Cycling UK Forum

DevonDamo wrote:For me, the number one criteria for a mobile phone on tour is price. If it costs over £200, I'd be paranoid about theft, loss or water-damage etc.

Buy an 'Orange San Francisco.' It costs less than £100 (as little as £70 from Orange if you, or a friend, has an Orange pay-as-you-go card), and once you've updated the Android software it performs as well as a phone costing six times as much. (If you want to go down this route, Google 'modaco android' to find the specific forum for this phone which explains how to update.)

It's an Android phone, and therefore runs a version of Google Maps which does turn-by-turn navigation free of charge. If you really don't want the voice guidance, you can just use it as a map. The latest version of Google Maps allows you to download map areas onto your phone whilst you're connected to your WiFi at home, so you won't have to use your phone's data package while you're on tour. There are loads of other free cycling navigation applications for Android, some of which use OS mapping and can use bike paths. Most of them require you to have a live internet connection as they download the maps while you're on the move. (This is the beauty of Nokia Maps - it's one of the few completely free sat nav applications which can store an entire world map on your phone.)

The San Francisco has a super-bright screen which I've been able to use whilst touring Brittany at Midday in Summer. You may need to shade the screen in direct sunlight, but this will be the same for any screen (apart from the black and white ones used on Kindles.) As with all big-screened smartphones, battery life isn't great. You'll have to either find a way of charging on tour or buy some spare batteries off ebay. I've got three spares for mine, and that will last me for a week, including 2 or 3 hours sat-nav use per day.

I'm only quoting the above in it's entirety as I'm now the proud owner of one of these phones. It's fantastic. Does just as much as the fancy phones you see being pushed everywhere costing loads more and the maps work brilliantly - fast to load and perfectly easy to read thanks to this phone's screen.

What prompted me to opt for this particular phone was the (many) 5 star reviews it got from owners on the Argos website - if you're in the market for a new phone then I'd urge you to take a look.

So: Devon Damo, thanks for the excellent advice

Glad to help. If you haven't already done so, update the 'ROM.' If you don't know how to do this (or even what this means) send me a PM and I'll email you an idiot's guide. On this phone, updating the ROM is the equivalent of swapping a Lada for a Ferrari.

I have a N8 which has Navigation on it. Where can I obtain a bracket to mount it to the bars? Thanks in advance, Alan

Motorola Defy probably best for use on a bike. Android so has all the mapping advantages described above but it's also dust and waterproof to IP67 - totally dust proof and can be immersed in a metre of water for 1/2 an hour and still keep working. It's also more sctrach and shock resistant than most other smartphones.

I`ve bought a Defy in June, after running hardened telephones for a long time and waiting/wanting an android - I have so far been happy with it and have no doubts about its capabilities to withstand rain, running the inboard gps through its paces in some serious rains - showers, all day long drizzles et al, this summer .

Hiking - not biking, though.

WHY?? Phones weren't even heard of in most of the country until after the millenium. You still can't get a signal in most of W Scotland, the Lands End peninsula and certain parts of the Peak.
If the damn thing can send/receive a message at some part of the day to keep the wife happy that's a bonus. The world doesn't revolve around it and at least some of us are glad to escape the damn things!

I've kept my trusty Megellan Meridian, runs off AAs so easy to keep powered (have mechanical charger if need be) Chunky, waterproof, drop proof and accurate, it mounts on bars and with the greyscale is easy enough to read in pretty much all light conditions. it is only limited by the maps you load up onto an SD card.

However i've only ever been 'lost' in 22 years of cycling as an adult whilst on my first tour round Northern France where I mis-read a digit on a road sign and carried on off my printed map into some very off the beaten track roads (very lovely though )
Got to a 5 junction crossroad cum farm turning circle and asked a local for directions and soon back onto the route. Could have gone back the way I came but knew roughly which direction to get back and wanted to make sure.

I rarely bother with the GPs now, with a speedometer, a paper map in the pannier & my directions short hand pencilled onto a blank bit of paper shoved in my jersey pocket then I know where I am at any given point. What's in front in terms of terrain is what it'll be when I get there, when I've done it, I'm not fussed about how much elevation over X distance it was or how many calouries I burnt, just that I enjoyed doing it.

The only advantage I see of a smart phone on a cycling trip would be for keeping in contact via the internet/downloading email or finding local attractions in towns/cities you didn't bother looking up before you left.

