Would a Phablet Work for Me? GPS
 

Here's as much of a background as I can offer:

I'm an elderly retiree, budget constrained, and not so tech savvy. My cell phone is a prepaid deal that runs $8/mo. tops. That's gotta stay the same.

I'd like to be able to track my rides via GPS, and thought that a small GPS tablet (WIFI only) loaded with the correct apps would be able to do so. Is that indeed the case? Is the GPS receiver independent of the WIFI access? If that were the case, the app should record positions, no?

This seems all possible from a $75 device, that also would give me free web access at WIFI hotspots, and serve as a back-up to the laptop at home.

Am I guessing and dreaming of the future, or is this possible with a 7" GPS equipped tablet running Android 4.4 Kitkat? Thanks for your thoughts.

Look at the Cateye Stealth. It has GPS and costs around $99.

All of the phones that I have used for tracking rides worked fine without WiFi connection during the ride. I use Google's My tracks usually, and then export it to a spreadsheet.

The short answer is "yes", but the correct answer is "depends".

I have a 2012 Google Nexus 7 (built by Asus and WiFi only, running Kit Kat 4.4.4) that I have used to track my outdoor activities (walking, primarily) as well as a whole slew of different apps to record the data. If you're just interested in the general information these apps can provide, no problem, but if you're wanting exact/precise data...

Something else to consider is whether you're wanting to use it for navigation purposes. If so, you'll need to plan ahead and ensure that the map of the area you'll be in is available for "offline" use.

Not having any experience with using GPS, I'm hoping to be able to extract milage from 1 1/2 - 2 hour rides, perhaps elevation gains, maybe speed in segments of the ride...is that too exact and precise for the devise/software?

No navigation necessary at this point, I usually ride outta' my garage.

Thanks, BTW, for the thread replies, folks.

You will get close approximations of the data you seek.

If you're just wanting the basic info and not particularly concerned about sharing/social aspect, Google My Tracks* is rather hard to beat. It will export everything but the calories to your spreadsheet. Downside is that you will also have to export the map if you want to keep it and that goes into a different Drive folder.

If you want the social interaction, then there are any number of apps (with varying degrees of annoying ads and features found in the lite/free versions). I've used Sports Tracker, endomondo, RunKeeper, MapMyWalk, and Runtastic besides My Tracks and endomondo is the best all-around bang for your buck freeware as far as what you get in the app and the web service, with Sports Tracker next (beautiful UI on device).

There are other apps that would allow you to use your Android device as a cyclecomputer- depending on what sensors are on it- and others are more knowledgeable about such apps.

*I would probably still be using My Tracks, but my wife got me a Windows Phone 8.1 device for the smaller form factor and very few of the Google ecosystem is supported :(

Tablet GPS receivers are accurate enough to give you distance and average speed for the whole ride and for shorter segments (anything over a quarter mile will average out GPS noise). They're not good for elevation, but GPS in general is not good for elevation. The high-end Garmin units include a barometric altimeter to give better elevation accuracy. Fortunately, web sites like Strava will let you upload your GPS track and then automatically compute elevation gain based on detailed topographic databases. Strava will also detect segments you (or other riders) have defined and automatically give you the stats for those. The Strava Android app should run on any Android 4.x tablet. I think it can record without a WiFi connection (and upload once you're back online) but I haven't actually tested it that way.

The only real negatives to what you're suggesting are:

* The quality of $75 tablets is pretty sketchy - they may or may not hold up to the heat and vibration of cycling use.
* They're light on memory so you won't be able to install many large apps (that may not be a problem in your case).
* The screens often leave a lot to be desired an many are completely unreadable in sunlight.
* Battery life on the cheap tablets isn't nearly as good as the high-end models (though 1 - 2 hours on GPS shouldn't be a problem).
* A 7" tablet is a BIG device to have to haul around on the bike. It will fit in a jersey pocket, but the bulk will definitely be noticeable.

Note that having a smartphone does not force you into an expensive phone plan. My wife's Nexus 4 is perfectly happy on a $10/mo pre-paid plan with no 3G/4G data service (WiFi only). You can find a wide variety of lightly used unlocked Android smartphones on Ebay for well under $150. It's a little more of an investment, but most will give you more capability than a low-end tablet and you'll have the convenience of only having to carry one (much more compact) device.

Something like Mapfactor Navigator should punch your ticket. Free (downloadable) Open Maps, it can use your GPS and develop a trace of where you go. If your tablet battery will last two hours, you can ride for two hours and record it all.

There are downsides, of course:
- Navigation is pretty lousy with the free maps. You'll need to punch in your own locations, and develop your own routes, if you need help actually navigating!
- Most tablets aren't good for a day-long ride. They're built to read a half hour a day, or something lame like that.
- Displaying your track may be an issue.

I understand the constrained budget, but if you can spring for a hundred bucks or so, you can get a "real" GPS from fleabay or craigslist that fixes all or most of these problems.

