Anyone else using Cyclemeter app?
 

I've been using the Cyclemeter app for a while to track rides, based on great reviews by other cyclists. I also use typical handlebar mount cycling computers on most of my bikes. It's a great app in many respects -- low cost, provides all sorts of riding statistics, maps, elevation gains, etc.

However, the quality of data that Cyclemeter records seems to be very inconsistent and at times inaccurate. The elevation gain/loss data is next to useless. I get widely varying results for elevation gain from day to day, riding the exact same commute route. It has shown daily elevation gains ranging from 200' to 1000'+ on the same route.

More troubling to me, however, are the inconsistencies in mileage and time. Compared to the cycle computers on my handlebars, the distances shown by Cyclemeter are almost always longer and the times shorter. For example, on my commute yesterday, my cycle computer showed 32.0 miles in 2:11 hours. Cyclemeter showed 32.7 miles in 2:08 hours.

Has anyone else noticed similar results using Cyclemeter?

I've only used the free version of Cyclemeter, which omits some features (auto-pause/resume). Good app for non-critical use, but, yeah, I've noticed some minor discrepancies. But the freebie Wahoo Fitness has the same quirks. It'll record slightly different distances for identical routes that I ride often.

I use them only for a rough gauge to my overall fitness, and to record rides I want to repeat -- or to remind me of routes to avoid!

I have no idea about elevation. I haven't figured out how to calculate grades. I just go by how it feels. There's only one hilly route near me and I can tell just from the gear I need and how much I'm huffing and puffing. Some days I can power up in a high gear, other days asthma slows me down and I granny-gear uphill.

I use Cyclemeter exclusively, after retiring a garmin edge 800 with its own speed/cadence and hrm sensors. The GPS speed is not the greatest even under best conditions, but my distances are very consistent even against fellow riders' standalone computers. My plan is to buy a bluetooth speed/cadence monitor in the future for a more accurate measurement, but for the past couple of years I've been pretty content with what it does (for free!).

If you are using an iPhone 6 or newer, be sure to check the "use barometric altimeter" in Cyclemeter settings. iPhone 6 and newer all have onboard barometric altimeters that even with cases on seem to be extremely accurate. Even in airplane mode with no cell connectivity it will display very accurate altitude and grade readings. This could be a feature included only to premium users that I've inherited as I did pay for the 'elite' version one year that I've since canceled.

I just started using it today. Just getting into riding.

I use Cyclemeter on all my rides and have been doing so for just over three years now. I had the same issues as you are having when I first started using it and comparing it against my Cateye Double Wireless computer. The reason is that one is using the wheel circumference and rotation and the other is using GPS. When the Cateye quit working, I opted to use Cyclemeter exclusively and added my wife's old Garmin HRM and speed/cadence sensor to the mix via a Wahoo RFLKT+. Once I added the speed/cadence sensor, Cyclemeter was tracking as accurate as my friends Garmin 800 (± .2 mile). I've since gone to all Bluetooth sensors. If you use a Bluetooth speed/cadence sensor, you should see that problem go away. As for the altimeter, my iPhone 5c does not have one built in so I use the one from the RFLKT+, which does. It's a bit spotty but I'm in Florida, which is really flat, so altitude isn't really a big issue for us that live here. As mentioned, if you have an iPhone 6, make sure you turn on the "Barometric Altimeter" switch in Settings. It's located just under the Share section.

I've been using Cyclemeter for a couple of years and love it. I do accept that average speed and distance isn't as accurate as my wireless cycle computer. I've noticed that when there is a significant difference, if I zoom in on the map my route jumps around adding extra distance, especially if I am not on a road.

Are you using an Android phone, an iphone, or something else? Do you think there might be interference from some other transmitter such as a bluetooth device?

I used cyclemeter on an iphone a few years ago, and it worked well for me. A couple of years ago, I started using a Garmin Edge 200. Now for a little more than a year, I've been using ridewithgps on an iphone. ridewithgps gives me more consistent times and distances, and it has fewer GPS errors than the Garmin did. It can also locate me MUCH faster than the Garmin could.

Good elevation data isn't available yet, but I think we will see it improve soon. Basically, the GPS data adds elevation to each point in 2d space, but the data isn't so good, and no app can improve on that. I can't say why elevation on a given route would vary from one time to another. That's pretty strange.

If you're using GPS for elevation, it can change from one ride to a next because the constellation is always moving, so one day you locked onto more satellites than the next day, because one day it was overcast and anther day it was clear, because the trees leaf out in the spring and die back in the fall, all of which affects GPS reception.

Cyclemeter is iPhone only.