PW wrote:You still can't get a signal in ..... the Lands End peninsula

Rubbish, there are small spots all over Cornwall where you cannot get a signal from a particular company, but usually there is at least an emergency signal from another company and a few metres down the road you get connected again, and I have not noticed a particular loss of signal during my regular rides to and around Penwith.

I now carry a mobile phone all the time, so it might as well do GPS navigation as well as so much else: it is also my snapshot camera that is always with me, my alarm clock, my phone book and now my mobile internet connection.

crazyace wrote:I have a N8 which has Navigation on it. Where can I obtain a bracket to mount it to the bars? Thanks in advance, Alan

Endomondo sells them.

Astronomeradam wrote:

crazyace wrote:I have a N8 which has Navigation on it. Where can I obtain a bracket to mount it to the bars? Thanks in advance, Alan

Endomondo sells them.

Thank You, i'll have a look.

I've never got lost while cycling but when I was in Birmingham for a bit and didn't know exactly where my destinations were I just took my car sat nav with me on my bike. It's a £29.99 one from Asda but it does the job.

blackbike wrote:It's a £29.99 one from Asda but it does the job.

So does the Sat Nav on my HTC Wildfire, better than my Garmin Nuvi Sat Nav IMO and its already there in my pocket.

EDIT: I should have added I am posting via my phone right now...

You probably already checked this, but many phones allow you to adjust the brightness of the screen......

Failing that, I have a HTC Desire. Personally I use Virwranger software which gives me OS mapping but the Google application is free.

I would also research the possibilities of having whichever maps you choose ,offline, meaning you're not relying on mobile signal.

Cavemud wrote:You probably already checked this, but many phones allow you to adjust the brightness of the screen......

Failing that, I have a HTC Desire. Personally I use Virwranger software which gives me OS mapping but the Google application is free.

I would also research the possibilities of having whichever maps you choose ,offline, meaning you're not relying on mobile signal.

The HTC Wildfire (actually I think it is a Wildfire S?) has an automatic screen brightness facility which I have left it at for now. It is easily visible in all but direct bright summer sun, where some sort of shading will be necessary. I have downloaded a free app called Maverick which seems to be quite useful, as long as you understand how to get the best from it, eg. it only likes certain types of gpx files, eg. if they are created on Bike Route Toaster specifically with the OSM and Bike options selected then it will work on the Maverick app, plus a gpx file that does not work with Maverick can be uploaded to Bike Route Toaster with the same options and then it also becomes compatible with Maverick when downloaded. There may be better or more elegant ways of achieving this but it works for me!

When I download a gpx file to Maverick the data produces a blue line route, and Maverick has options for which map to use as the background for this, I prefer the Bike Route OSM map for reasons of appearance and clarity. If I scroll around the map whilst connected to WiFi it will then produce a proper map background as I follow the route for that session, regardless of losing the WiFi connection. I have experimented and it will not show any map data for anywhere on the route I did not previously scroll to when connected to WiFi, just a wiggly blue line on a blank background (which is still better than nothing). I have not yet tried a mobile internet connection for this, not quite clear on the charging for this yet on my contract.

There are one or two other issues, eg. the fact that the map display is always in the North = up orientation, unlike a Sat Nav, the map does not automatically scroll with you as you move along the route (so needs manual scrolling to find yourself, but your current position is at least obviously marked by a blue direction arrow and its relatively easy to scroll on a touch screen phone). Because of this if I was in a strange town and wanted to navigate to a certain point I would use the Navigator app that came with the phone, which uses Google Maps via mobile or WiFi signal and acts just like any other car Sat Nav including turn by turn voice directions.

The other big issue is battery life, about 2 hours of use for continuous navigation. I have identified an external back-up battery for about £20 that will provide about 5x more charge as one solution to this which would meet my needs, but it would not be suitable for touring day to day, for which some way of charging via a hub dynamo would seem the best option, ditto for a Garmin.

If you want a cheap payg smart phone and do want want the thousands of apps have a look at the samsung monte, comes with google maps and their is an app that is free where you can download the maps of the area your likely to cycle in onto the memory card ( buy extra but they are cheap )of the phone so you do not need to use the internet connection to download maps on the fly.
Runs endemodo and other gps based cycle computer stuff as well if thats to your liking.

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-phones ... -49305532/

http://www.e2save.com/mobile-phone/payg ... ductSearch

http://www.mgmaps.com/download.php


http://www.mapcacher.com/