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Cyclemeter and iPhone or new Garmin, or Wahoo??

11K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  bjoshuanoah 
#1 ·
Greetings,

I have searched a bunch on this, but didn't really find much to my liking.

So I currently have a Garmin 500 that is a few years old and has been put through just about everything you could throw at it. I also like getting new gear every so often and considering getting a new Garmin 520 or the 820, and even the new Wahoo. Then I thought, "what are some other options out there?".

Then I heard of Cyclemeter, and it got me thinking that I could just get a Quad Lock for my 6s+, use my current Scosche Rhythm HR monitor, (I'd probably have to get a bluetooth cadence sensor though since I don't believe my Garmin sensor is BT), and I'd be good to go. It would certainly be cheaper to go this route. But would I be happy with it?

My Garmin 500 has been good to me and I haven't experienced any bugs that others have. It did run out of battery while riding last year's Levi's Fondo though.

I really need to be able to get notifications of phone calls and texts while riding without having to stop to see who it is since I'm on call 24/7 for work. All of the new units do this, as does my phone of course if it's not in my back pocket.

So the question is: would I be happy with using Cyclemeter and my iPhone, or get a new Garmin/Wahoo?

Thanks you in advance for your thoughts.

Brandon
 
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#2 ·
I use Cyclemeter to monitor my rides, and it seems to work fairly well.

Also, I use a wired computed. It and Cyclemeter usually match fairly closely.

Elevations on Cyclemeter sometimes get a little weird, but some of the GPS/barometric altimeter units get wonky once in a while, so I've read.

I have Cyclemeter configured to send me an e-mail after the ride. The e-mail has a map of the route, 1-mile splits, speed graph, elevation graph, miles, max speed etc.

Works for me.
 
#3 ·
So the question is: would I be happy with using Cyclemeter and my iPhone
Maybe. I know some people who use their phones for ride data. It works well enough.

Some drawbacks....
You have a giant iPhone strapped to your bike.
If your bike falls or you crash, you could damage your expensive phone.
Your phone probably isn't water proof.
If you're going to use it for mapping, you'll probably need to carry an external battery.
 
#4 ·
I use Cyclemeter, have a BT speed/cadence sensor, BT optical HR monitor, and a Wahoo RFLKT. I love the setup!

But I'm also very casual in my data gathering and monitoring. Most of the time I don't have my HR monitor and the display on my RFLKT is time, distance, speed, and clock. And the clock is probably my most viewed field. I commute, stick to familiar routes, and mostly enjoy JRAs so maps aren't an issue. The statistics recorded on my phone are more to satisfy my curiosity rather than motivation to improve.

The RFLKT is able to display phone/text notifications but only when the Wahoo app is open, not when you're using Cyclemeter. That makes me sad as the capability is there but not through my preferred app.

So that's a long-ish post that doesn't really answer your question but does at least provide a datapoint.
 
#6 ·
My boss had tried the wahoo and finally gave up and went with a Garmin along with his iPhone. Personally, I use a Garmin along with my Samsung galaxy S5 active and leave my Note 5 at home. Wouldn't think about going on a ride without a phone in my back pocket.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
 
#8 ·
I just got the Wahoo Elemnt. It's my first real computer and it works great with the notifications, battery life, navigation etc.

I'm using the Elemnt to replace my wahoo rflkt+ which also worked. That also might be something you might consider. Record to the phone, keep it in your pocket, use the rflkt to see your ride data, and get notifications. Also the rflkt+ has an ant+ bridge, so no need to replaces your cadence sensor.

Usually the reason more serious cyclists don't use their phone is battery life. Keeping the screen on, and GPS, you're lucky to get more than 3 hours of battery life on your phone. The rflkt fixes that problem.

I'm really happy with the Elemnt thought. Seriously a great choice, and I'm happy to be using a real computer now.

I'm also selling my rflkt+ if you're interested
 
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