Originally Posted by
SactoDoug
IMO, using the a smart phone as a cycling computer is far superior to a standalone GPS device. Most people carry their phones with them anyway while riding. It is much more flexible and programmable. What is lacking right now is just the proper application support. Just as smart phones have devastated the car GPS market, I expect them to do the same with the cycling GPS market.
respectfully disagree. smart phones work as GPS systems because they are good enough, not necessarily because they are good. if you've ever tried to use one to navigate in your car, and had to re-route yourself because of the slightly laggy gps fix, you know what I'm talking about. if you've ever used a legitimate GPS device to navigate, you probably know that they are far quicker on the draw. if you happen to have a 'co-pilot' with you who can help navigate, then an iphone is perfectly sufficient, but if you're solo, then using the iphone alone can sometimes be an aggravating endeavor.
for casually keeping tabs on your riding habits, the GPS in a phone is fine. but for legit/serious training, I think that the precision of GPS tech in smartphones just isn't there yet.