Originally Posted by
GeorgeBMac
If you have an IPhone 4S or 5 then Strava works well on it and it's free. I very much like that program. I have found that it tracks and maps pretty accurately and keeps pretty good (and motivating) statistics and graphs on things like: distance, climbing, total time and cycling time.
For instance, right now I can see that I have ridden each of the past 5 days and, for this year, have ridden 42 times for 661 miles in 64 hours and climbed 24,623 feet. And, it graphs all of that out by week or by month so I can track my progress...
It also works with Low Energy Bluetooth enabled heart monitors such as the Polar H7.
I haven't tried the heart rate monitoring yet -- but it's on my to-do list to get one.
I use my iPhone as well, but I use Cyclemeter instead of Strava. Cyclemeter has a main screen (where you start, pause and stop a ride) they call a Stopwatch screen where you can flip through 5 screens of ride data, all of which has your route map and location displayed. Strava's main screen only shows speed, elapsed time and distance on it's main screen and to see the rest, you have to wait until you end the ride. But if you're a competitor, Strava has the advantage over Cyclemeter because it rates you against other riders. Although you can do the same thing with Cyclemeter, Strava does a much better job. Also, Cyclemeter is $5.00 and Strava has a limited version that is free. I can't remember what their paid version sells for. And Strava has a version for iOS and Droid, whereas Cyclemeter is limited to the iPhone. Like everything, it boils down to personal preference.
OP, if you are using a heart rate monitor strap with your Forerunner, you can still use that and not have to purchase another HRM if you go with a phone app. You also won't have to purchase another HRM strap if you go with any of the Garmin units.