I want strava, the cheapest way?

[FluffyChicken]

Re: Re:

Only on initial connection as with satnavs. After that iirc Strava will be on straight GPS only at least on the older OS.
I always turned data off and there was never a problem once locked. Even Strava recommended to turn it off.

I don't know how automatic the GPS logging I'd on android of if the app has to initiate a-gps calls.

Either way them with sims still have problems (mine old does have a sim and would still not lock at the start where the new phone does it rapidly)

Like I said though grab a fee one and test it out. Battery is what I'd be more worried about, a half
mile of missing data at the start is nothing.


I keep asking as others do for just a old fashion logger like it used to be, but they insist we need built in feeds, shop, training videos.....

 

[Neil]

Re: Re:

Only on initial connection as with satnavs.

Depends on the handset and reception / view of the sky.

Ideally, many sat navs will use data to help acquire quickly, but also in instances where sat reception becomes limited. All I'm saying is that without data, acquiring may take a lot longer than you'd imagined, plus on plotting routes, you may find some wierd spikes or jumps in the position.

You have to bear in mind, that SoC devices incorporating gps radios are something of a compromise or "Jack of all trades" compared to dedicated gps devices - your average smartphone, will likely have a cellular radio, bluetooth radio, WiFi radio, GPS radio and possibly NFC (WiFi and NFC will likely depend on how modern it is, or how good a model it is). Things like aerials may be compromised in terms of size or position, and reception performance may largely be designed to be augmented by the A in A-GPS (on several of my smartphones, the A-GPS options list several options - data, network, WiFi, bluetooth (bluetooth GPS receiver)) as options to assist with the GPS funcationality.

I'm not saying it won't work, but what I am saying - and from experience of using sat nav on a smartphone without a sim in, in faraway lands, that acquisition times can be considerably longer, and maintenance of reception not as good (as there's no data to try and sustain positioning, or re-acquiring in some "blind" spot).

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

Half the time where we ride thee is no reception anyway. So a moot point. But I know about all the stuff. You used to load the satnavs with data of current SATs to get a quicker lock. Now they can have sims or connect to mobiles they do it themselves.

Either way its not something I would rely on and its not something GPS devices have. Having more SATs to lock on always helps.

 

[Neil]

Re: Re:

Half the time where we ride thee is no reception anyway. So a moot point. But I know about all the stuff. You used to load the satnavs with data of current SATs to get a quicker lock.

Some standalone sat navs used to get regular ephemeris data updates when connected to a computer.

But point being, they had dedicated chipsets and typically better antennas.

Either way its not something I would rely on and its not something GPS devices have.

It's not something that earlier GPS devices had, because a) there was no easy way for them to do so and b) they had dedicated GPS chipsets and more optimal, sensitive GPS antennas (and you could often plug in external GPS antennas, for automotive GPS).

Smartphones and other SoC devices are very much a compromise, especially as they may well have countless radios, so what they lack in sensitivity and GPS reception, they counter by trying to use other signals to augment, as in assisted GPS.

All I'm saying is that smartphones are already a compromise - that they mitigate by A-GPS - and secondly some perform notably better than others. Given the choice between a used Garmin, and a budget smartphone with data disabled, I'd go with the Garmin, all other things being equal.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

A GPS is there because you're you're likely to be in or near building than anything else.

Where in the country you ate does not matter for GPS though unless under dense trees or similar.

Chip set info is sparse for anything these days. But if a Garmin 510 pops up for 70 certainly go for it. It's design a a cycle computer. You can link it to your smartphone too to overcome its lack of WiFi shortfall.
They'll soon have it and sim slots like car satnavs.

Still my smartphone have never been innacuarte enough to worry about ;-).

I assume you can Hotfix the garminn like you can the satnavs version of old/cheaper?

 

[T'boo Ted]

Re:

Personally I would say the easiest as you said cheapest and esiest, since your not tech minded. Get a cheap android as others have said. Downlaod strava. I'd assume you'd have some data on whatever plan/sim you have (don't know whats what over in the UK, but here in OZ we have terrible phone packages compared to the rest of the world, but still plenty to make strava work happily), but leave data ON, that way, all you do is start the strava app, lock onto satellites then prest start, and at the end press finish...thats it. No having to fluff around syncing later or finding wifi or buying other things. Strava uses f all of data and so long as you keep the screen off, even my xperia S will last use 50% battery on a 3 1/2 hour ride, and that has a crap battery.

If you don't want a smart phone, just don't use any of the extra junk (except strava of course)

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

It's not exactly hard to tap the WiFi icon to turn it on when you're at a place to do it.

Much cheaper than keeping a pay as you go card topped up for data or pay the unreasonable data charges on anything unbundled.

You basically use it like a mini tablet which all cope very well without a mobile data connection.

P.S. situation as used by me for a very long time and I still do sometimes on my old phone.

Anyway, plenty of suggestions any take your fancy?

 

[chrisv40]

Re:

I'm with Fluffy on this one, my old Sony Experia Tipo wit no sim card is my strava device. Locks to sats pretty quick and very rarely have any problems after that other than in very poor weather conditions.
Simply switch the wifi on at the pub after the ride and upload.

 

[Kerplunk]

Re:

Chain Reaction have the Bryton 40E for £75 at the moment. Seems very good value for a Grmin Edge 500 equivalent. Basic model so doesnt include heartrate belt or speed/cadence sensor.

 

[legrandefromage]

avoid older cheap samsungs like the Galaxy Junior - its small but the screen is awful