Originally Posted by
Gus90
Originally Posted by
John_V
Battery life when using any phone for a bike computer is pretty much a moot point if it lasts throughout your ride. I use an iPhone 5c with a Whaoo RFLKT+ and HR and speed/cadence sensors connected. I can do a century without recharging the battery and still have enough battery life left to make more phone calls than I need to. Since I recharge my phone every night, whether I ride or not, I always have a 100% charge in the mornings for my ride. Phones and battery life have come a long way over the years since they were first used for cyclometers and this was actually a problem.
You also stand a better chance of not damaging your phone if it's on a good handlebar or stem mount than you do if it's in your jersey pocket. In most falls, riders land on their sides or their back. The chances of you landing on your phone or the phone getting thrown out of your jersey pocket are greater than when secured on the handlebars or stem, since these areas seldom make contact with the ground.
You must ride less then an hour and a half then because my iPhone, when used as a cycle computer showing maps with backlight off, barely made it that long. I guess you're right if you take short rides. As for where your phone is going to be less damaged, not sure I agree with you there, I've never seen a iPhone mount that I consider to be sturdy and safe in a crash. Not like a garmin mount would be. Most phone mounts are much flimsier in my opinion.
I ride 35-50 miles a day. The average overall time of my rides are from 3 to 4.5 hours, depending on how long I take for breaks. I have my phone optimized for battery life and I don't have any apps running in the background. I use an RFLKT to display my ride data so the screen is never on while I ride. My battery consumption is right at 10% loss per hour. I recently completed a ride across Florida with the longest ride being 85 miles and did not recharge the phone until I got to my hotel room. If you're only getting an hour out of your phone, you're doing something very wrong.
As for phone mounts, the Zixtro mount I use is mounted on my aerobars. I have had several crashes and the phone was never damaged or knocked out of it's case.