GPS for long distance riding

[James1978]

Hi,

I am planning a 200 mile off-road ride in July for charity and want to track it through GPS. Ideally I would just use my iphone 5 and a popular App, I am going to be riding for at least 20 hours and my phone will not see me through it alone. Does anyone know the best way to keep the battery, recharge it with a reserve or know an alternative way?

Thank for your time

Regards
James

[123ttam]

for a one off journey have you thought of one of these

http://tinyurl.com/d36o54g

or long verson

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keyw ... lkgyyvbp_b

Matt

[BeeKeeper]

Depending on your model of phone you may be able to buy additional batteries on Amazon. This could be a cost effective alternative if you can't borrow a GPS from someone which takes disposable batteries.

[ernycb]

How quickly do these battey pack chargers, charge a phoe ?

[RickH]

How quickly do these battey pack chargers, charge a phoe ?

I've just checked & my phone charger says its output is 1A while my battery pack (Veho Pebble 5000mAh) says 0.75A. So charging will, in theory, take 1/3 longer than normal. In reality I've never found myself wondering why the phone was taking so long to charge & hadn't actaully noticed any difference.

Rick.

[CJ]

A proper GPS, such as the Etrex-20, will better resist the rigours of cycling and probably go the distance on one pair of AAs, but pack a spare pair just in case.

[Geriatrix]

A proper GPS, such as the Etrex-20, will better resist the rigours of cycling and probably go the distance on one pair of AAs, but pack a spare pair just in case.

+1

I have a Garmin Oregon which can run a few day's on a set of AA lithium batteries. A phone is power hungry and its difficult enough to keep it charged without using it full time as a GPS.

When I tour if also carry a battery cache of the type recommended by 123ttam to keep my other gadgets charged.

My chief gripe with Garmin is their inability to make a non-reflective display. It's quite difficult to setup the unit at the correct angle so that it's easy to read. Cateye have managed this problem better on their devices so I don't know why Garmin can't.

[was8v]

I have a Garmin edge 200, never tested the battery life but this review indicates it should last well over 20 hours:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... uter-45160

[meic]

That review says that the manufacturer states 14 hours but they have chosen to dismiss this on the grounds that the display said 6% used after 2 hours. Are they really that stupid???

As you have one, try it and find the real life answer.

By the way, my Vista still shows 100% battery life after 2 hours, so it has an infinite life by Bikeradar rules.

[RickH]

That review says that the manufacturer states 14 hours but they have chosen to dismiss this on the grounds that the display said 6% used after 2 hours. Are they really that stupid???

As you have one, try it and find the real life answer.

By the way, my Vista still shows 100% battery life after 2 hours, so it has an infinite life by Bikeradar rules.

I'm not sure they're dismissing it, just stating what they found. 14 hours battery should be about 7% per hour used so that suggests better than claimed. Even after 4 years of use I have run my Edge 605 (which quotes a similar run time) for 14 hours straight (including a short time towards the end with the backlight on) without getting low battery warning.

Rick.

[was8v]

As you have one, try it and find the real life answer.

Ah I plug it in to the computer after every ride to download data - this also charges it. I don't much care what the battery life is beyond 8hrs....

You can use on of those "external" power packs designed for mobile phones with the garmin as it uses a standard USB wire. Could be a useful option, given it is designed for 14hr life, should go over 30hrs with one of those?