Best GPS tracker

[Alan O]

I'm looking for a new GPS fitness tracker for my cycling, and I'm finding the comparisons and reviews out there very confusing - mainly because they're so general. So it must be better to ask cyclists!

I have a Fitbit Surge, but the battery is failing, and as far as I can discover it is not replaceable. It will only last around 2 hours now on GPS - it used to give me 5-6 hours per charge. I have a portable charger, so I can recharge it on a lunch stop, but having to stop and charge every couple of hours is obviously not practical.

What I want is a replacement that has a battery life enough to, ideally, track a full day ride or very close to it - I'll need something for doing the Liverpool-Chester-Liverpool 100 in July (at a touring pace).

So good GPS battery life is the most important factor for me, I also want HR monitoring (and step counting for when I'm out walking), and I have no interest in smartphone notifications, messaging, or any of that stuff. It also needs to work with iOS/Mac.

Does anyone have any experience of devices that would suit my needs? Grateful for all suggestions.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[bikingdad90]

If you are not interested in mapping but want breadcrumb (point to point straight line) trails than I have a a trywin D3 going spare. It is ant + compatible so can take speed/cadence/hr monitors. Yours for £25 posted from me or for a bit more new on eBay.

Otherwise cycle Republic have a Garmin Touring with HR strap for £100.

 

[Alan O]

If you are not interested in mapping but want breadcrumb (point to point straight line) trails than I have a a trywin D3 going spare. It is ant + compatible so can take speed/cadence/hr monitors. Yours for £25 posted from me or for a bit more new on eBay.

Otherwise cycle Republic have a Garmin Touring with HR strap for £100.

That's a kind offer, thanks, but I really want a wrist device that does GPS/HR all in one. The Fitbit Surge would still be ideal if it had longer GPS battery life and a replaceable battery.

Alan

 

[bikingdad90]

Maybe worth contacting fitbit about the battery life to see if they can do anything. I hear they have pretty good customer service as my mam had one and it just stopped working so she rang them and they "tapped" into the device and established it was faulty and then sent an upgraded one in the post to her FOC.

I think Polar and Lezyne now do a range of GPS watches. Februarys edition of Cycling Plus has a review of handheld fitness gadgets in it.

 

[cyberknight]

If you are not interested in mapping but want breadcrumb (point to point straight line) trails than I have a a trywin D3 going spare. It is ant + compatible so can take speed/cadence/hr monitors. Yours for £25 posted from me or for a bit more new on eBay.

Otherwise cycle Republic have a Garmin Touring with HR strap for £100.

Does the d3 have autopause ? my edge 200 battery is on the way out and im thinking of either changing the battery or looking for a replacement.

 

[bikingdad90]

Hi yes it does automatically pause when using the competing/training mode on a course which is loaded but not sure about when you use it on record a ride mode.

 

[jefmcg]

So it must be better to ask cyclists!

Cyclists almost universally keep their GPS devices on their handlebars, so we are not best informed to help you.

If you are just interested in GPS recording and heart rate, how are your needs different to a runner's?

 

[djb1971]

I use a Garmin vivoactive hr and a Lezyne micro c watch. I only use a bar mounted gps if I need mapping. I don't care to see how fast I'm going or avg.'s etc until I'm back home. I also got fed up of buying a gps for every bike or swapping them over when I went out, which I always forgot to do.

The Lezyne is very, very buggy and online routing is not yet up and running, except start-end with no way of altering the route with waypoints, something Lezyne omit from their sales pitch. Battery life is abysmal with slow charge times. It could be good but needs major improvements. Steps etc. are pretty good but it's not there as a package. It also drops the signal between itself and iphone7 lots. Mapping needs a constant connection to the phone.

You best option is the vivoactive HR. It's 90% there. It does all of the major sports with built in HR which is okay as a guide. Battery life is good and charge time is fast. Waterproof. It's just a shame that it looks like something from the original Star Trek series.

Above is based on cycling and hiking, I'm not built for running...............unless it's after the ice cream van

 

[Drago]

+1 for the Vivoactive HR. Excellent battery life, surprisingly fast recharge, excellent GPS with a nice fast lock, all sorts of free apps to personalise it for your chosen sports.

 

[Alan O]

If you are just interested in GPS recording and heart rate, how are your needs different to a runner's?

Good question. I'd say it's really just that I want enough GPS battery life to track full-day rides, which are far longer than most people's runs.

Alan

 

[jefmcg]

Good question. I'd say it's really just that I want enough GPS battery life to track full-day rides, which are far longer than most people's runs.

Alan

Cool, then walkers are who you want. Looks like you have a good answer from one.

Also

http://andrewskurka.com/2015/battery-life-comparison-gps-sport-watches/

Edit: that link is 2 years old, and clearly predates the watch recommended above.

 

[Alan O]

You best option is the vivoactive HR. It's 90% there. It does all of the major sports with built in HR which is okay as a guide. Battery life is good and charge time is fast. Waterproof. It's just a shame that it looks like something from the original Star Trek series.

Thanks, that looks like a pretty good candidate.

 

[Alan O]

Cool, then walkers are who you want.

There's certainly a lot of overlap with walkers, yes, but there's one difference in GPS 'fixing' intervals (sorry I don't know the technical term) in that walkers generally don't need fixes so frequently as they go at a far slower speed, and that has a big effect on battery life.

That's why I'm asking cyclists for their opinions on wristwatch style devices, based on actual experience of cycling use.

 

[dfthe1]

And another for the Vivoactive HR. I use it for cycling and running as well as everyday fitness tracking. Fantastic bit of kit. Battery very easily saw me through a 100 mile sportive with plenty to spare.

 

[Milkfloat]

There is also the Vivosmart HR+ This has the added trick of broadcasting your HR to Ant+ devices, which could be handy if you get a dedicated cycle computer.