I have an iPhone SE but I don't have a Garmin 810 in front of me. I was going by memory which can be a fair bit wrong.

Either way having a phone out front is a bit like having a giant taco out front. Its never really much good but you can do it if you want to. To me anything bigger than a 520 is too big.

Thanks for that website, that is what I miss on page 1. HR zone. Think I'll give it try. KB

I've been using phone + Strava for two years now because I'm cheap and kinda poor. It goes in a plastic bag in my jersey pocket, and I check the stats when I get home. It's pretty darn accurate compared to what others upload using Garmin on group rides and provides enough data to get started.

The Garmin Edge 20 and 25 look pretty nice, though, and I'm tempted to try one. The downsides of Strava on the phone for my purposes are (1) I have to remember to hit pause while stopping at a store or a washroom, and (2) since it's in my pocket, I have no idea how fast I'm going until after the ride. Getting a good idea of speed can be somewhat helpful for riding in organized groups and keeping a consistent pace, especially if it's windy.

Strava has auto-pause and restart, at least in the paid version.

I've had the Garmin Edge 200, 500, and 1000 and even the giant smartphone-on-a-quadlock-mount-- and recently sold the 1000 to buy a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt. If you're touring, the smartphone/quadlock (plus a rechargeable battery pack!!) is unbeatable as far as navigation goes, but for anything else, it looks like you've got a space shuttle cockpit strapped to your handlebars.. plus, you don't necessarily want your phone exposed to the elements when you suddenly find yourself in the middle of a thunderstorm.

My advice.. if you want to go cheap, look for a used Edge 500. I see many of them on eBay listed for around $150 CAD today. At 18hrs, the battery life is almost triple that of the Edge 20/25 (which advertise 8hrs, but are widely reported to last for around 6 under most circumstances), it has a barometric altimeter which the 20/25 do not, and it supports all your ANT+ accessories. No Strava or text message integration but it's cheap enough for someone just looking to dip their toes in and functional enough that you won't be limited by its capabilities should you choose to drop a few more bills on cadence/speed/power meters.

At the higher end, newer Edge models (520/820) offer some navigation features, up to the Edge 1030, which is great for navigation, but even still none of them are as good as a smartphone. If you're accustomed to using a smartphone touchscreen, Garmin's interface will feel clunky and ancient to you, and finding your destination with the built in navigation can be an exercise in frustration.

Basically, if you're going to spend more than $150, go for the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt and maybe pick up a quad lock case for your phone for those interstellar journeys where the route gets a little complicated. Easy to read screen, great battery life, basic but useful maps, ability to change settings from your phone, live Strava integration, incoming text display... I was concerned I'd miss a few features from the Edge 1000 but the Bolt blows it out of the water in every conceivable way.

I started using Map My Ride which was fun for a bit but it's very battery heavy and a faff turning it / location services etc on / off again and then having to decide if you want the phone to display constantly using lots of battery or if it switches the screen off after a period of time ... in which case you have to activate the screen again which is easier done with password deactivated which is more switching off and then back on again when you've finished the ride.

I just found it much easier with a computer on the bike, you don't have to worry if it's charged, jump on and ride and once I'd played with the gizmo bits a few times realised I'm only really bothered about having total distance traveled and average speed so found it a much simpler "ready to go" solution.

I just use my vivoactive HR and strap it to my handlebars when I am riding. I pair a cadence and HR sensor on the road and use built in GPS for speed. If I am on the trainer, I pair a speed sensor too. I then I forward the garmin data to Strava. This gives me all the cycling data I need, but also gives me step counts, all day HR monitoring, sleep, steps, calories, etc. This helps save the battery on the phone too so I don't have it being drained by a GPS app so I can actually make a call if I need to after a long ride.

I use MapMyRide on Android for primary tracking device and a Cateye bike computer for backup. Sometimes my phone's GPS cuts out in remote areas, so it's nice to have the trusty bike computer if I have to "edit" stats after a ride.

I don't care what anyone else does, but I just use Strava. I already have the smart phone, so don't have to buy any additional equipment. And it's accurate enough for my purposes.

I have a very basic computer on the handlebars of one of my roadbikes, plus Strava and Mapymyrode on my phone.

Having three mileage recorders can produce interesting results though - I'd expect some slight discrepancy between the applications on the phone and the bike computer, but I frequently get three different results.

I've checked the computer on the local 10 TT course, and it is ~0.02 mile out over 10 miles; it's run off a wheel sensor so apart from small variations in tyre pressure it's not going to change.

The difference in distance between the computer, Strava, and MMR over even a ride as short as my 15 mile commute though can be as much as 0.2 miles. While I'd expect some variation between the computer and app, the difference between two apps, running simultaneously, and on the same device is very surprising. The same commute on different days can also throw up different distances on the same app and device.

Not a problem for me personally - I don't obsess over "losing" mileage from Strava or MMR, and I'm sure it averages out anyhow - just an observation on their accuracy.

Yep, I've noticed the same issue too. It wasn't a problem with 2 bikes and separated computers, but with 6 bikes, I gave up, trying to calibrate all of them. Now I just move my Garmin 25, from bike to bike, now everything is constant. KB

I remember those. My sisters got ones like that for their bikes back in the 70's, I think it was some kind of reward for delivering newspapers. I "inherited" one and used it on my bike for a while, then gave it to a friend who said he was going down a hill very fast and the odometer flew apart.

Strava on the phone for metrics after the ride, plus a basic wired computer for the heads-up type details I want while actually riding.

Yup, both, can't ever have too much info.

I think the free version does to. I d/l the free version and I'm pretty sure it auto pauses and auto restarts.

I use the Garmin Edge 500. Has everything I need. Enjoy it much more than a plain cycling computer.

Been on Strava since 2011. Paid membership for 6 years. Not many benefits but paid only cause it was a cool site and I enjoy using it.

+1 for the Garmin VivoActive HR. Two pushes of a button and it works for either my rides or my runs. I've owned several Garmin products and this is by far the easiest interface I've ever had for a GPS watch. Unlike jitteringjr, I just wear it on my wrist even on the bike. I can look at it if I really want to to see my average speed, distance etc., but find I prefer not having the numbers staring up at me from the handlebars all the time....particularly when suffering against a strong headwind

Okay...I caved last night and ordered one of these. I've been resisting bike computers/GPS because I'm cheap, but now there's really no excuse. Should be here Friday.

Bikeforums, why do you do this to me?!