hankering for a dedicated GPS. Endomondo and Strava will both interface with Garmin units if you end up upgrading down the track.

To my knowledge nobody yet makes an app that interfaces with anything like bikejournal.com's useful tracking of mileage on tyres and service intervals.

[ozdavo]

The single biggest limitation with smartphone apps is the limited battery life. If you ride 100km you will almost certainly flatten an iphone battery. 100+km distances will have you hankering for a dedicated GPS. Endomondo and Strava will both interface with Garmin units if you end up upgrading down the track.
.

Not exactly true, I've gotten over 4hrs using runkeeper as a speedo mounted on my bars (iPhone4), and I've heard of people getting up to 8hrs using it with the screen off.
...But, I do agree battery life is a limitation, along with not having barometric altimeter (for this reason, Strava does not count smartphone data in KOM comps).

[santacruzscott]

Not exactly true, I've gotten over 4hrs using runkeeper as a speedo mounted on my bars (iPhone4), and I've heard of people getting up to 8hrs using it with the screen off.
...But, I do agree battery life is a limitation, along with not having barometric altimeter (for this reason, Strava does not count smartphone data in KOM comps).

I agree , just came back from Phillip Island Moto GP races.

Used runkeeper on my iPhone4 to see how far we walked.

6 hours with the screen off , but texting on and off as well in that time period , still had 54% battery left.

But in saying that I remember the battery life in my iPhone3 disappearing much quicker than that.

[sherlock]

The single biggest limitation with smartphone apps is the limited battery life. If you ride 100km you will almost certainly flatten an iphone battery. 100+km distances will have you hankering for a dedicated GPS. Endomondo and Strava will both interface with Garmin units if you end up upgrading down the track.

With the screen off, you'll have no worries with a 100-kilometre ride. Stuff it in your saddle bag or something and you can just let it track your kilometres; I think my 4S chews about 5-6% battery every 20-kilometres?

[RobertFrith]

I'm using a 3S, I hadn't realised battery life had improved that much, so apologies for my misleading comment. I'll be on a 4S come Monday

[chill]

I have about ten apps but mostly just use a beater phone for rides and use the Garmin or Strada.

[Queestce]

Arrgh! I am very angry with my iPhone and its associated riding apps at the moment. I have the old 3G - without the S... It's a true s***fight even trying to load a map let alone do much else. Since I started cycling "properly" a couple of months ago I had been using Mapmyride (the free version) every ride. It started off well, but now 8/10 rides screw up in some way. Mostly the app shuts down as it's saving and then looses all the data. Sometimes the route is salvageable, but never the times or associated averages etc. It can be damn annoying when you spend half of a 70k ride thinking about your average speed only to get home and have it be lost altogether. I guess things might be difference on the 4s with its fancy (and incredible) processors, but I really think a proper dedicated bike computer is a better option. I hit the wall today and ordered an Edge 500 combo as I'm sick of getting bogus results from the iPhone. Aside from the data loss I have had it give me some very questionable results on occasion. A ride I know to be about 24.5km which I do some mornings has come out as everything from 21.5 - 24.5km in length, and I am sure I followed the exact same route each time. There are other things I've noticed too like when I've reviewed a rides speed graph the speed has dropped to 0kph literally 50 or so times when I am sure the wheels didn't stop turning more than twice... Either way, as a round-a-bout tool the apps are pretty good, and I guess the AV speed (which is my main interest) is probably always correct - being a f(distance/time). But like most things, the iPhone can't compete with the real thing. I can't help thinking the apps are more like toys, and the Garmin a tool.

Tk

[toolonglegs]

I tried Strava today ...first time I have ridden with a computer / speedo for a year or so .
It was very easy to use and didn't really touch the battery...unlike my battery trying to ride in a howling gale .
http://app.strava.com/rides/2074042

[whostolemybike]

I love cyclemeter.


Squeezed the ------------------------- from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[flynnyfalcon]

I love Cyclemeter! Simply turn it on, whack it in my back pocket and away I go. Not sure what others are complaining about regarding battery life, I have an oldish iPhone4, run GPS (cyclemeter) with music and it lasts for approx 8 hours. Lasted the complete Around the Bay ride

During the ride, having updates comparing to past rides (of the same route) is very handy and afterwards showing detailed breakdown of splits, your course map, cadence and GPS max and avg (if you have the appropriate add ons) decent, ascent etc is great stuff. A great compliment to my Sigma ROX 8.0 until an upgrade to a Garmin happens at some point down the track.

