I don't know whether I like Strava or not

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johnnyb47

johnnyb47

Guru
Location
Wales
I've just got back from a 60 mile ride and I used the strava phone app and my bike computer. As far as I know the bike computer is pretty accurate as it always records "dam near to it "the same as other riders when we go out for a ride. The strava phone app though ,does seem to be slightly optimistic. My bike computer recorded that I did 59.54 miles at an average of 15.2 mph today.
The strava recorded 63.5 miles at an average of 16 mph ,and the way my legs are feeling ,there telling me I've just simply done to many miles lol. I've also noticed that if I switch the mobile 3/4g data off but and just use the GPS the ride data becomes less accurate. The recorded route becomes more erratic for some strange reason. Battery life on the phone in all fairness is not bad at all whilst using Strava.I spent near enough 4 hours on the bike today and it was only down to 60% charge when I finished. As people have rightly said in previous posts, I'm now just using it to record my ride and use it for reference against my own personal best and to see what my friends are doing .
All the best,
Johnny :-)
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Never used Strava and never will but I do find Strava Earth fascinating, especially looking at cities I know like Lagos and seeing how far somebody is cycling around there.
 
Location
Norfolk
Get the Garmin Connect app for your phone and link it to your Garmin800, it then uploads automatically and if you link your Garmin Connect to Strava it uploads to that too.
It works with my 520 not sure about the 800, it also shows phone messages on your Garmin screen if you want that,I find it annoying so don't use that feature.
It must use bloothooth then? Not sure the 800 has it
 

xzenonuk

Veteran
no idea how accurate it is but it is the only tool i have been using, i some times take a peak at my average speed mid ride when im stopped and having a rest but i usually wait untill i get back to check the details out.

im guessing by it been the only tool im using it can be as inaccurate as it wants to be since im comparing it to itself and no other forms of measurement so that any improvements on my average speed etc should be consistent :smile:

got a cheapo speedo on my mtb but i don't even have the sensor part equipped any more and i never put one on the road bike, i find theres times im feeling knackered at bits and feel im going slow then i discover i actually got some personal records after wards :smile:

always have wifi and 3g/4g off only gps on, on both a note 4 and a galaxy s3, never had a problem with battery life.
 

bpsmith

Veteran
If you want to check out variances between the Strava App and Garmin computers, then have a look at the difference in elevation figures.
 

KenDave

Regular
Location
Cumbria
My bike computer recorded that I did 59.54 miles at an average of 15.2 mph today.
The strava recorded 63.5 miles at an average of 16 mph.......
I can safely say that I have never seen differences like that between my Cateye and the Android Strava app on my phone. Over that sort of distance I reckon I might have seen decrepancies of maybe .2 or of a mile at the very worst.
How does the GPS track look if you zoom in to the map? Does it basically follow the roads you took? Have you tried recreating the course in something like RidewithGPS or the Strava course creator to see what distance the ride should have been?
 

Milzy

Guru
Just to confuse things even further though, I use Strava and MapMyRide, and also Cateye computers on 2 of my bikes. I find MMR and the computers very close, but Strava is almost always out of sync with them. My average speed is nearly always 0.4 mph slower on Strava than with the others, occasionally it is out by more or less than that margin. As I use MMR and Strava on the same phone, I guess it is an issue with the apps rather than the phone. It doesn't matter whether I use them alone or run them simultaneously, the difference is always there, and autopause is always on.

Strava is a more social thing than MMR, but I can see why people say it draws them into a competitive mindset, which is perhaps why I use MMR as well because it tells me I am quicker, despite knowing I am not a particularly fast cyclist.
Competition helps people get better. We all need motivation and a push sometimes. It’s just sad when people become jealous of their peers when they become stronger. Start to feel bad about their own fitness. Instead of eating right and training well they just delete their account. :sad:
 

Mr Celine

Discordian
It's not actually true that Strava on the phone app is necessarily rubbish. I think it depends on the phone. I ran the Android Strava app along side a well calibrated Cateye cycle computer for several years, and the recorded distance was always very close.
When I recently got a Garmin Edge 520, on my first ride I used the Garmin, the Strava phone app, as well as the Cateye. All three devices gave exactly the same distance. (Albeit only over about 35 miles). Also, when checking a whole bunch of Strava segments, the times given by both the Garmin and the phone app were all very close. (The largest difference I could find was 2 seconds, most were 0 or 1 second different).

Strava and my wired cycle computer are generally very close as far as distance goes, eg my longest ride on strava was 103.5 miles whereas my computer had it as 105.
I joined strava at the beginning of 2017. The KOM I referred to up thread is on an off road segment which was demolished in about 2014 as part of a flood prevention scheme. A replacement path was built with lovely smooth tarmac, but on a completely different route, though it starts and finishes at the same place as the old path. Sometimes strava shows me as having ridden the demolished segment. There have been times recorded by other riders in the last two or three years as well. Mrs Celine and I have ridden side by side along this 'segment', my strava said I did it but hers did not. Both android phones, so I think it comes down to the accuracy of the individual GPS.
The downside to this is that I can't record a time on Dingleton Hill as strava always shows me deviating off the segment on to Melrose Golf Course.
 
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