Looking for a reliable GPS device for recording rides.I have lots of problems with my mobile phone dropping the GPS,strava stopping etc, halfway through rides.
I ride mainly twisty off piste tree covered single-track around Cannock.I have thought about Garmin vivoactive etc,but I have read about people having problems with some of the small Garmin’s such as the edge 25 not recording fast enough for twisty mountain bike trails? Would a vivoactive be the same?Not bothered about navigation/mapping just want to reliably record miles,speed etc and be able to upload to strava.
Thanks

Any garmin set to 1s recording instead of smart recording.

If I wanted it purely for recording. I would maybe look at trying to get a Garmin Edge 20 cheap. Would’ve thought the 25 would be pretty decent though.

Does running this in the background help?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chartcross.gpstest&hl=en_GB

Tried Ghostracer (which can be linked to Strava), where you can tweak the ping frequency (you can also choose two segemnts on the free version to let it tell you how you are doing in real time)?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bravetheskies.ghostracer&hl=en_GB

Smartwatch?
A tablet?
A new mobile?

Garmin 25 very poor battery life

look at the wahoo. once set up you don’t need the phone again. Instant uploads, and very reliable

Thanks people,I have a phone that is very good for everything else so I don’t want to replace it to be honest,huawei p8,I have seen a lot of owners complaining about the same problems with strava and the likes with them though, something to do with power saving stuff, I have tried all the work arounds but it is still pretty unreliable.I will try that app linked above though and see if it improves any.
How bad are the batteries on the edge 25? and can they be set to record at 1sec?My rides are generally between 1 and 3 hours.
Do any of you use the Garmin vivoactive HR?
Wahoo looks good,but a bit pricey.

I use a Garmin Edge 25, the battery lasts all day no problem.

I’ve an edge 25 and have had no issues – longest ride have been around 6hrs and it still had battery left. More accurate than my phone at recording a ride.
I’ve also a touring which I use for navigation. This was a little more temperamental when I first got it (2 or years ago). But has been fine since the most recent updates.
I use the 25 more often. Than not though as it’s quick and easy to use and is just ‘stick on the bike and go’…

If it’s proper cold and blue tooth is on for tracking via phone my garmin 25 is just about dead in 3 hrs.

I’ve got the Garmin edge 25, it’s a cracking wee GPS for everything other than twisty off piste tree covered stuff… It records using smart recording and can’t be changed so it changes the sampling frequency of the GPS depending on how fast you are going. So twisty off piste stuff is no better than using a mobile phone.

I was tempted by the vivoactive, but it is also smart recording. Next on my list was the lezyne micro GPS, but i believe it uses a similar system to the Garmin smart record.

I think the bryton 310 does 1 second recording. I’d probably look there if I was buying again

Thanks for that,that bryton looks just the job, I’ve never even heard of them before but I will read up on them ,looks ideal and cheap too.