Dedicated computer or phone app?
 

Which do you prefer & why? Also, any recommendations are welcome :thumb:

just the one that goes on the Bike.

.. I'm happy with taking the trip itself. did several Tours before any Cellphone was sold.

the computer just counts the wheel rotations and multiplied it by the wheel radius I input.
to give me miles ..

I like my low end Garmin GPS computer. It's pretty accurate, before I got the Garmin I used the cyclemeter app for my iPhone. It worked pretty well.

Depends on what kind of data is being sought. If it is just time, distance, and speed, a cheap wired speedometer works just fine.

I use my phone and don't have a computer at all anymore. It really just depends on the info you wish to monitor and how your going to use it.

What kind of info can one monitor that the other can't? I was kind of thinking that a modern smartphone could pretty much do anything and then some.

Well I guess that depends on the computer. On my Iphone I can do the route, speed, cadence, heart rate, elapsed time, and elevation. I have access to charts that relate each piece of info to the other. I can instantly share that data with my friends and family and compare each ride to my previous ones. It is really overkill but it's there if I want it. If you aren't into all that any old basic bike computer will do :)

Wow, that's impressive! Which app do you use?

Part of be wants to hold off and see what the iWatch is going to be like which is supposedly launching this Fall. I exercise at the gym a lot too so the idea of having a smart watch with all sorts of biometric sensors is really appealing to me. Of course the price may prove to be off-putting though!

I use an Iphone 5s with a Wahoo Tickr bluetooth heartrate and Blue SC cadence/speed sensor. I use the MapMyRide app but it will work with Strava and many others as well. I have a Topeak Ride case II mounted to my stem so I can watch live as necessary. The phone on a full charge and a medium screen brightness will last about 3 hours if you leave the screen on constantly. I usually only look at it occasionally so battery life is never an issue unless I forget to charge it before riding. It also calls out average speed and distance over a settable period even when the screen is off.

Dedicated computer. I have a Garmin Edge 705 for cycling and a Garmin Forerunner 305 for walking. The battery life on both is about 12 hours or so. The battery on my cell phone could well die on a century ride (I'm slow) or on a multi-day ride over a weekend. Plus a device designed to do one thing well usually does that thing better than a multi-function device.

When my 705 dies (I've dropped it enough that it should be dead already), I'll probably go with something simpler like a Garmin 500. I seldom use the GPS mapping functions and if I do get lost, I'll pull the cell phone out of my back pocket and check out the maps on it.

I use a cheap little cycling computer... and it works great (I have more than one of the exact same computer). Then at the end of each ride I log the data to a clipboard on a paper log/form I created. Each bicycle has it's own log. All I am really interested in is logging enough miles while the weather is decent to get my annual [mileage] goal. But I keep track of the bicycles mileage as well.

I've thought of adding an app to my iPhone. I always have it with me.

I tend to go on longer rides so I like to keep my battery fresh on my phone in case of emergency, so I use a Garmin.

Most of the higher-rated apps will do these functions. The differences are often in small things - like how configurable the screens are. I like Wahoo for some of their sensors but prefer the Cyclemeter app over theirs.

I use a cheap, old wired computer as well as Strava on my iPhone 5s. I use the bike computer to keep me aware of cadence and time. I also like that it keeps track of my yearly mileage. I leave my iPhone asleep in a bike mount since I found that it heats up too much in that mount.

I use a inexpensive wired computer and a phone app. I like to have the worked computer because I ride out on the sticks alot, and sometimes the GPS drops out on the phone. The computer is much smaler then the phone too, so I can have that mounted, and just put my phone in my back pocket or saddlebag... less clutter on the bars.

I like the dedicated, wired cyclocomputer. Never have to worry about charging the battery, or losing power on a long ride, or losing satellites in heavy tree cover. Replace a battery every 18-24 months. It just works.

I ended up ordering this phone bag for my HTC One. Hopefully it's not too bulky or dumb looking, but I figure for the cheap price it's worth a try. I'll also be downloading the MapMyRide app and use that for a while before deciding whether or not I want to try any optional monitoring accessories. Thanks everyone for the input!

I downloaded CycloMeter on WP8 and it seems to work pretty well. I generally don't use it during the ride though, instead I set it to log and leave it in a pocket or my seat bag. I use my 16.12 STS computer for simple metrics during the ride.

