I was out on Sunday for a big ride. Following a route I’d plotted in ViewRanger and recording the activity in Endomondo.

Or at least that was the plan.

But it seemed that once I’d started the ViewRanger app, Endomondo could no longer get a GPS fix. It just said “Searching…” all the time.

I managed to get along by using the “Disconnect from GPS” option in ViewRanger, quitting the app and then only checking it when really required (then disconnecting/quitting and waiting for Endo to get the fix again).

Bit of a pain in the harris and means I was missing out on ViewRangers more useful active features (alert as you approach a waypoint, alarm if you stray too far from your plotted route).

Anyone else had this issue? Any solutions?

(Other GPS apps seem to manage to play together nicely – in the past I’ve had Endomondo, BikeHub, and MotionX GPS all actively running at the same time on my iPhone 4).

There’s a new version of Viewranger out today with some major changes. I’d try that first. The chaps at Viewranger are also very good at replying to emails.

EDIT: Looks like the new version is only on Android at the moment 😳 Still worth emailing them.

Thanks nick.

Happy to email them, but I just wanted to find out if this was a common problem or if I was just having an off-day with the apps for some odd reason.

First time using ViewRanger in the field so I was a bit narked it wasn’t behaving.

Could be an Endomondo problem as well though. Mines been terrible lately and it’s really doing my head in (iphone 4).

Seems fine for gps in the morning but just won’t find a reliable signal for my homeward commute and goes from OK to ‘searching’ and then my route home is random straight lines through fields, lakes and buildings so the mileage is way off.

To be fair Strava is not fairing much better either as neither will work when Endo is borked. Yet my maps apps etc all show my gps location spot on. I can’t work it out and there appear to be no gps strengthening apps on itunes whereas i’m told there are for android.

The really annoying thing is Endo has been pretty much spot on for me for over 2 years but is suddenly woeful. 🙁

This will probably be of no help to you, but I have no problem running Endomondo & Viewranger at the same time on Android ICS without issues…

MrTall: yeah I’ve had Endo play up on the odd occassion. But usually just killing it (i.e. red cross) and restarting it sorts it out. If it is still being glitchy then try killing all background apps then rebooting the phone. That has never failed to sort it.

simon: yeah other GPS apps seem to get along fine with Endomondo. The impression I got was that ViewRanger was somehow hogging the GPS chipset.

Update: you’ve got to love the internet sometimes. I got a very nice and completely unprompted email last night from the CEO of ViewRanger saying that he’d seen my post here and suggesting possible fixes. 😀

I’ve replied with details of how to reproduce the issue (on my phone at least) so hopefully they can sort it out.

To my eye it might well be an Endomondo bug which ViewRanger exacerbates somehow, because my other mapping apps can still get a fix when ViewRanger is active.

Well if Mr CEO from ViewRanger is still reading, I’m liking the latest Android update I received this morning – thanks!

I’m a novice in all this but why do you want to use both viewranger and endomondo? Cant you record your track in viewranger (and then export it to e.g. endomondo later)?

Thats what I do^^^. You can do it either way round

Cant you record your track in viewranger (and then export it to e.g. endomondo later)?

Yep – could do.

But… I like the Voice Coach and Pep Talk features in Endomondo (Voice Coach shouts out time, distance, avg speed etc and Pep Talk reads out abusive messages from my mates) and I also like the navigation and off-course alerts in ViewRanger.

Plus running them both would mean I don’t have to mess about exporting and importing GPX files.

Do you mount your phones on the bars/stems and if so what do you use?

So far I’ve just used a pretty basic Ultimate Addons case:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0057FJ41Y

Which is cheap(ish), waterproof, protects the phone well and has a quick release…

BUT…it is far from perfect:

– the clamp is far too small for the 31.8mm drop bars on my CX bike (sorted by replacing clamp bolt with a zip tie)

– it used to rotate a bit as I rode along (sorted by gumming up the rotating action with glue)

– after 2 years of use the plastic lugs on quick release plate have pretty much worn out so it started to wobble about too much and even release accidentally if I knocked it (sorted by glueing down the quick release plate – effectively making it a non-quick release unit)

– the clear film screen is now so scratched from wiping off mud etc that it is hard to read the phone in daylight while it is in the case

I generally run Endomondo to log my rides (when I can be bothered) but have Viewranger installed so that I can look at a map when I get lost, or when I need to plan a diversion due to huge snowdrifts blocking my planned route… Not tried to log a route in Viewranger because I’ve always used Endo for that. Oh, and the phone stays in my bag or pocket unless I have to get it out on a ride.

Looks like UltimateAddOns now have a couple of newer clamps that are apparently aimed at motorbikes but would suit bigger bars on MTBs and road bikes. Plus they lock and don’t have quick release so that might solve some of my issues (with a bit less glue):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0050IO7BA – £10 “up to 35mm bars”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0084TNIC6 – £6 “up to 40mm”

Cheers thanks 🙂

Nice thread. I would love to just use Viewranger as it is superb in the field — but, Mr CEO- if you are still reading, please could you sort out a reviewing plot of the route combining the graph of altitude and distance against time, that as you hover the mouse cursor over it moves a corresponding point over your route on the map – a v nice endo mondo feature!

Yeah I like that on Endo too – very handy for seeing how long it took me to crawl up a hill 😀

But if you just want that for post-ride review then you could record the track on ViewRanger then import it into Endomondo afterwards as others suggested above.

Agreed, but why not include that in Viewranger to save the transfer? Also useful so that when you have planned a route you can track round it and see how far certain points are along the route.

Just downloaded Viewranger open. Really nice easy to use interface. However I can’t find a way to open my gpx files? Anyone know how, or is that a feature on the full version?

you need to sign up to viweranger.com then import them through that and it syncs with your iphone next time you switch it on its very easy. no need for premium version.

I drag and drop into the tracks folder or copy them over with dropbox and move them to the tracks folder. This is on android, though.

The premium version is identical to the free one – it just gives you £15 of map credit to buy OS maps with.

On the iPhone version go to Organizer->Import/Export and from there you can log into DropBox and get your GPX routes.

You can drag and drop them too but you need to do it via iTunes so DropBox is probably easier.

Oh actually if you are on wifi then you can also turn on “Wifi File Access” in the same menu then point your PC’s browser at the address it gives you. You can access all the files from there.

Cheers chaps!