Cycling UK Forum

Hi all,

I'm gonna have a tour, probably at the Alps. I would like to have a GPS, unfortunately the Garmin Edge with maps is too expensive, so I want try to use my smartphone: a lumia 800. Which app would you suggest me to use?

thanks

Cheers

Hi

Not really an answer to your question but have you thought of a garmin etrex 20 or 30 with free maps instead? Would cost much less than an edge 800 with maps (prob £175 or so IIRC).

Cheers

Steve

All windows phones come with full European offline mapping (HERE maps - what was Nokia maps). You can download full country maps. For tracking, endomondo is about the best app.

Technically you should also be able to use Nokia Drive, the phone's in-built Satnav with full offline mapping. I sometimes use mine to get me back on track if I get lost out cycling the country lanes. Only problem on tour would be the incredible rate it would chew your battery! Unfortunately the Windows App collection isn't exactly extensive...

Might be best to look out for a second hand Garmin?

I've been trying out Viewranger - although I'm on an iphone I think they do an app for other phones - checkout viewranger.com
It comes with global free maps
It seems to have been designed more for walking than on the road but it does have the ability to import routes from GPX
I have created routes using Google maps, exported them as a KML file, converted them using share ware programme into a GPX file and then added them to my viewranger app. and for this country at least, they work really well.
I'm having issues with battery life on my phone using the app but am working on a circuit which will allow my lithium cycle light battery to feed the phone - haven't tested it yet.

Steveo2020 wrote:Not really an answer to your question but have you thought of a garmin etrex 20 or 30 with free maps instead? Would cost much less than an edge 800 with maps (prob £175 or so IIRC).

£140-odd on Amazon for an eTrex 20.

Steveo2020 wrote:Hi

Not really an answer to your question but have you thought of a garmin etrex 20 or 30 with free maps instead? Would cost much less than an edge 800 with maps (prob £175 or so IIRC).

Cheers

Steve

interesting idea, I didn't know etrex. I'll search for a used one. What's the difference with edge 800? Thanks

honesty wrote:All windows phones come with full European offline mapping (HERE maps - what was Nokia maps). You can download full country maps. For tracking, endomondo is about the best app.

The issue is, that nokia drive doesn't import GPX file. I would like to import a course to follow with the most interesting places.

Revolution wrote:I've been trying out Viewranger - although I'm on an iphone I think they do an app for other phones - checkout viewranger.com
It comes with global free maps
It seems to have been designed more for walking than on the road but it does have the ability to import routes from GPX
I have created routes using Google maps, exported them as a KML file, converted them using share ware programme into a GPX file and then added them to my viewranger app. and for this country at least, they work really well.
I'm having issues with battery life on my phone using the app but am working on a circuit which will allow my lithium cycle light battery to feed the phone - haven't tested it yet.

Unfortunately viewranger is not available for windows phone OS. thanks

Since the microsoft store has been increased a lot in the last 2 years, any new useful app for bike touring?

Last time I looked at Microsoft store it was still pretty limited compared to Android play . If you're looking for sheer variety of apps I'd probably plug for a cheaper android phone (Samsung S3 mini £69.99) than go down the window phone route, which imo it's still a bit clunky and limited apps.

Cyclestreets is available for 69p when I picked it up. OSM maps and routing. Seems to work well.

serbring wrote: interesting idea, I didn't know etrex. I'll search for a used one. What's the difference with edge 800? Thanks

20 has a samller non touch screen from what I can remember

I bought a 20 a few weeks back and can get whole of UK on it in one go, something my old legend couldn't do. It's fine for following a route loaded off the PC, but you might struggle to plan a route on it due to the screen size. GPS is fast and doesn't lose signal and screen seems to be visible even in sunlight from my limited trials so far

Wouldn't not be easier to use a cheap andriod phone and use it for mapping only. This will save on battery life of your other phone and with the android phones you can get a extra battery to use with it.

Just looked on store did a search for GPX, which came up with several potential options. Navicomputer looked good, and talked of using OSM. Think I'll download this pm and try for myself, as an experiment.

Seems several folk talk down Winphone but don't really know it. Yes the store is smaller than Android or Apple, but how many hundreds of thousands of apps do you want, let alone need? Plenty there for me! And the software itself, I far prefer to the others; had both, and love my 820. Now debating a new bigger model, but really the one I have is great. The 640/XL have better battery lives though, so tempting.

For cycle use though, I have an Etrex (30), which is fab, and use for walking too, but if you don't want to splash on one of those, give a Win app a go.