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Hi to the good people of STW!
I'm looking to improve the GPS reception of my Iphone. I use the mapmybike app. when out and about on my bike, most places where I ride I can get a GPS lock very easily. However when up in the peaks the other week I had no reception. I know it's a bit obsessive, but I like to review the route afterwards when in the comfort of my home.
Anyway, does anyone here use a Bluetooth GPS receiver with their phones and how good are they?
I know that phones use aGPS and stand alone units just use GPS.
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks..
I've used a Garmin Glo with an iPad Mini and it seems okay to me and is easy enough to pair and use with an i-device, but I have no idea whether it's any improvement on the built-in GPS on an iPhone. Fwiw, I live in the Peak, use Strava/ViewRanger regularly on the iPhone and bar one ride last week when Strava ate a bunch of segments because the track differed from them, I've never had an issue, You may have just been unlucky with cloud/tree cover, satellite position, relief or whatever.
BadlyWiredDog I was at laybower and had no reception what so ever. Apparently phones use assisted GPS (aGPS) which allows them to acquire satellites more easily the gsm signal. I left the app running expecting it to acquire a fix at some point but it never did. I'll take a look at the glo. Thanks
Agps just means it is assisted by the comms network, but will still act as normal gps when no cellular service availible, just takes longer than normal to fix.
If you started it up , didnt let it fix and went riding it wont fix. You need to remain reasonably stationary for it to fix
trail rat, I'll try that next time, how long do you recon it'll take to get a fix?
f you started it up , didnt let it fix and went riding it wont fix. You need to remain reasonably stationary for it to fix
hmm, not so sure about that, without a data connection a gps needs to successfully download data from the satellites in order to recognise them. Not knowing where you store the phone, but it's perhaps more likely that putting it in a bag after you set off is more likely to interrupt this process rather than somehow travelling far enough to invalidate the data when you get it.
The aGPS on an iPhone is just as likely as a regular gps to get a signal in the same conditions. The benefit you might find of an external device is if it's size/waterproofness means it can be located somewhere with a better view of the sky.
No worries. I've used iPhone GPS around Ladybower with no problems quite a lot. As above, I generally make sure I have a fix before starting off.
The aGPS on an iPhone is just as likely as a regular gps to get a signal in the same conditions. The benefit you might find of an external device is if it's size/waterproofness means it can be located somewhere with a better view of the sky.
So an external receiver would behave in the same manor? The phone sits in an external pocket in my rucksack. I'm not sure that a thin layer of material would block any GPS signal.
Asbrooks I use mapmyride too. One of the previous posters has it correct, you need to open the app when you still have gps. Then when you are ready to start, hit "record workout" and it should start up ok. Sometimes when you don't have a gps at this point it will take a while to start but it's already picked up the gps so should be ok.
I've had this myself and it still picked up the route even though I couldn't view it whilst actually out on the bike.
I've always found the iPhone to have excellent GPS. Far quicker to locate than wor lasses samsungs.