A better question is: what iPhone? For the elevation issues, iPhone 6 onwards have a barometric altimeter, I think in Cyclemeter you have to turn it on (and it may be "Elite" only), but with it the elevation results are way better than with GPS.

Aha, I didn't know it's iphone only, and I had heard about the altitude sensor but forgotten. Fun!

Forgot about this thread that I started!

I do have an iPhone 6, but I can't find anywhere in the Settings to turn on the Barometric Altimeter.

However, more troubling to me than the elevation data, are the discrepancies in riding time and distance between Cyclemeter and my cycling computer. Particularly the riding time. My cycle computer is set to turn off when my bike is not moving. However, my riding time is always higher on my cycle computer than the Cyclemeter app. On a long ride, the discrepancies can by 10 minutes or more.

I believe it is a premium feature. I once paid for a year a couple of years ago and my stats continue to show elevation in real time using it. Pretty sure its still using barometrics since elevation will change when crossing tall foot bridges.

https://imgur.com/gallery/Kjsa5

I use cyclemeter elite and with an iiphone 6s have found the elevation to be pretty spot on, course I am using the barometer. I also find the speed/distance to be accurate as well but I am using a wahoo speed/cadence sensor. That said I have outgrown it since I am biking further distances I have to carry an external battery to just barely have enough battery time. So will be picking up a Wahoo Elemnt to replace it.

Since Cyclemeter uses your phones clock for times, I would bet that it's more accurate on times than your bike computer. If you aren't using a speed sensor with Cyclemeter, I would be willing to bet the bike computer is going to be more accurate than the GPS on your phone. When set up correctly, wheel revolutions are more accurate than GPS when determining speed and distance.

You may also want to look at the Wahoo RFLKT as well. While not as fancy or as expensive ($79 USD) as the Elemnt, it will display almost any data value that Cyclemeter tracks and the screen is so user defined that you can place that data anywhere you want it. I use one, along with HRM and speed/cadence sensors, and can ride well over 4 hours and still have about 50% of my phone's battery life left after the ride. And I'm using an iPhone 5c that's over two years old with the original battery.

Here's a web site with some tips to help extend the battery life of an iPhone. It has some stuff for an iPhone 7 but if it doesn't apply to your iPhone, like a new feature, you can skip over it.

Problem is Wahoo seems to have not been putting much dev time into the RFLKT and as such might be a dead product. Also I like the ability to leave the phone at home.

I've been trying the Cyclemeter for a few days, but I haven't liked it. For myself, I've chosen Map My Ride GPS. It's available for iPhone and Android, you can take it here. As I see it works better and looks friendlier.
I also tried Strava, but that was not what I wanted.

This is year two for Cyclemeter and me. I now only use an additional (traditional) bicycle computer on my daily rider. So... I can only compare the accuracy with my one el-cheapo $12 bike computer. And... they seem about the same. As in when a friend and I compare odometer readings... they have also been...about the same.

I track the miles.... I even think about the hours/minutes. But I am not a racer and I don't care about yards and/or seconds. I love the technology and the app. But it is what it is. This is great entertainment... with possible additional health benefits. But it is not a medical device or an Olympic training device.

I don't monitor my phone. I keep the phone in a zip-loc in my jersey pocket. I have the data emailed to me. Then I move the emailed data (link) to a saved folder. Occasionally I grab the data and compile it in word/PDF and save to the icloud. It can be nice to print a paper copy too. But's its just data. The data isn't what I enjoy. It's the riding the bicycle that I am into.

Well, that pretty much eliminates the RFLKT.

I keep my iPhone 6 in a plastic Baggie in my pocket but have it announce every five miles. Interesting on the external battery as I have had no battery drain issues at all with Cyclemeter. A couple of weeks ago I did 100 miles with three 20 minute stops and a lunch. I had over 50% battery remaining.

Cyclemeter definitely has a higher learning curve, but now that I'm used to it, the $5 per year subscription seems like an amazing deal. I do now like all the extra features and options.

[MENTION=86492]tarwheel[/MENTION], are you saying cyclemeter counts stopped time and that doing so creates the difference in overall time? There ought to be a setting for you to enable and disable the counting of the stopped time.

Why don't you try ridewithgps or strava, the free version? Compare it with cyclemeter and see if one has the same inaccuracies.

Not sure what you mean here, but Cyclemeter counts both stopped and riding times and reports them separately but combines them for overall time. Both stopped and riding times are used in reporting data for each zone that you set up for speed, cadence, heart rate and power zones. Sorry but the image isn't all that clear.

Both Cyclometer and my bike computers are set to count time while actually cycling, rather than stopped time. As John V stated, Cyclemeter reports riding time (while you are actually moving) and stopped time. My bike computers are set to only record time while my bikes are moving -- so the timer quits when you are at red lights, coffee shops breaks, etc.

