Thinking of using Mytracks on my HTC Desire, couple of questions if anyone can help:

1) is it any good?
2) does my mobile need to be in view of the sky or can I ride with it in the pocket etc?
3) if the mrs rings when I’m out will it affect/stop the data etc?

Any other help would be great – failing that I’ll get a Garmin
cheers

endomondo on my desire hd is simply brilliant !

In answer to your questions

1) yes
2) yes
3) yes

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl skiing last week

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl wednesday night route

Ok –

In respect to question 2 – How do you use it – where/how do you put it/attach it?

question 3 – is it best to switch to a mode where calls can’t come through?

Is it any good?

yes, excellent.

Does it need to be in view of the sky?

Not in my experience. Have only used it in my bag/pocket and never get any dropped points. Needs view of the sky to get a lock & it helps to have data on while initialising as it will use that to get a rough starting point.

Will it mess up if a call comes in? Never experienced a call while using it, but would expect it to be ok though. I normally stick mine on airplane mode once it’s got a gps lock as it saves battery (no good if you want to view the map though)…

Just install it & give it a whirl. It only takes a minute to uninstall.

1) yes
2) yes (it can be in a pocket)
3) no

Just installed it now, gonna give it a crack this weekend. I had images of taping it to the stem etc, but if you can use in the Camelback etc then least it won’t get wet/muddy. End of the day its my phone but if I can use as a training aid brill.

I use it and I think it’s great. Once its got the gps signal I lock mine down in an otterbox and it carries on working just fine. Incoming and outgoing calls are not a problem. Works so well, I’ve not bothered looking for anything else.

I’ve used mine in a jersey pocket, inside a camelbak, in a saddlebag. Works in all those.

It’s fine to receive calls, the gps keeps running.

I use endomondo personally, same kind of thing but with a better website for sharing tracks later.

I put mine in a love sock (for protection, natch) and then in my camelbak and it picks up the GPS fine. Let it get a lock on the GPS before putting it in the camelbak first though.

Get runkeeper pro, more or less the same thing, but there is a dedicated site for it and you can track your progress on it and everything. Also the pro version is free throughout January so I think its so much better, and i’ve used both…

Get runkeeper pro, more or less the same thing, but there is a dedicated site for it and you can track your progress on it and everything. Also the pro version is free throughout January so I think its so much better, and i’ve used both…

I find it craps out occasionally when you’re running under trees (for example), and can then be a massive straight-line jump to the next point when it locks in again.

Are there any charges for using the GPS? I have a Desire and this has me interested as long as I am not going to be paying for the privelage…

No charge for gps.
If you have a data limit then you need to check you don’t go over it downloading the maps (as you would using Google Maps), but you can always turn the data off while riding (you won’t be able to see maps) , your route will be recorded and the maps will update when you connect to wireless or upload the route to Google.

Rather than putting it in the camelback put it on the handlebars because if you put it in your bag you might aswell use a map

Gonna see how it goes. Going with MyTracks and taking it from there, but reading up on others may try them also.
@Shorty – I’m needing the app for training/data use rather than actually finding where I’m going, don’t fancy sticking my mobile on the handlebars, that’s got disaster all over it
@dave_radabr – is that a general GPS issue loosing the sig or is it just on the htc? So for example does a garmin loose a signal in those areas?

Dunno mate, to be fair it was in my shorts pocket. Sometimes it’s done well & recorded it all, other times it skips bits & they’ve not always been bits i’d have thought it would struggle with.
That’s on a HTC Hero, which possibly uses the same GPS antenna & chips as yours.

I’ve got an HTC desire and have never had a problem with it losing gps signal. I always try to store it in the best place for it to keep track of things though. Normally this is the outer-most pocket on my pack that sits quite high,rather than the pocket towards the base of the pack.

My normal riding is through some fairly dense tree cover at Thetford and to be honest it’s surprised me how good it’s been.

I tried Cardio Trainer once around the totally exposed Rutland water and there were several large gaps in the trace – so I went straight back to My Tracks.

Any GPS will have problems under wet tree cover – it’s a pretty effective shield.

I’m using a HTC Magic and Cardio Trainer which works really well for me, I’ve not had any drop outs on the tracks. I’ve got it attached using a mount from here…

Handtec

Any decent gps progs for the desire that use OS mapping? Free preferably. 🙂

Prior to reading this thread tonight, I’ve just installed Active GPX which works with google earth. I must say I’m pretty impressed but I’d like to hear about other free programs.

im very impressed with mytracks.

used it for the first time last night, but seems very accurate, and simple to use, and simple to upload and share maps.

i just turned it on on a whim, stuck it in my pocket, and rode home from the pub!

I use mytracks for logging but I don’t use it for viewing the map. I save the track and upload to http://WWW.mapmytracks.com, gets good reports and works well for me.

Hi,

RunGPS is a good training and mapping program. It has a PC based program for creating OS maps for off line use. Includes both 1.25 and 1.50 as well as many other map formats.

There is another thread running on here regarding a bar mounted waterproof case for those of you brave/foolish enough to want the phone on the bars (works for me! ).

Regards

devs – Member

Any decent gps progs for the desire that use OS mapping? Free preferably.

Not free, but dust demoing this at the mo – looks good.

View Ranger

Endomondo is good as a training aid as you can have audio on so it tells you your km times of whatever. Mytracks is good too mind.

I use my tracks or sportstracker. The only time its ever lost the gps signal was on a misty evening on the Quantocks underneath the trees. It soon picked it up again though.