GPS seems really accurate, though max speed can sometimes be out (compared to my Sigma) and ascent/descent often doesn't match That aside...

Highly recommended.

[snowmaan]

Cyclometer is the best I have found, and compared most recently to mapmyride
I use a bike handle mount which is fantastic
Love the cyclemeter report after a ride which sends one copy to my email and another posts on my wall on facebook. I raised $1,200 for the gong ride so friends and family can see how much training I am putting in

Battery life still a worry, ie gong ride tomorrow with a slow work team will be 4-5 hrs, then lunch in the gong and train back and beers and dinner at darling harbourview after, means at least 2/3 of my battery will be gone on the ride

A good idea is buy a $9.99 solar powered iPhone battery recharger on catch of the day or eBay
Brilliant, tape it to your frame somewhere and plug it in when you arrive and it recharges your battery probably 20%

Chuck it on the table at the pub or back on your bike, in the sun to recharge, and repeat the process
It's a fantastic way to not run out of battery!

[Krank]

Snowman,

There are many iphone solar power battery chargers on ebay.

WHich one are you referrign to?

Also, if you have your iphone in your gurnsey during the ride, how do you charge the phone during the ride with the solar cell?

Krnak

[snowmaan]

Hi Krank

It's a no name one from catch of the day, $9.99 which works well, gives me 2 hrs charge
I dont use it while riding, I will use the phone and cyclemeter during the ride and when I get to the gong, plug it in and recharge the phone for the train trip with the team back to Sydney

Then we are heading to Helm Bar in darling harbour to have beers and seafood and steaks and will sit the solar charger in the sun to recharge then connect back to the phone again

[scirocco]

I love Cyclemeter! Simply turn it on, whack it in my back pocket and away I go. Not sure what others are complaining about regarding battery life, I have an oldish iPhone4, run GPS (cyclemeter) with music and it lasts for approx 8 hours. .

+1. With screen off battery life is simply not an issue any more.

[cachexian]

I have an iPhone 4S and tried Bikemate Lite during the gong ride.

My battery drained from !00% in St Peters to 0% in the Gong over 3.5 hours. I had turned off all wireless and closed all apps - just location services and 3G running.

Sounds like I will need one of those solar chargers.

How did Cycle meter go on the Gong ride?

Cachexian.

[toolonglegs]

Really...I did a 5hr Mtb ride last week running strava and still had 50 percent battery life left at the end...and it was only at 90 when I started...and it was only 8 degrees max .

[cagou67]

I've been using cyclemeter since the start of the year and its a great little app. since the last upgrade I also bought the Wahoo ANT+ sensor so that it now records my HR and speed/cadence. I do find that distance generally records slightly lower than the VDO cyclecomputer however that has improved now that it uses the speed/cadence sensors for distance. The only down side is when you want to review your rides you are limited to the smartphone screen. However the history is great and the ability to setup intervals/ HR zones is a great new feature. I usually dont ride with the screen on and have found on 4hr rides the battery life is not an issue.

I also upload my rides in GPX format to Garmin Connect. That way it overcomes the small screen issue and gives me some more features for analysis.

[Krank]

I have just finished recording my first ride with Cyclemeter.

I have pressed 'stop', but not yet pressed 'done'.

After I press 'done', how do i download my ride into the computer, and what software should I have installed on my PC before I do this?

Krnak

[scirocco]

After I press 'done', how do i download my ride into the computer?Krnak

Help>Export

and what software should I have installed on my PC before I do this?

Mail client like Outlook to get the email, then Excel if you want to view the CSV file, or a web browser so you can load the GPX file into bikeroutetoaster or your favourite bike routing website. Or Google Earth if you prefer viewing in that.

[Krank]

THanks.

Is the export file compatible with any bike routing website?

When would you export the 'GPX File Attachment' instead of 'GPX File URL' or visa versa?

How different is the 'Drive' activity compared to the 'Cycle' activity on Cyclemeter?

Would speed be measured differently?


Krank