Cheap Garmin alternative for iPhone?
 

Ok, I'm not a shill (honest Guv'). I don't even own a iPhone. Heard the guys on Velocast raving about this iPhone applications.

This maybe a good cheap alternative to Garmins for iPhone owners.

If anyone is using it let us know.

http://b-icycle.com/home.html

I thought mapmyride was the next best thing until I kept losing signal on rural roads. The annoying voice kept reminding me of my rapidly declining avg speed. Otherwise, it was pretty sweet.

Would be better if they had an "optional" speed module that did not depend on the GPS Signal but it does look cool...

I'm curious on how accurate it is.

A friend had the map my ride one on one of our rides, we stopped for a sec and he looked at his and said, "we only went 13 miles so far?" we were at about 24...so not to accurate. Not sure if thats the iphone or the mapmyride software.

Doesn't this rely on having signal/service? I thought this was how the iPhone does trick GPS i.e. uses cell towers to triangulate its position.

No signal = lost?

Maybe I'm wrong. I have not followed recent developments ..

I'm pretty sure the newest iPhone uses a true GPS chip. The downside so far is the maps, if you have no service you can't access a map. So even though the iPhone knows your location, it can't show it to you.

True, the iPhone 3G and 3G S use a standard GPS chip in them and are accurate to within 2 meters I believe.

They could remedy the mapping situation by allowing you to download maps beforehand and have them locally stored on your phone the way that xGPS and TomTom apps do.

As a matter of fact, I think I'll e-mail them right now and suggest they do that in the next version of their software.

Thanks,
David <-- Apple guy

MapMyRide's iPhone app is pure and unadulterated crap. I have installed it twice, and both times it totally borked my phone. To the point that the battery was lasting less than 20 minutes (from a full charge), the app would never close properly, and would crash repeatedly. If you attempted to use the app to track a ride, as soon as the screen blacked, the app stopped working.

runkeeper pro is nice, even for using on a bike...

I'm not sure why you're having these problems but Mapmyride works fine on my iPhone 3G. The biggest problem is that I sometimes lose the GPS signal which renders the ride worthless. That's not a fault of the program but a fault of the phone or local signal.

Garmin's supposed to be coming out with their nuviphone soon. It really sounds good, but I dont know how it'll work in reality.

Hopefully better in the rain than an iphone

Not exactly cheap, but Tom Tom released their iPhone app. Maps on board so no data connection needed. Apparently it also does specialized bike routes. Anyone have any experience with how well that feature works?

http://www.gpsreview.net/tomtom-app-review/

This guy seems to like it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyFjpVIC5qI

But $100 seems a bit steep.

Was wondering specifically about the bike routing feature.
A little pricy maybe, but being able to use routing without a data connection is a huge plus if you travel anywhere remotely remote.

Unless you absolutely have to have a map, Trailguru is excellent for tracking your ride. In 70+ rides this year, it has lost signal once and that was out in the middle of nowhere. The accompanying website tools (http://www.trailguru.com) are nice, and the app is free. It's worth giving a shot before dropping money on other apps.

Had my iPhone in the center back pocket of my jersey when I got caught in a downpour 9mi from home. Rain was so bad I couldn't see more than 10-15ft ahead so I figured the phone was toast; not so. Took it out of my pocket when I got home and it never missed a beat. Bummer, was looking for an excuse to upgrade (it's an original edge unit)

now that they opened up the blutooth a bit with OS3 I hope someone comes out with a complete package with software an a cadence/speed sensor that works with it

the battery is not sufficient to support extended use as a cycling computer. doesnt matter if its bluetooth or gps enabled. the phone in its current state will never be a do it all for us cyclist. later.

Not so if you could hook up something like this to your bike. :)

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze49gsg/

+1

I have the 3gs and love it but I wouldn't use it for my primary cyclometer and gps. My garmin 705 does that and I keep the iphone in a ziplock in my back jersey pocket. It just doesn't have the active battery time that the gps does and it relies on a phone signal to figure my location. Its great as my emergency back up. I also wouldn't be keen on mounting my iPhone on my bike ...not as sturdy as the garmin.

Reviving a thread from the dead, here, but I got an opportunity to try out the free version of mapmyride for iPhone.

Rather than using it as my primary computer, I started the session and put the phone into the seat bag and let it go to sleep mode. As another poster said, things like extended rides, rain, etc. do not make the iPhone a good option as a primary computer. Letting it go to sleep mode helps conserve the battery by a large margin if you were to use it as a primary.

Once I completed my little 20 mile loop, I was able to stop the session, and then it took a minute or so to send my route back to the main server. I looked at the route on the phone and it showed where I had gone, as well as mile markers along the route. I signed in online and was able to see the elevation profile of my ride, which was great.

They also give you a link to the route that you can send your friends or post up here for people to check out. I'm not entirely sure, but they may need to sign up for a free membership to view the routes. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

And a tip if you don't have a "premium" membership on mapmyride.com, download firefox, install adblocker for firefox, no more annoying ads on top of your map while you're browsing online.

If you want real time maps with preplanned routes, rain protection, etc. you'd probably be better off ponying up for a purpose-built Garmin.

But if you have a computer you are happy with, this program is a great little backup to map your routes and see a nice elevation profile of your ride. Especially since it's, you know, free.

I do think I'll be checking out trailguru for my next ride, however.


Another tip: and they warn you of this the first time you use the program, it's adviseable to turn off the wi-fi function on the phone, if you have it on for any reason. I assume that as it tries to find and join networks, it might conflict with the program somehow.

Can't comment on iPhone - seems like it "could work" when a garmin (or polar with g3 sensor) "will work".

As for sites, try gpies.com. Better maps and routing tools that may my ride for europe.

I like both but for different reasons.

Mapmyride has generally worked well on my iPhone. It doesn't crash the phone and as long as their is a GPS signal it works well. The pop-ups on my PC are a royal pain but I apparently need to install a blocker on my Firefox browser.

Thanks, Mike.

Battery life on my iPhone is a lot worse than that of my edge 305. Turning on the GPS features shortens it even more. If you already own an iPhone and don't want to spend more for a Garmin it might be worth a try, but I wouldn't want to depend on it for longer rides. FWIW I had to have the battery replaced on my edge305 after 3 years of heavy use. I don't know what the life expectancy is on my iPhone's battery. Neither are user replaceable. You can get external battery packs that will power either device.