Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
I find exactly the opposite.
This will depend on a lot of things like (1) what phone do you have, (2) where do you use it, and (3) where is your phone while you record.
A cell phone is going to augment the GPS signal in a city with things like cell towers and wifi networks. Go out into the country and it doesn't perform as well.
An Edge computer out in front of your handlebars or a Fenix/Forerunner on your wrist is going to have a better view of the sky than a cell phone in a ziplock bag in your pocket.
The traces I get from my cell phone look like I must have been drunk, zig zagging all over the place.
If I have my cell phone (an LG G3) in a side pocket on my bag on my bike rack, that's how my traces look as well. Sometimes I'll put it in a handlebar mount for cell phones and it tracks a lot better. I've thought about going the dedicated GPS enabled cycle-computer, but the few times I've borrowed a friend's Edge 810, the results were about the same as with my cell phone up on the handlebars. Since the performance was pretty similar, I figured I didn't need the added expense.
