Bicycle SatNav

[dr snuggles]

I would question Mr Garmin's ability to provide a realistic/accurate/usable route when given an end point to go to .... that's the one thing that lets down the Garmin range - put your own routes in and don't let it interfere or try and correct you is the answer!

Spot on!

 

[doog]

Oh cobblers. A phone can be a satnav just fine thanks, in some ways better.

Or maybe you're also going tell me that I can't use my phone as the remote for my telly, or to open my front gate, or to control the temperature on my brew fridge.

My garmin bounces quite well, my phone doesnt. Theres probably a difference between something designed for being on a handlebar of a touring bike for a month than something designed as a 15 year old girls fashion accessory . I appreciate thats not the point of the thread but lets get real eh !

 

[mjr]

On handlebars? Put the phone in the top of the bar bag, like most tourers do with maps. Plenty of shock absorbing. You can even get bar bags where the touchscreen works through the clear lid.

 

[contadino]

My garmin bounces quite well, my phone doesnt. Theres probably a difference between something designed for being on a handlebar of a touring bike for a month than something designed as a 15 year old girls fashion accessory . I appreciate thats not the point of the thread but lets get real eh !

You've gotta make your mind up. Either a phone is a phone, used solely for talking to people and nothing else, or it's a teenage fashion accessory. It can't be both.

And it certainly can't be put in a rugged case to protect it from a fall. No, cos that would be witchcraft.

Obviously the idea of leaving it in a pocket and using audio turn by turn instructions is too much for you. Obviously anyone suggesting that would be in league with devils. Magic voices. Burn him!

 

[doog]

Obviously the idea of leaving it in a pocket and using audio turn by turn instructions is too much for you.

Probably, how can you hear a phone talking to you from your pocket on a downhill or into a headwind....I think your getting slightly desperate now.

 

[contadino]

Probably, how can you hear a phone talking to you from your pocket on a downhill or into a headwind....I think your getting slightly desperate now.

Really...? Desperate..? Maybe just clean ears.

If I couldn't hear my phone talking to me, I'd probably concede that it wasn't safe for me to be on the road because I certainly wouldn't be able to hear anyone else.

 

[doog]

Really...? Desperate..? Maybe just clean ears.

If I couldn't hear my phone talking to me, I'd probably concede that it wasn't safe for me to be on the road, because I certainly wouldn't be able to hear anyone else.

So in conclusion. You turn off everything on your phone to squeeze some battery life from it. You come across some free wifi and you turn it on, then off to conserve battery. You need to make a call so its back on , then its off. ...repeat. Should you forget to turn off its dead in 5 hours.

You havent actually done your claimed GPS enabled 25 hours, you are just making assumptions on one ride.

You cant mount it on the bars without spending out on a bar mount that may or may not do its job...on a tour. Prior to that you wrapped it in a case to protect it from knocks that may or may not work- no one has ever tried it.....and that includes you. It also needs to be waterproof but you prefer to stick it in your pocket......have you ever toured in an 8 hour downpour ?...it will get wet.

Lastly you recommend audio turn by turn from your pocket. Have you tried doing this and what is the effect on battery let alone not being able to hear it.....as I said, try cycling for hours into a head wind. In addition turn by turn software is crap for cyclists, so when you reach that Autobahn or farmers field you are digging in your pocket to look for a different route.

If only there was a simpler and much cheaper alternative.

 

[contadino]

Oh my word. You're nuts.

No. This is stuff I've been using for months and it works just fine. I don't want anything on my bars and I don't need anything there.

Reach an Authbahn? WTF? I've never been so lost that I've found myself in Germany.

How about you stick with your wax slates and I'll carry on with what I have. Maybe one day you can wipe out those 'There be monsters' marks wherever you have never been.

 

[mjr]

In London is the only place I have had problems hearing the directions over the traffic but that's cured by using an earphone.

I don't have to turn all phone signals off to conserve power but I usually turn Wi-Fi and data off to save a bit, because I'm not using them if I'm riding. It's easy to remember to turn them off on Android because you can put the data on/off toggles next to the screen off control... It won't use that much more if you forget sometimes but we all like to maximise time between recharges, don't we?

 

[doog]

Oh my word. You're nuts.

No. This is stuff I've been using for months and it works just fine. I don't want anything on my bars and I don't need anything there.

Reach an Authbahn? WTF? I've never been so lost that I've found myself in Germany.

How about you stick with your wax slates and I'll carry on with what I have. Maybe one day you can wipe out those 'There be monsters' marks wherever you have never been.

Talking about way lyrical.

worth considering this is the Touring and Expedition forum. ..practical advice welcome please, not someone who popped down to Tesco with his smartphone in his pocket and claimed it will do 25 hours GPS tracking without charge.

 

[contadino]

Talking about way lyrical.

worth considering this is the Touring and Expedition forum. ..practical advice welcome please, not someone who popped down to Tesco with his smartphone in his pocket and claimed it will do 25 hours GPS tracking without charge.

Ha! I guess it would be pointless trying to explain that my nearest Tesco is maybe 2000km away...

 

[shouldbeinbed]

OP might I suggest you consider HERE maps, it ia now available on each smartphone platform, you can download individual country maps quickly and free from across the world to your device and use them for turn by turn navigation offline. I've used it very happily and receiving more direct and 'as if I were plotting it myself on a paper map' routes than Mrs SBs iDevices or google maps.

& Frankly the hysterical screeching about a Garmin (ono) is better than anything ever made, ever, full stop, cross my fingers & turn around 3 times so no returns is like reading a thread of One Direction fans slagging off McBusted.

 

[srw]

& Frankly the hysterical screeching about a Garmin (ono) is better than anything ever made, ever, full stop, cross my fingers & turn around 3 times so no returns is like reading a thread of One Direction fans slagging off McBusted.

Really?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Whether it's a phone or a dedicated unit, for cycling you are best off figuring your own route out beforehand than using turn-by-turn navigation. It will make for a much more pleasurable experience. A bike specific routing algorithm that allows trails will likely take you down some muddy hell of a footpath, and a car specific one down some hideous dual carriageway or even a motorway, and avoid a handy alleyway cut-through. Much better to figure it out yourself first on a map, program that into the device and ask the device to follow that, or navigate by following a line by eye.

That's all IMO, btw.

I never think twice about asking my car satnav to navigate me somewhere, but I'm far more wary when on the bike as I'm more picky about the route, preferring nice lanes, avoiding monster junctions. Of course if your requirement is different -say you are making a load of deliveries or something, then you'll come to different conclusions.

 

[Danny]

Maybe I have misunderstood how they work, but my understanding is that mapping apps on phones do not provide true GPS functionality. In other words they don't get their location from the global positioning satellites but rather by triangulating their position in relation to telephone masts. This in turn means that if you are out of range of a telephone mast they can't tell you where you are.

This was certainly my experience on a recent tour when I discovered my paper map had fallen out of my rear pocket and I was trying to use my phone to work out the route to our destination.