Rick_D

Can confirm. My last phone swelled like a bad clam one day left in the sun for a bit. Battery got large enough to split the case open.

Now replaced, the current phone gobbles battery while navigating, but can go a couple days between charges with normal use. Of course part of that battery life is the display going to sleep. It uses GPS only while Garmin uses a combination of GPS and GNSS, IDK what iphone has, but phones can use a combo of GPS and the cell network itself for position and nav.

I use and prefer an 8-series Edge, swapping it among bikes. Weight is minuscule versus a smartphone and the Garmin mount is simple and dead reliable. And I can add Garmin has vastly expanded the features and reliability the years I've owned mine. Connect app has come a long way as well.

My $0.02

Steve B.

Never heard of a swelled clam.

rsbob 

The evolution of my cycling computing. Think of the progression of a monkey gradually becoming an upright man.

Started out with a can mounted on handle bars with a mechanical gear drive to the front wheel which supposedly showed speed. I then graduated had the classic old fashioned bike computer that measured speed using a magnet on the front wheel. Stepped up to an Avocet which had an altimeter. Now I could track climbing - heady stuff. But that computer was calibrated to determine to wheel circumference for mileage. Then I started using the free version of Strava - by keeping my phone in my back pocket and letting it record from there. I would later compare stats between the two, having real time and recorded versions. Then I tried a cheep GPS head unit but speed would always drop in sheltered areas, so knew that was far from accurate. A friend turned me on to Garmin, which I have been using ever since in conjunction with paid Strava. Now I have a wealth of data to gauge training and progress.

njkayaker

Try the phone. The big cost in trying it is buying a mount.

You can be off the grid whether or not you like it.

njkayaker

Modern phones (higher end ones) have pretty good GPSs. I'm not sure if the small Garmins are much better (if at all).

That's the recording rate. Not the sampling rate. The alternative is "smart" something where the Garmin won't save data if it doesn't change.

njkayaker

You can't change the sampling rate. You can change the recording rate. The point of that is to save space (not much of an issue any more).

terrymorse 

A distinction without a difference?

pdlamb

No, not really. Sampling rate is how frequently the internal electronics calculates the position. It'll then be post-processed and smoothed to reduce the jitter from noise in individual measurements and update the position estimate. Without knowing what Garmin's sampling rate is, I'd guess it's 10-1,000 samples per second.

Recording rate is how frequently the current estimate is written to the device's memory. That might be every second, or every three seconds, or whenever their proprietary algorithm thinks you've moved far enough to be worth recording.

Steve B.

As I understand this, only recording rate is important to the user as it determines track accuracy, which if no speed sensor is used, also impacts current speed, avg. speed and distance ridden. Although I assume if sampling rate is very low, then it will affect recording rate.

njkayaker

No. The thing you are changing has nothing to do with the sampling rate. It's something else.

You aren't getting worse data with the "smart" (might not be quite the right name) recording. You aren't getting any better data with the 1 second recording. The point of the "smart" recording is to save space (but there really isn't any need for that anymore).

Smartphones appear to save the data every 1 second too.

What the sampling rate is is mostly unknown. Except it's probably no longer than 1 second (for the Garmin or smartphones).

njkayaker

Garmin says it provides "slightly higher track fidelity".

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?fa...mK0P6l20SgpW28

Steve B.

Thank you

BlazingPedals

A GPS shows me riding straight down a road, while the phone app shows me wobbling all around between, and maybe IN ditches. Remember, the phone is using cell phone towers to roughly triangulate on you while the GPS uses satellites. I use the phone if I ever forget to bring my GPS to a ride; but it's a poor substitute.

terrymorse 

I would think all modern phones use GPS primarily for location, with cell towers and Wi-Fi signals as a coarse fall-back.

Racing Dan

Just so you know. Water proof phones are available and rechargeable waterproof bike lights too. My light has USB power bank function and can prolong the life of my water proof phone to as long as i can imagine riding. Any other power bank would work too, but the bike light already has a secure mount. Processing speed and image resolution on a phone is vastly superior to a bike computer and its online connected, so I can make new routes thats instantly available or instant rerouting should i miss a turn. I can listen to music, take calls, take pictures (should I care to), etc.

Imo a phone is great i many respects especially GPS routing, that make bike computers look archaic. But the down side is the lack of other specialized features that (to my knowledge) only exist inside dedicated devices.

njkayaker

Smartphones have GPS receivers (*).

Smartphones can also use cell towers and even WiFi to determine approximate location.

GPS can take a while to become accurate. Phones can use location from cell phone towers and WiFi to speed up this process.

WiFi is used when it can't get a GPS signal (like inside a building.

I have no idea why people don't mention the model of phone they are talking about. Smartphones don't typically perform as bad as you describe.

-------------------------------
* I don't know of any smartphones which don't have GPS but there might be rare examples.

njkayaker

Not exactly. They do use them as a fall-back but they also use them to get an initial approximate location for GPS.

GPS can take a while to start being accurate. The phones can use cell towers to make this process much faster.

Phones don't usually keep GPS running all the time (it uses too much battery). These other location methods are much faster. So, they will use these when GPS is too slow.

WiFi is typically used indoors where GPS signals can't be received. Phones collect WiFi network ids and locations and report them to centralized databases.

drlogik 

I use a Garmin Fenix 7 paired with my iPhone and Garmin speed and cadence sensors on my bike It tracks everything and is my portable bike computer that keeps track of steps, heartrate, sleep, etc.

mschwett 

may depend on the phone, the app, and the environment but for me a recent iPhone is far more accurate than any garmin or wahoo I’ve tried. iPhones use more than just GPS for location services, and in an urban environment that means much better positioning.

PromptCritical 

Yeah, relying on map technology on any device can be a great training tool as they can turn a planned 30 mile ride into a 55 mile (after dark) ride........

rsbob 

How is having relations with a partner better than by oneself? <-A more than adequate comparison.

PeteHski

It’s all about your individual use case. Probably 99% of Garmin Edge users like me will also have a paired phone in their pocket. Then you get the best of both worlds without any compromise. The Garmin makes an ideal compact, efficient, robust, glare free, bespoke head unit, paired to your smartphone to provide additional connectivity and functionality. No need for power banks as your phone is mostly on idle while the Garmin will run for days.

MikeDeason

\\What is the rain strategy for these units? Remove in downpours and leave in place for light showers ?

PeteHski

Garmin Edge units are waterproof

MikeDeason

Sure but it a pricey piece of electronics. You let it ride during a downpour ?