El Cheapo GPS Loggers

[KneesUp]

I'd like to track how many miles I ride and how fast and so on, but I'm not particularly interested in navigation - I don't get much opportunity to go that far from home so I know where I am going, most of the time.

I've tried using my phone as a logger, but it doesn't seem to work very well once it's in my pocket or bag. I generally get a 'plot' that is a straight line from where I put it in my bag to where I took it out. It's not waterproof so I can't attach it to the bars because there are no waterproof cases for it (it's a Blackberry ...)

So I wondered if anyone has any experience of the loggers you can get for £20 to £30? The look tiny and so should be fairly easy to mount somewhere - it looks like one would fit alongside the battery in the little power-pack-pouch that came with my light. Because there is no screen the battery in the logger lasts ages, apparently.

This is the sort of thing I am talking about:



As I say, all I'm hoping for is data accurate enough to be meaningful so I can keep some sort of record of how much further and faster I'm riding. Thoughts much appreciated.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I may have imaginged it but I think @TimO may have used this tech at one time?

 

[albion]

They sound too much hassle to me.

Your smartphone, maybe unusual for today, does not sound too good for GPS so I suggest you buy a new cheap, just for GPS.
Argos at the mo does an 'EE Alcatel One Touch Pop C1' for £20. If it is still not pocket friendly, just pop it into a sandwich bag on a mount or use a waterproof mount.

For your logging Endomondo always seems extremely battery friendly, screen off and in Airplane mode.

 

[jefmcg]

It's not waterproof so I can't attach it to the bars because there are no waterproof cases for it

surely it would fit into something like this, if not then one of these

The other thing is (I'm not that familiar with BB), is it the GPS, or is the App pausing? On an android, I'd make sure the app was running in the foreground, so it will keep tracking. The app may be paused by the operating system the whole time it's in your bag.

 

[User33236]

I have a similar device that I use for geotagging photos. It get placed in a ziplock bag and hangs off the camera strap. It has even sat out on a balcony to see where a cruise ship went overnight. The data I get off it is very good as is the battery life.

 

[albion]

... On an android, I'd make sure the app was running in the foreground, so it will keep tracking..

Can't say I have ever needed to do that. I sometime even run a separate map system and the Endo tracking system. Seems to have continued to work fine when I've browsed the web too.

 

[User6179]

I found my android phone great for tracking rides , I have 20000 miles logged from 450 rides with maybe 2 or 3 rides where data was bad , I use a cheap HTC wildfire s , £50 from ebay , I keep it in back pocket or saddle bag with Data switched off to prolong battery life , I wonder if your recording with the data switched on which could affect recording rides I think !?

 

[tiermat]

One tip I found, to save battery life, is find out what the GPS timeout is for your phone.

Then, if the app supports it, set the refresh timeout to a number HIGHER than that. If the app doesn't support this function, find one that does!

the reasoning being, if the timeout on the app is lower than the phone's, each time the app does a satellite check, it resets the clock, thus the phone is constantly looking at the GPS data, and burning through your phone battery. If set to higher then the app GPS lookup doesn't interfere with the phone's and battery life is maximised.

 

[KneesUp]

Thanks all. Your solutions to using my phone have made me realise that I don't want to see my phone in front of me when I ride - I want to get away from the damn thing! And I quite like having seperate devices for seperate functions. Until I dropped it a few months ago I used to have a compact camera in my rucksack, for example. (Now I probably still have some bits of the plastic case of it in my rucksack)

@User33236 - that sounds like the sort of thing I need then. I was thinking I could fit it under the saddle in somne cling film or something.

 

[albion]

Well, you need to be aware that, not being mass market, many of these are old chipset units.
A good point though is that they often allow an external antenna attachment to compensate.

Also, a seat bag works better than under saddle. There is not that 'seventh planet from the sun' to navigate