Thanks for the informative reply!

I do understand the price point is not going to give me a reliable device. I didn't know an unlocked phone could be used on a pre-paid plan. I figure I'd give it a try to see if I can live with the system before investing more heavily.

One of the reasons for me to go the tablet route is that I'm repulsed by anything mounted to either of my fixed gear bikes...lights, cycle computers, bags, etc. just detract from their simple, clean look and over-the-shoulder portability. Pump, tools, tubes, water, blinkies, etc. all ride in/on my bum bag. The heat & vibration factors should be limited.

Good to know about the elevation difficulties...thanks, will look into a suitable cross-referenced app for the data.

Battery life is an issue, but I'll see what happens and make course corrections as necessary. Two hours is long enough in this Winter weather, but Spring does make for longer outings!

Thanks again for your input!

Thanks for the app tips!

Just losing our big desktop computer to failed hardware, a back-up device (to our only functioning computer) to be able to retrieve email and other e-processes is mandatory to my O.C.D. That kind of eliminates investing in a purely GPS device.

I know you wrote this last year, but your comment on elevation error on GPS phone still hold true or not? I can see grade numbers and % elevation on uphill/downhill/flatland on my android app. I wonder if this info come from Google topology map?

Yes, it still holds true. I think a few phones might have barometers...

http://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...min-rwgps.html

Still true. The user's spatial relationship with the GPS satellites makes it less sensitive to elevation than lat/lon. Strava, for example, throws away your GPS elevation data and uses topo data instead (which is why if you climb a 100' bridge in Strava, it won't show up in your climbing stats).

That said, GPS can detect elevation ... there is just a lot of short-term error (noise) in the data. On a long continuous climb or descent, a good filter algorithm can smooth out that noise and give you a fair estimation of % grade. In the flats or short rolling hills, it will be far less accurate. [MENTION=101834]njkayaker[/MENTION] is right about pressure sensors. They're actually getting pretty common in flagship phones. They have their own problems when used as altitude sensors, but generally produce better elevation data than GPS.

Some good thinking here, so I will just add that you could use smartphone even without worrying about using it as phone. My old android phones work fine as mini tablets without cellular service. Given that, something like my old galaxy s3 would probably available used for cheap. Battery life is often a problem for an older phone like that but if you only need it to last ~3 hours, maybe it doesn't matter. I do recall that the s3 also had barometric capabilities.

There are apps that allow you to download maps ahead of time so that you can track your ride without WIFI or cell service. I use one for hiking called MotionX GPS. It's not free, but it's only a few dollars to buy it outright, so it's not a huge investment. It seems to work very well.

EDIT: Downloading the maps ahead of time isn't a requirement, the GPS will still work, but if you get lost and want to use the GPS as a map you won't be able to do it if you haven't downloaded them already.

osmand - free app

I have a 2012 Google Nexus 7 with Lollipop (Android 5). I used this on a trip to Europe with the ridewithgps app to record biking. The battery life in my unit is around 6 hours. I had to be in a location with WiFi to begin and end/save a track (did not matter if I had no wifi in between). I did not try pre-downloading maps for navigation.

In my area, Verizon has the best coverage. After I complete my contract on my current phone, I will be looking at the prepaid resellers of Verizon network to get a better deal. If Sprint had better coverage where I live, I would be very tempted by Republic Wireless.

In case you haven't surmised from the answer, yes, the GPS receiver is independent of wifi, though when you have both, they can work together. If you're not interested in seeing your progress on a map while you are riding, the tablet can probably do what you want.

One alternative to consider is an inexpensive GPS such as the Garmin Edge 200. It's more than $75, though. I like it fairly well. I press Start, and it records my GPS coordinates over time. Then when I connect to a computer at home or work, it plots the GPS coordinates over the map. It uploads my ride to the web and provides quite a lot of statistics and graphs. Here is one of my rides. The unit is a little bigger than a watch, so it fits in my pocket if I don't want to mount it on the handlebar.

Another alternative is a basic bike computer which doesn't use GPS. You can get them for $6 to $50. I find the cheap Chinese models work just fine. They give speed, average speed, distance, and other stats. Since you want to keep yours in a bum bag, I guess you'll need a wireless model. I think they start at $15. But you'd have to move the sensor/sender from bike to bike. Normally, it attaches to your fork and senses a spoke-mounted magnet.

When you are outside, WiFi is useless for location (the range of WiFi is too short). Cellphones can use cell towers for rough location too. GPS is much more accurate but it takes awhile to lock (once it's locked, GPS is fast). WiFi and cell towers are fast but inaccurate. They can make the GPS lock in faster and the work indoors where GPS tends not to.

If you have a GPS receiver in your tablet or smartphone, you can see your progress on a map while you are riding. (Assuming you can mount the thing.)

Runtastic Road Bike got it too. It will tell you how much space on the map it will take to save to phone. It looks like it download as "Open Street Map" or "Open Cycle Map".