Obviously, the two systems are using a different means to record moving time. However, I suspect that the bike computers are more accurate than Cyclometer. I watch the timer function on bike computers while I am riding and see them stop recording at red lights, although sometimes a few seconds might tick off before stopping. I can't actually watch Cyclometer while riding, but when I compare times after rides, Cyclometer records less time -- ranging from a few minutes on shorter rides to 5-10-20 minutes on longer rides. I presume that Cyclometer is set to stop recording time when you speed drops below a certain mph, but not sure if that's the case.

I have tried other cycling apps such as Strava and MapMyRide, but prefer the functionality of Cyclemeter. However, perhaps I should try some of these other apps to see if I get the discrepancies in time compared by my bike computers.

I suspect having the display on is the bigger drain, but that is also my preferred way to use it. I can not hear its announcements sitting on my handlebars when at any speed over 15mph, I doubt I could hear it ever in a ziplock on my back.

After reading your post, it got me thinking about when Cyclemeter actually starts and stops the timers. On today's ride, I displayed my RFLKT screen page to the one I have set up for time; it display's ride time, stopped time and total time. As I came to a stop, I did notice a slight lag in time between the time I stopped and the time that Cyclemeter started the stopped time clock but hardly no lag between the time I started back on the ride and the ride time clock starting back up. I stopped about 6 times on a 50 mile ride so the extra time it took between lag time and the stopped time clock kicking in couldn't have been more than a minute.

What I think is happening here is the speed/cadence sensor is not sending a signal to Cyclemeter, which then goes into sensor fail mode and starts using GPS, which now has a lag between the time it starts reading the GPS data and the time the GPS data shows that you are not moving. When you start up again, the speed/cadence sensor sends a signal and starts the ride time timer. I have Stop Detection turned ON so I think that if it were off, even if you have a speed sensor, it would keep the ride timer going because it is using the time from the GPS data.

Anyway, that's my observation. I don't know how much that matters to others, but had I not tried it today, I would never have known about the slight lag time when stopping. I guess that for me, it's not a big issue.

Tagging onto this existing thread since it's fairly recent...

I bought the full featured version of Cyclemeter after trying the freebie version, Wahoo Fitness and all the usual suspects for several months. Cyclemeter suits me best, and the auto pause/resume feature suits my preferences. I usually set the app before leaving home, stick the phone in a handlebar bag and don't look at it again until I finish the ride.

The only feature I was missing was a privacy zone map option to obscure the precise starting/stopping point, in case I want to share a route on social media. GPS is so precise now you could actually tell which room I was in when I started and stopped the app. I don't care to share that much specific info online. But I do enjoy seeing the mapped routes other folks ride so I can explore them as well.

I wrote an email to Cyclemeter Monday afternoon asking if this feature was available and I was just overlooking it. Then I went for a ride. By the time I got home an email reply from the folks at Abvio support was waiting. They said they'd consider my question a feature request and they'll pass the suggestion along to the programmers.

For folks who aren't competitive and don't really care about comparing times with other cyclists, Cyclemeter is a great alternative to Strava at a fraction of the price. Adding the map privacy zone feature would make it darned near perfect.

People report the same thing on a regular basis. However it's very possible that both are accurate, though different.

You need to understand that they measure distance differently, and which is correct depends on what you want to know.

GPS systems measure "map" distance by adding the small distances you travel between way points. This is the shortest distance for a given route from A to B.

However, the real distance can and will be longer, for example if you do a small loop back to check or your riding buddy, or swing wide on turns, or slalom to climb hills, or any small maneuver of this type that has your front wheel cover a longer distance than the shortest straight line possible. In fact if you mount two identical bike computers front and rear, the front one will slowly pull away from the rear because the front wheel does in fact travel farther than the rear, though both don't actually pull apart.

I also wonder about how GPS systems account for hills. Obviously if you ride over the mountain to get from A to B, it's a longer trip that if you went through a tunnel without having to climb.

So, what distance interests you. Knowing you got from A to B which are 30 miles apart, or how far your wheel rolled along the way? (which wheel?)

I can't add anything regarding the OP's question, but I can confirm that this phenomenon does take place. It occurred when I began mounting a second computer on my wife's bars on our tandems. Had me confounded for a few rides. I now splice the wires together, running both computers off of the output of one magnet/sensor.

I have had similar experiences to those the OP reported. Ride times are a little shorter and ride distances are a little longer. Elevations are sometimes close to what I think they should be, and at other times they and totally wacky.

I use my wired bike computers for my "official" mileages and times.