iphone GPS tracking, anyone?

[7rider]

One of the guys on the shop ride uses his phone to track his bike rides via GPS. I think he's got a Blackberry, however, and not an I-Phone. Some limitations to the programming and I don't recall what they were...However, he seems to like it. It's kind of funny to see him ride with this great big phone-thing snapped to his handlebars (esp. compared to other more traditional bike computers), but he says it works fine.

[amithereyet]

It seems as if the smartphone software/hardware may not be ready yet for reliable, accurate, simple-minded distance/speed logging.

Darn.

I am still looking for reasons to upgrade my old phone.

[Mr. Bloom]

I have the iPhone 3G and installed iMapMyRide on it. My Garmin is preferable for many reasons:

- until they improve the iMapMyRide software, the phone must be actively "on"...and that's a major power drain on an already limited iPhone battery supply
- I have reason to believe (but do not know) that it uses cellular towers for positioning which may be challenging in rural areas
- the iPhone is large and probably not easily mountable on the handlebars for reference
- the iPhone is considerably more fragile than any alternative.

I think the idea is neat, but not "ready for prime time" in cycling yet.

IMHO

[HillSlugger]

I have the iPhone 3G and installed iMapMyRide on it. My Garmin is preferable for many reasons:

- until they improve the iMapMyRide software, the phone must be actively "on"...and that's a major power drain on an already limited iPhone battery supply
- I have reason to believe (but do not know) that it uses cellular towers for positioning which may be challenging in rural areas
- the iPhone is large and probably not easily mountable on the handlebars for reference
- the iPhone is considerably more fragile than any alternative.

I think the idea is neat, but not "ready for prime time" in cycling yet.

IMHO

I carry my iPhone with me when I ride so it's pretty easy to just turn on one of these programs and give it a try. I've used Trail Guru and Every Trail and neither worked well with my older iPhone. I have "The Bike Computer" but when I tried to use it on Sunday it couldn't locate my starting point even though I had decent signal. I'd expect the new iPhone with GPS to work better, but I'm sure they've got a long way to go to match a Garmin.

[OakLeaf]

Mr. S. has a good point about the battery life. DH doesn't use any of the fitness software on his iPhone, but when he turns the location services on for car navigation, traffic, etc.,, he's lucky to get a full day out of the battery.

[NbyNW]

I have Trailguru on my 3G iPhone and it works pretty well. You can upload your data to the Trailguru website and track your trips. I've only used it on longer walks, and I'm planning to try it on my bike if I can ever manage to get rid of this cold that I've had forever.

[Mr. Bloom]

For kicks, I took the iphone on a 13 mile ride today using iMapMyRide.

It was very accurate relative to the Garmin.

It used 60% of the phone's battery life in 13 miles.

The "Locator" services are apparently real power hogs. Plus I was in a 3G area which uses more power.

Finally, it was in my jacket pocket, so it didn't help much on gauging speed, etc.

I'll only use it as a backup to the Garmin on those rare times where I forget to charge it up...