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Using your iPhone as a cycling computer / other cycling iphone apps

Spotted this on gizmodo today: http://gizmodo.com/5646063/how-to-use-your-iphone-as-a-bike-computer


I'm also looking for any iphone cycling-related applications anyone can recommend for some things I'm doing for macworld.com. If its terrible I want to know about it, and if its the coolest thing since steel lugs, I want to know about it!


robjdlc
2010-09-24 15:12:28

I picked this up a few weeks ago, it's only $5 and it’s a very cool cycling app. It’s called the Cyclemeter GPS Cycling Computer for Road & Mountain Biking (also has a running and walking mode).

The Cyclemeter app turns an iPhone into a GPS stopwatch. It continually records time, location, distance, elevation, and speed. You can also keep a database of ride history and maps. The app stops and and starts recording info on screen or by double tapping the earphone remote.

The very cool feature is the ability to set up automatic events to share Google maps of your rides via Facebook, Twitter, or email. Also with the ear piece you can hear replies from people using text to speech technology. At the end of a ride you hit “done” and it emails all the data to your home email address. This is the site for the company who makes the app:


http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/


greasefoot
2010-09-24 15:50:05

Greasefoot, how is it on battery? When I use my "maps" feature it sucks battery like a bear on honey.


edmonds59
2010-09-24 16:06:53

Yep it kills the battery, but the one in my phone is crap to begin with.


greasefoot
2010-09-24 16:20:38

Not iPhone, but Google makes a really cool app for Android phones called My Tracks. It's free, with no ads. It turns the phone into a GPS tracker and allows you to track any sort of trip and save the recording into a number of different file types for use with other devices/software.


I use it with www.ridewithgps.com and upload trips to it. Ex.: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/102780


mattre
2010-09-24 20:49:30

That looks cool. I would like something that is stem mounted because I don't have much handle bar space. I have been keeping my eyes open for cool programs like that.


jwright
2010-09-25 00:58:00

iMapMyRide.com also has apps for iPhone, crackberry, & droid. Decent web interface, elevation profiling, etc. Free versions have ads. Useful for commute & short rides, but you're not going to track a century with any phone app... gps just sucks the battery, at least on the iPhone. I think the longest ride I was able to track was around 45 mi / 3 hrs with any of the available iPhone apps. Ended up buying a Garmin Edge 305 w/ cadence sensor & HRM.


A very cool Mac desktop app is Ascent - will import gpx or kml files (mapMyRide can export both from your uploaded tracks, I'm pretty sure). Ascent has a great interface... gives power output estimates, rate of ascent, hill gradient info... all kinds of data overload.


quizbot
2010-09-25 01:54:46

Decent web interface, elevation profiling, etc. Free versions have ads. Useful for commute & short rides, but you're not going to track a century with any phone app... gps just sucks the battery, at least on the iPhone. I think the longest ride I was able to track was around 45 mi / 3 hrs with any of the available iPhone apps. Ended up buying a Garmin Edge 305 w/ cadence sensor & HRM.




buy ipad 2 cases thin ipad 2 case ipad carrying bags


pandoras
2011-07-07 09:02:34

^this pandoras post is probably SPAM


pseudacris
2011-07-07 12:18:42


Because pandoras' post makes a pretense of being real, I think it's more Treet than Spam.


reddan
2011-07-07 12:26:06

lol


pseudacris
2011-07-07 12:31:55

I use MotionX GPS. It does not seem to suck the battery. I have done some near century rides and still had plenty of battery left. I only turn the screen on to check stats, then I turn it off. The app runs constantly even when the screen is locked. After 7 hrs of riding I still had about 50% battery.

I also use a Topeak Iphone bag. It mounts the phone to the handlebars in a waterproof bag. You can still use the touch screen through the bag. Having the phone on the handlebars helps the GPS signal, compared with being in a camelback.


jwright
2011-07-07 12:50:05

I use the mapmyride app for the iPhone. I bought the $1.99 one so that got rid of ads and gives a few more features. Notable features are pace, speed, time, and the usual. The app is also ANT+ compatible. When done with a workout or ride it gives a nice layout of the ride including average speed, an elevation chart, estimated calories burned, and obviously the route taken. The only cons are sometimes the "current speed" freezes and the gps will draw a straight line over like 3 miles lol. It only does this if the workout is paused frequently. If you don't pause your workout it works well and does not glitch. I also wonder how accurate the speed readout is because I sometimes feel as if I am going much slower than what it says, I have not looked not it yet but I shall with another speedo. Although this might be due to the fact that I have been ridding on the fresh to death steel valley trail that is mostly flat, which is a terrain I am not accustomed to, and therefor might actually be going very fast. Battery life is good, although the case I use has a bit of a glare so I turn the brightness up. If the brightness is lower I am sure you could pull of a century ride if fully charged.