Please let us know how that works out for you.. I have considered that bag before but for whatever reason, didn't get it,

Yes, definitely, please let us know, Dryvlyne! I also considered that bag, but the larger size, but have somewhat been dissuaded since one reviewer on Amazon claims that the Roswheel bag marred/scratched the finish on his bike, and I just bouth a brand new Scott Foil 30 that I don't want to get all dinged up by a five dollar bag. On the other hand, what I love about the bag, in theory at least, is that it holds the cell phone (mine is a Note 2) and I can have the portable, external battery hooked up and left in the bottom bag-part for those longer rides so my phone doesn't die in our hours.

I just don't want to ding up my brand new bike.

I also just ordered one of these last week. I will try mine with a Moto G.

I like having both phone and computer. If my compute was more reliable I would not worry about the phone as much. But as a scientist it is nice to have the data from the phone (I currently just use strava). My computer needs some finessing to keep working; it is wired so cable fiddling, contact moistening, re-positioning computer. It also tends to stop working if I go under 15 km/h for too long (not frequent, but annoying).

Otherwise I like it for the overall mileage and immediate updates, since my phone lives in my pannier for the time being.

Edit: I did not order the same bag as [MENTION=379963]Dryvlyne[/MENTION], where I was ordering from it was out of stock and too long on back order.

I got this one: http://www.lightinthebox.com/roswhee...b_from=sysmail

I would have ordered both for comparative sake since for a few dollars more it was worth it. I would still like to see dryvlyne's bag at work.

and yours [MENTION=379016]ChiroVette[/MENTION]

Screw it, I just ordered this bag for $9.95 + .99 shipping. Even if it's total crap, Amazon will take it back, and if not, who cares for ten bucks, right?

What I like about this one, versus the one Dryvlyne linked to, which I was looking at the other day as well, is that this one mounts to the handlebars and turning post, NOT the upper tube. So there isn't anything there to scratch or mar up. Also, it fits the Note 2, which I have now, and Note 3, which I will likely upgrade too in the near future. Also, some reviews of the other bag cited that the zipper was actually jutted up against the steering post when the bag was mounted, making it difficult to open the bag, particularly while riding for the reviewer. The one I ordered has two zippers that meet, which I think makes it easier because you can set the "opening point" wherever you want to while it is mounted.

Edit: Something weird I just noticed is that according to the pics in your link and in my "Wish List" where the item was saved this week, this bag also has the double zipper, so I am not sure whether the reviewer knows what he is talking about OR if perhaps the pictures misrepresent the actual bag?

This looks like the perfect bag to store my wallet, to mount the external charger to the phone while the charger sits below it, and the phone in the top, clear plastic compartment. I guess I will see in a few days and report back here for anyone interested.

I have a basic cycling computer on the bike for instantaneous speed. It has other functions, but that's pretty much all I use it for.

For logging routes and keep better track of things, I use MapMyRide with my iPhone4s. I'm only using it as a datalogger, so the screen is off. I don't know how long it will last with a full charge that way, but when I go on long rides, I hook it up to a small solar power cell (about the same size as the phone) that has another 1400mAh battery. Never had it run out of battery with that, and the longest I've gone with that was about 5 hours (hiking).

I had a bag like the one linked to. The issue I had was my iPhone 5 mounted in an Otterbox case and with it inside the plastic the phone would overheat on hot days. So I took the holster that comes with the Otterbox Defender case and zip tied it to the stem. Works perfect and makes it very handy to get it on and off the bike.

I have a Wahoo speed and cadence sensor along with a Wahoo heart rate monitor connected to my phone. I use the Wahoo fitness app which is free and then upload from within the app to Strava. I use an external battery pack that is placed in a top tube bag to power my phone. I was going to get a Wahoo Rflkt but with it being so buggy I went with the external battery pack plus I can use it off the bike when I need it.

Well I got the bag yesterday and I'm sending it back. The main reason, and I don't know why I didn't realize this before, is that the phone is sealed inside the bag via a zipper and there is no way for me to access the power button at the top of my phone. Also, the bag is too large for my liking; it's 4 inches tall! I'm not a big fan of the velcro straps either - there's one at the top of the bag that wraps around the neck of the stem and then 2 straps underneath to wrap around the top tube. The quality of the straps is quite questionable to me and I'd just rather not risk it coming off.

On the plus side my 5.5" HTC One phone with TPU case comfortably fit inside the top window of the bag. The screen was also still pretty responsive through the plastic face.

So anyway it's going back and I'm just going to ask my LBS if they have any recommendations and see what they have in-stock. I'm probably going to end up going with some kind of stem mount that will let me change the orientation of the phone. Of course the trick will be finding something that reliably holds the phone secure and that won't interfere with the placement of my Aero bars.