Getting a little fed up with my smartphone losing gps signal and generally not being too accurate.

I could get a Garmin edge 200 cheap off of a mate, im about to get a new smartphone, worth bothering with the garmin?

Depends on the phone. My old HTC was Carp. Unreliable GPS and often lost half a ride. My Samsung has been 100% reliable and when I compare the track to my mate on Strava who rides with a Garmin, it is much more accurate. Given the fact that I have full UK OS maps on the SD card, Satellite images of new areas I visit, I can take the odd photo and if necessary phone home too, I really cannot see the point of a Garmin these days.

Top spec smartphones use as good GPS chips as garmins. The rest comes down to mounting and processing.

If I put my phone in my pocket it’s rubbish, top pocket of my bag or rear jersey pocket and it rarely misses a beat.

I’m stuck with blessed with a crappy works blackberry, side by side with my garmin 800 they are identical when it comes to gps tracking. Doesn’t matter where I carry the phone (within reason)!

Probably the only thing the phone can do well.

I tend to run my garmin edge on my bars and keep my Samsung Galaxy s2 on strava in my back pocket on my road bike and there’s very rarely more than a gnats pube between the two.

Don’t think there’s much between my Garmin 500 and my phone in terms of accuracy. Battery life though is another thing entirely…

I think smartphones use assisted GPS so they will work even if the GPS signal is not good, by triangulating cell masts or wifi networks.

I think smartphones use assisted GPS so they will work even if the GPS signal is not good, by triangulating cell masts or wifi networks.

Assisted GPS just speeds up time to first fix.

Cheaper Garmins only ‘smart record’ so can miss out big chunks of trail, it’s not the best.

You need a 500 or above and changed the recording rate to per second in the menu for accuracy.

The 200 has a huge battery life compared to a phone though.

I had the same deliberation as OP a couple of years back. Bought a Edge 500 & haven’t regretted it. Or run out of phone battery on a ride, which is a big plus.

The 200 has a huge battery life compared to a phone though.

This.

9 hours riding, Garmin Edge 200 – 50% battery used. Not seen a phone that can do that.

There’s a big gap between a cheap / older phone’s GPS chip and a decent modern phone. Whereas a decent phone to (my) Garmin 510 doesn’t seem like a huge jump.

In theory at least the Garmin should be more accurate. Mine has a temperature sensor which apparently helps determine location slightly more precisely. Also the direct view to the sky from a bar-mounted Garmin should be more accurate than an iPhone buried at the bottom of your bag. Then you can tweak the recording interval for precise plotting vs battery life.

See what the new phone is like before splashing out on the Garmin?

If I switch mobile data off on my mobile, plus only use it to log the ride, so screen off and in bag, it hardly uses any battery. An all day ride might only use 30%.

Where the phone is will have more effect than buying a garmin. Mine works fine in a jersey pocket but barely works in a camelpack.

I use my iPhone 5 and it never misses. I have a Garmin Forerunner too but prefer the phone because it auto syncs to Endomondo or Strava whereas I have to plug the Garmin in. Only trouble is the gps sucks the battery life so I revert to the Garmin on long rides.