Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Garmin or smart phone

Ok guys I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I am due to up grade my phone the end of Feb, I am also thinking about buying a Garmin Edge 500. I am not sure which phone I am going to get iPhone or Dorid. Would I be better off buying the garmin or just use the phone with a bike app.

What do you want the GPS for? One big difference between a Garmin and a smartphone is that the Garmin is designed to be used with the display turned on for your entire ride. A smartphone will kill its battery if you leave the display turned on for hours at a time. A smartphone GPS is really only useful if you leave the display turned off for your entire ride.

depends how much data you will need.. The garmin will give you lots of cycling related data + Heart Rate and Cadence if needed.. I use my smartphone to record rides so that I have that info on my android app - Cardiotrainer.. It works fine but I keep it in my jersey pocket. It does use a lot of battery life and you could get about a 6 hour ride max using a fully charged smartphone..

Get the Garmin for the bicycle - The display will be visible with a long battery life. Smartphone has great maps but no other bicycle info.

Get a Windows 7 Phone - Samsung Focus unless you are locked into Verizon.

I have Bike Track by Rharham on my Droid and the 500. I use the Garmin for everything for riding and training and use the Droid for conversation and to be able to show folks at work my rides without having to have a computer handy. I also have an extra battery for the phone but have never needed it after a ride. While the Droid info is nice I'd go with the Garmin myself.

When I got back into cycling last winter, I thought I would use my iPhone as my bike computer. After just a couple of longer rides (50+ miles) I realized just how fast the battery would drain trying to have constant or even near-constant display. Since the phone is the emergency lifeline, I decided it was better to get a dedicated bike computer (the Edge 500), and save the phone for just that...an emergency. A dead phone is of no use, either as a bike computer or a phone.

FYI, since then I've switched from the iPhone to the Samsung Focus. I really like the Focus, but hate the way it attempts to integrate the microSD storage.

Thanks guys Thats kind of what I thought, I will be getting the Garmin soon!!

Good choice

I'd recommend the same, I would have had a garmin already if I didn't have to buy new pedals :(.