My Strava when linked to my phone (pixel) gives very inconsistent and inaccurate readings. I ride mainly trails on mountain bike and really am only concerned with distance and segment readings via Strava rather than the more detailed data points you get on a dedicated gps device.

I don#t believe Strava is the issue so given the use case would a specialist gps device(budget sensitive) make a significant difference over my phone and if so what would be the best options?

Thanks in advance

Might be a bit more accurate. Where do you put your phone when riding? I find that makes a big difference.

Have you tried using Ghostracer? http://getghostracer.com/

It can be linked to Strava, but you can alter the frequency of GPS pings (default is 2 seconds and 10 metres), so you could try 1 second like on Garmins from what I gather.

Odd. I have a Pixel and find it no better or worse via Strava than any previous phone I’ve had.

Does tend to live in the top of my pack though, so probably has the best possible view of the sky.

They’re all inaccurate or inconsistent in various ways, some more than others.

Phones generally lack barometers so elevation will be based on topographical data from Strava, but that is restricted by the resolution of the data, so a 100m square for example may appear flat to Strava but goes up and down a lot in riding. Barometers in Garmin’s etc will pick up that detail, but they are based on atmospheric pressure and need calibrating, ideally adjusting for conditions during the ride especially if it’s a long ride. Which isn’t practical. Hence why mine can end up 100ft above/below where I started even ending at the same location as the start.

Distance gets skewed by straight lining when GPS lock is lost or fix drops accuracy, especially when in tree cover.

A GPS device may have better receivers and may have GLONASS support as well as US GPS, although modern phones tend to these days anyway.

You can also get speed sensors for some GPS devices and that will track the actual wheel distance (though needs calibrating for wheel size). That may be more accurate than GPS distance.

Personally I go with an independent device more for battery life anyway. It’s not draining the phone and experience has taught that I need a phone to call for an ambulance. Or at least to take loads of arty photos 😀

On accuracy, I wouldn’t get too hung up on it. So long as your device is consistent and you can compare your own rides against each other. Comparing against other people is relatively pointless as the devices vary so much, even same make/model. A curiosity and bit of fun to compare, but leave it at that.

Or get one of these:
Lit Pro

A Garmin is more accurate at measuring total elevation of a ride which was proven on the Mary Townley Loop when Garmin users recorded 2000m of elevation while phone users only recorded 1600m!

and really am only concerned with distance and segment readings via Strava rather than the more detailed data points you get on a dedicated gps device.

A dedicated and calibrated odometer will be hard to beat!
You can add speed etc. for almost £0 .. and if you want cadence as well a bit more.

Use the GPS as “roughly where you went” but a traditional speedo will be hard to beat for the simple distance/time/velocity

A Garmin is more accurate at measuring total elevation of a ride which was proven on the Mary Townley Loop when Garmin users recorded 2000m of elevation while phone users only recorded 1600m!

Sample of 1, my Garmin significantly under-reads elevation compared to not only my Phone, but also my Wife’s Garmin, and my riding buddies.

They are all inaccurate to various degrees, some devices are better than others, and sometimes a ‘poor’ device can be better than a ‘good’ one if it is in a better place for keeping signal.

TLDR – they’re all approximate, stop worrying

having ridden with my GPS and phone other than them having the same route none of the variables were similar – time distance or elevation
Given this i could not say which was more accurate

thanks, looks to me am best to stick with my phone. Will have a look at using Ghostracer and see if I get more consistency