Originally Posted by
RubeRad
This is SoCal, so for 99% of rides, it's a waste of time to check before every ride.
I don't want alerts, that's only for severe weather problems like flash flood warnings etc, they don't make alerts for 'just rain'.
Yup, I bicycle commuted around SoCal for a few years while I was in the Navy at Balboa and Pendleton. Hardly ever rained, except in January. I tucked a cheap yellow poncho in a jersey pocket most of the winter, mostly to avoid hypothermia if I did get caught in the rain. Outside of January I'd just get wet if it rained. Merino wool stayed warm enough even in cool temps when wet. Nowadays I tote an ultrathin Pearl Izumi Select Barrier windbreaker in a pocket. Rain resistant, comfortable in a wide range of temps, and I've loaned it to friends a couple of times this winter when they were underdressed for rapidly cooling conditions.
I have a Kindle Fire, got it from my parents xmas 2014. It came with a $25 gift card for apps from the kindle store, we still have about half of that left. It gets used plenty, mostly the kids playing free games, but most of the time when I pick it up it needs charging or is turned off, and getting to the point where I could check the weather is slower than booting up the desktop which has an SSD. And the kindle would be no help out on a ride, even if I could bring it, which I never would.
The newer Kindle Fire and Fire HD tablets are quad cores, much faster than the 2014 model unless you happened to get the first 7" Fire HD that was a quad core -- it came out in October 2014 (I got that one for Christmas 2014). And the newer Kindle Fires are a fraction of the price and faster, with a better OS. The specs can be misleading, because the current quad cores are listed as 1.3GHz, but in actual usage they're faster, run cooler and longer.
Also, many Kindle Fire compatible apps are free. Every weather app I use (three or four of 'em) is free, with minimal advertising that isn't intrusive. And with the 2016-2017 Fire tablets it's finally completely compatible with Google Maps and Street View, so you can access the 360 panoramic and scrolling features. Everything works better and faster than the 2014 Fire tablets.
They're so cheap now you could stash one away just for yourself so it's always ready when you are. Set a PIN so the kids can't use your tablet.
But if your PC is really fast, sure, the tablet might not offer any advantage over the tablet. I use so much security stuff on my PCs it always takes longer to fire up than the tablets. But I don't use the tablets for anything that requires security so I don't even use PINs on a couple of them. Everything that might be a security risk is disabled and does require a PIN or password to access, such as making purchases from Amazon.
No thanks. I have a flip phone I barely ever use. I have a camera I barely ever use. Once in a blue moon I think 'wouldn't it be nice to have a gps-enabled map right now', but not often enough to be worth the drain on my life that it would be to live inside a smartphone all the time. I know me, and I would be playing games and browsing the internet constantly.
I still use a flip phone for voice. And I have a box full of older 3G and earlier phones that can't even access the web anymore because the interfaces are so outdated. My favorite is one of the early Nokias, a classic that's making a comeback. I may start using it again, it was a better phone than my current T-Mobile flip phone.
EDIT: how do you run a cycling app without a data plan?
The cycling apps are all GPS enabled. I use Cyclemeter (for iPhone only), Strava (free version), Wahoo Fitness (best display while riding -- I can see the screen easily when it's tucked into the map pocket of my handlebar bag), Osm and Maps with the maps for my region downloaded to the phone. All run fine offline. When I get home I sync to WiFi to upload my ride data to Cyclemeter and Strava.
I don't always share my ride info to social media, including Strava (which is its own social media community). Some stuff I record only for my own reference, such as short repeat routes on hilly segments just to build strength and stamina.
But I enjoy sharing routes with real-life local friends. Helps to explore new rides with feedback about road and traffic conditions from folks who are at my fitness level and speed, around 12-15 mph average. And I know to avoid some routes that I'm not fast enough or fit enough to tackle safely.