Morning all,

At the third time of being told by Garmin that “we don’t do repairs, you’ll have to spend £80 on a refurb”, I gave up on the idea of using a separate GPS, and started using my phone (a Sony Xperia Z2) instead.

It’s superb in pretty much every way, and better than the Garmin in many. It’s waterproof, and despite using it as a cycle computer for 2.5 hours commuting yesterday, and using it as a phone as well, it still had 45% battery life at 11pm, having taken it off charge at 7am.

The only downside is when I get rain or mud on the screen. It won’t damage the phone, but it does send it haywire, as it thinks I’ve got fingers all over it trying to do things!

I could just shell out on a new case with a waterproof cover built in (although if the phone can still be used throught the cover, would I still get the same problem?), and a new quadlock adapter for the back of it, but before I do that, I was wondering whether I might be able to get some sort of elasticated cover I could keep in a back pocket to just stick over the top of the existing phone and case if it starts to rain on a ride.

Problem is, this isn’t the easiest of things to search for on the web, and an actual shower cap would be too big, and not properly see through! Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

not sure if one exists but could you get a backing case thing with high corners then maybe a bit of DIY clingfilm over the top. It won’t touch the screen as it’ll be suspended from the raised corners of the case?

They do exist but I couldn’t find anything immediately. Look for elastic plastic covers. You use them to cover jam and other things while it cools. We have a supplier that does them to cover everything from 250ml to 2500L as we cover high gloss paint in factories to stop it getting contaminated with dust.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=elasticated+food+covers&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=48406305784&hvpos=1o1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17530999243086777136&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5tad9r0luz_e

Other option might be some sort of clear flip screen cover.

What you doing to your GPS to break it?
I’m on my 4th, and the only reason to upgrade has been for added toy feature. All the old ones still work perfectly.

Are you keeping it in a pocket?

If so, I find my mobile screen still works well enough through the sandwich bag I usually keep it in.

Do you really need to be able to see the display whilst riding?.

With your record of breaking Garmins, I’d be loathe to put an expensive smartphone on the bars. Pop it in your bag.

I have a waterproof phone thingy – lifted it out of some prizes donated for a race – you can still use your phone through it, but I have a blackberry which is much more of a blunt instrument and less delicate than your “man jewellery” iphones!

Will try and remember and look at the name and brand on it tonight.

I use a Wahoo! REFLKT – basically acts a s a display for my phone while my phone sits safe and dry in a pocket or backpack

I’ve used small zip lock bags, you can usually still use the phone through them (at least with Tesco ones) these would keep the mud out. Z2 is a great phone though I’d wager you could Stava a 24 hour ride / race with it’s battery life easy + waterproof.

OK, not going to try and reply to people individually, as there were too many 🙂

What happened to my Garmins? One was my fault (fluke accident dropping it to land on the screen right on the corner of a brick), but for the other two, the power button failed on one, and the other stopped being recognised by my PC over time. Both known issues on the Garmin 800, both issues which would’ve cost Garmin pennies to fix, and both issues for which the only remedy was £80+ for a refurb and return postage.

Do I want to see the display whilst riding? Not all the time, but if I’m following a GPS route or focusing on cadence/heart rate to make my commute less boring or responding to my 10yr old’s constant “how far have we ridden now” then I do at least want to be able to glance down at it from time to time.

I did look at the Wahoo thingy, but I never managed to get to the bottom of whether it would support my ANT+ cadence and HR sensors, so didn’t risk it.

As for Hels… IPHONE???? Wash your mouth out!!! 👿

kermit

I did look at the Wahoo thingy, but I never managed to get to the bottom of whether it would support my ANT+ cadence and HR sensors, so didn’t risk it.

The Wahoo doesn’t support ANT+ etc. per se. It connects with your phone by Bluetooth to display what’s on your phone: speed, distance, cadence, heart rate etc..

So if your phone can connect to the sensors then they can be displayed on the Wahoo. Does that make sense?

@drofluf, it does make sense, thanks. Will it also display GPS mapping, or does it just do the bike computer side of things?

I use an Aquapac with my Z1 compact, and used to use it with my previous Galaxy S2.

Mine’s the Stormproof small. Screen is usable through it. It rolls up pretty small so could be stashed in a pocket or bag until needed.

I use a RFLKT but also a Topeak stem cap mounted dry bag if I need navigation…

http://www.topeak.com/products/Xtras/F66Fixer

@kermit doesn’t do mapping but will do turn-by-turn navigation with a third party app – not the wahoo one but another one