I also have the iBike phone booth handle bar mount. I have a few pictures but I don't know how to upload them lol. The case works well, very sturdy, fits great, great location on bars, as mentioned earlier the glare is sometimes rough, but this is the only issue I have found. The apple store online has it for $50, as opposed to the $70 the manufacturer has it posted for.


A few other notable cases where the wahoo fitness mount with ANT+ capabilities, looks really great and is super functional but out of my college kid price range at $150. the iBike also makes some other cases that are super expensive, like $350-$700.


A little long winded but hopefully it helps. I also realize this post is pretty old and was brought back to life by spam, but I was really excited to share what I have lol.


mphm
2011-07-07 13:25:32

Picked up a plastic cradle for my phone on ehay for $6. It did not fit my 31.8 bars so I cut up the mount a little and use 2 zip ties to attache it to my stem.


I have upgraded this Abvio app twice since the original post and it's still great. I also installed a power management app that helps some but the GPS still kills the battery.


The next iphone is supposed to be available in September. It's going to to have a faster processor that should help the GPS. Maybe it's time for an upgrade.


greasefoot
2011-07-07 14:03:21

I have the wahoo case. I started with their dongle... but lost it within a week. So decided it was worth putting the extra money into the case since it's also waterproof.


On the plus side it's compatible with any ANT+ gadgets you could want. And it has an API, so there are lots of aps out there that can use it. (I use imapmyride or their fisicia app.)


On the negative: I have occasional issues with it loosing the connection to my sensors. Also it drains the battery insanely quickly. A 2 hr ride takes the battery (iphone4) down under 50%. So basically, you are just getting started on a ride and you have to worry about the battery.


It does have a micro-usb port so you can attach a battery extender to it. I have such an extender, but haven't tried it yet.


myddrin
2011-07-07 19:34:03

For the Andriod's out there... Google's My Tracks is pretty cool. Tested it out on my ride to work. Stats:


Total Distance: 18.10 km (11.2 mi)

Total Time: 54:02

Moving Time: 48:39

Average Speed: 20.09 km/h (12.5 mi/h)

Average Moving Speed: 22.32 km/h (13.9 mi/h)

Max Speed: 60.30 km/h (37.5 mi/h)

Min Elevation: 195 m (638 ft)

Max Elevation: 355 m (1164 ft)

Elevation Gain: 330 m (1083 ft)

Max Grade: 10 %

Min Grade: -7 %


http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=216221239242950188889.0004a780808cb2b9bdb60


Morningside to McCandless


sgtjonson
2011-07-07 20:31:07

As much as I wanted to do everything on my phone, the battery life is a big issue. There's no doubt Garmin beats the crap out of phones in this area - also the screen is much more readable in bright sunlight. Although I'm still thinking I'll need something like this if I want to record my track on the GAP: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013G8PTS


salty
2011-07-08 01:20:26

@salty: Yeah that's pretty much what you need. I got a 5400mAH one for about $50.


BTW, I had some issues with the Wahoo case recently. It fell off the mount 3x on a ride, the last time as I was coming down Sycamore. That destroyed the case cover.


Emailed the company and I had one of the 'old mounts' that had a design flaw. They sent me a new case cover and 2 mounts at no charge....


But if you have a wahoo and their bike mount, make sure there is a little rubber nubbin near the mounting screw. If there isn't, get in touch with them.


myddrin
2011-07-20 15:55:08

Jason: May I ask, where did you purchase the Topeak iPhone dry bag? I haven't been able to locate one. Thanks!


vannever
2011-07-21 16:15:02

Vannevar: I work at a shop. They became available at one of our distributors for about a millisecond and then sold out. I was lucky enough to get one. I would like to get more but they have been sold out. At this point it looks like they might come back in a week or two. The are cheep too: $20-25 retail.


jwright
2011-07-22 12:35:46

I like how that one has a cadence sensor, Rob. Also looks like it would work somewhat for indoor training, at least to hold speed? For $99 though according to the LiveRider website, I would find it frustrating. I would rather not see cadence and just have MapMyRide running in my rear pocket.


I got sick of MapMyRide killing my android's battery so I finally got a Garmin Edge 500 which I absolutely love. Worth the investment now that I want to see so much more data and improve everything else.


flys564
2011-07-22 13:33:35

Ive got the MapMyRide app and it doesnt kill my battery nearly as bad as the gizmodo app did. It does seem to have random failures though causing you to lose any progress you've made, but I think thats due to my phone not the app.


boostuv
2011-07-22 14:51:16

MapMyRide on the iphone really sucks down the juice... it used to be that you could turn of the GPS, which helped a lot...especially if you are using the ANT+ functionality to capture speed/cadence.


Sadly, it looks like you can't do that any more. If you have the wahoo setup, they have a free app called "WahooFitness" that will post to MMR. You can turn the GPS off and it uses less battery... and seems to crash less often.


However, it lacks the twitter/facebook integration... so I usually end up using MMR and grumbling.


There are a bunch of other apps that provide the same functionality...but I've not tried them.


myddrin
2011-07-22 15:25:09