Hi all,

Inspired to investigate the possibility of creating a Cheapo-Garmin-wannabe for my bike. I’ve seen it done with Motorola Defy Mini but this isn’t ant+ compatible.
Anyone managed it with another handset to allow for GPS display and Garmin ant+ data on a ride?

Thanks

Chris

Garmin 800?

haha yeah. Can i find one for about £40 though? 🙄

http://www.thisisant.com/consumer/ant-101/ant-in-phones

Scroll down to links to lists.

But appears you can get an ANT+ dongle to fit a micro USB on an android phone so that opens it up a bit…

EDIT: Mind you at 49 euros it is a bit steep http://www.tacx.com/en/products/sensors/ant-dongle-micro-usb

What’s Garmin ANT+ data out of interest? Even if you find an ANT+ compatible phone are you actually going to find an app to use the data?

Good thoughts all round. I suppose if it was that easy to build a DIY Garmin then I wouldn’t be the first asking about it!

I would ideally like GPS and also my Garmin cadence and HR data all linked up……so yes I think I need to buy a garmin!

Probably the easiest thing to do. Over on the other thread (link below) on the android GPSs I found mine worked well except in the rain where the screen went a bit mad as it thought I was pressing the screen. Possibly a different type of touchscreen would fix that though?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/home-made-gps-with-mapping-and-tracking

Endomondo supports ANT Heart Rate, Speed/cadence, will also use a Bluetooth heart rate monitor.

Can you get bluetooth non-garmin HR/Cadence/etc monitors that you could use instead of an ANT+ one?

Bluetooth only supports Heart Rate.

Endomondo….don’t you still need the phone to be ant+ hardware compatible?

Samsung S5 has ANT+, and is waterproof, if not quite rugged – add a case and you’re good.

Some older Samsung smartphones gained ANT+ as a result of the recent Android update too

Also a list here: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4644/what-android-phones-are-ant-hardware-enabled
Though I think you will struggle to find anything that is cheap and rugged. Unless you can find a 2nd hand Sony Xperia Active?

Bluetooth only supports Heart Rate.

There are a few Bluetooth Smart cadence sensors. Including from Wahoo Fitness, or Topeak, or Polar. eg http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wahoo-Cadence-Sensor-Bluetooth-Connectivity/dp/B00L9XNFPY

Note they use Bluetooth Smart (aka Bluetooth LE), which requires a recent version of Android (4.3 or newer).
Plus you need an app that supports it. I think the Strava app does. Or Wahoo Fitness have their own app.

I’m on about Endomondo Bluetooth only supports HR.

A mate of mine’s app which uses Ant+ sensors (he also contributed to that other long thread) some recommendations for phones on there.
http://www.iforpowell.com/cms/index.php?page=ipbike

Sony xperia active has ant plus and is waterproof and is pleasingly tiny.