Absolute cheapest gps device for strava

Hi all,
I’m looking for the absolute cheapest (under or around £25) gps device that will work with strava for a friends birthday, i don’t mind buying second hand and it dosent have to have a screen with data display. The longer the battery life the better and i would rather buying from china etc.

What would you recommend? Thanks in advance 🙂

second hand unlocked smart phone?

Thanks for the reply but i would rather avoid a phone if possible

as above

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Iphone-3G-8GB-Black-Unlocked-Tested-Working-Free-Postage-Good-Condition-/221772444320?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item33a2aaf2a0

Ok, not quite on budget but not far. You don’t need a sim for strava to work.

Edit : I was typing when you replied.

Thanks for the reply but i would rather avoid a phone if possible

Then you will struggle to get anything at that price.

Thanks for the response, i will keep looking as there have been a couple of forerunners going for around this price point on ebay

I’d have to say a phone too – but if you do go this route be careful as I bought an android smart phone for this very purpose, and neither strava or map my ride will work on the version of android anymore, and the phone won’t take a newer version of android itself.

Cheapest and simplest will be a phone.

An old Nokia S60 with GPS phone off eBay for a few quid, battery will last ages, just install Endomondo or Sports Tracker and export GPX to import to Strava.

Or cheap Android which will run Strava (battery life maybe not so good).

Frankly a phone GPS chip will be much the same as most cheap GPS devices. Though can understand desire to have a dedicated device. I went Garmin to avoid sucking the battery dry in no time on my phone, which I want to be able to use for emergencies, check where we’ve lost people, etc. Though I did used to carry my old Nokia for GPS while also having my main phone.

Another option is a Bluetooth GPS device. I had one that I think was about £20. No display, it’s just GPS. I used it with phones that had no GPS but it might save battery on the phone if the phone GPS is battery hungry. Then again the Bluetooth will suck battery instead. Needs additional software on the phone to work also.

http://www.dx.com/p/usb-gps-rechargeable-65-channel-data-logger-dongle-black-58695#.VVsdW-v4vTQ

Cheap GPS loggers like this one would be good for that purpose. You can find cheaper if you look on eBay.

The gps dongle looks like a good idea although i may consider a cheap phone. The igotu Things from maplin look good, if i could find a second hand “travel gps logger” or equivalent that would be nice

I would have thought that a phone is the best solution.
I’ve done this. £15 smartphone with £10 credit. I opted for the data pack and I’ve used £1 in about 4 months. Battery lasts a long time and it’s got the added benefit of a user interface.
Edit: And it can be used in emergencies.

Something like this maybe. http://www.price4.co.uk/g-paws-gps-data-recorder-21710.aspx
you could upload the file to your pc then import it to strava. That would work wouldnt it ?

The igotu Things from maplin look good

I’ve got one of the igotu’s which I use for longer rides where I don’t want to run down the battery on my phone. You can export a GPX through the software and upload this to Strava/Endomondo etc.

Any GPS data logger which can export to GPX should be fine for Strava.

I think any gps device that can connect to a pc will work. Thanks for the replies, I will keep looking on ebay

A Garmin Etrex would work, should be able to get one second hand for under £25. I would say avoid the really old models, as they use a serial connection, which needs an obscure cable (and a serial port, or USB/serial adapter).
Look for something like the Etrex Legend C or Legend Cx or Venture Cx. They have pretty good battery life – about 20 hours from a pair of AAs.

I didn’t think about the old etrex devices actually, an old forerunner would also be good.

I had an old Garmin eTrex – old yellow one – they connect via cable, and should easily be available second hand for your budget. They still command decent price – I got it second hand and was able to sell it a couple of years later for the same.

eTrex 20 would be great, but not sure for under £30.

Problem with a second hand Forerunner is the battery could be worn out.

I got a cheap datalogger off ebay, worked fine but came with a trial version of the software which expired meaning you could no longer export from it.

So whatever you get, get one that saves as .gpx files and can be accesses with just a Usb from windows.

Keep an eye on ebay, Bryton Rider 20 are going for around £25-30.

I use my iPhone 4s which I have had for ages. And too was worried I would run the battery down and not have the use of it in case of an emergency. So instead of buying a standalone gps unit I just bought an external battery instead, small, cheap and holds nearly 3full charges I think.

I do have a garmin fr220 which I won’t wear on the bike as I crash to often. 😀

If you go ultra cheap then you might find that the device doesn’t log position very frequently and so you might get Strava issues e.g. missed segments.

I have a Mio 100 GPs you can have for £25 if you want it. I got a Garmin Edge touring recently so its redundant.

http://eu.mio.com/en_eu/cyclo-100.htm

It really has only been used about 15 times.

Email in profile if you fancy it.

I keep looking at the likes of I-gotu and g-paws (though admittedly that was for the cat), as an old phone will have a crap battery and my current (& most) phone is 5hz recorder, which I find is missing too much detail, I want a 1hz device myself (I-gotu).

Ancient HTC Desire phone here, rooted and loaded with Beanstalk ROM (KitKat). Works a treat.