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my samsung galaxy phone does not like strava. it fails to find gps signal, sometimes not starting until well into a ride.
i like to log my miles. i like to look back at routes.
any cheap reliable optiions?
I was in a similar position not too long ago and bought a Garmin Edge 25 off ebay, so far I'm liking it. Simple to use, has so far always found signal (I haven't gone out into the middle of no where with it yet however) and it syncs with strava easily. Was only about £50 second hand with all of the mounts.
You may get an edge 25 in your local Aldi Ton, usually 50 quid.
You won't get an edge 25 new for 50.
I use a Tom tom spark watch. Bought mine from there outlet store for about £50.
Goid second hand ones on eBay for around £35.
Get a Garmin forerunner of some description secondhand off ebay I’d imagine. I think I paid £50 for the one I’ve got - but I got that new from an eBay outlet store. It’s done the job for 3 years or so and still working ok. Only stopped using it because I got a Lezyne one that you can connect to a phone via Bluetooth.
Anything like a forerunner 10 / 15 / 25 / 35 would do the job and should be quite cheap.
You won’t get an edge 25 new for 50.
50 in my local Aldi in June, when my vivoactive was gubbed, nearly bought one, but garmin warrantied it.
I also have a Samsung galaxy and it's useless on Strava, I just use an old iphone to log strava and the either upload the data via WiFi of tether it to my samsung.
I had loads of problems with tracking activities when I last had a Samsung phone (4+ years ago), and my wife also has on her last and current Samsung.
Motorola FTW in my experience ...
Another vote for he Garmin Forerunner watch. Think mine is the 35 and has been ace for Strava, always gets a signal. Seen them brand new recently for less than £100.
Recently bought a Garmin 130. It’s basically an updated Edge 500 and is simple, easy and does all the auto connection stuff. Great wee thing.
Something that will upload automagically via linking to your phone as having to connect one via a cable to a computer won't happen.
Garmin 25 does that and never had an issue with when I had one.
Never had an issue with any phones either so I'd say old phone.
Grab a cheap polar m400 watch, they're not pretty, but they do the job! Can usually find em around 40quid
Tony, my Moto G3 isn't too bad with Strava. I certainly haven't lost as many miles as you!
Cheap Garmins are rubbish.
Tomtom are very good, I’ve also recently got a Layzne for £50 which is pretty good as it can integrate with Ant+ stuff
An old Nexus 7 2013 tablet? Very decent GPS tracking.
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Tony, my Moto G3 isn’t too bad with Strava
+1 mines quick and faultless.
Eldest_oab's Huwaei seems to be more problematic, again can be slow to get position and a few times just switched tracking off mid ride.
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I got an Edge 25 for £50 from Aldi a couple of years ago and an Edge 810 for £80 about 18 months ago.
I use my Garmin to track rides rather than Strava as I've got a cadence sensor and HRM. It uploads to Strava too.
A different phone app to record a GPS track may be more reliable than the Strava app. You can still upload the track to Strava afterwards.
Cheap Garmin, the 25 will do the job and won't cost the earth.
Cant beat other suggestions for price, but take a look at Bryton gps computers. I have had one for around 6 years and its still going strong. Amazing battery life, easy to use and around £100 for a 330/310 model on ebay/amazon.
I use another phone..
Sainsburys vodaphone PAYG phone (which has GPS obvs) - about 15 quid
some bloke on ebay gave an unlock code 2 quid
sack off the vodaphone and use a giff gaff sim, set the contract up so its only a top up payg with no bolt on things and a tenner cap - literally only charges me every few months
install strava
add a rugged power bank due to battery life. 15 quid
total cost.. 32 quid, plus the occassional tenner for data. my main phone remains fully charged and available for emergency usage
I use an IGPsport 50. Cost £50. Records all my data, then bluetooths to a phone app and then automatically to strava. Don't use the phone to reord anything at all, but rides show on the app and strava.
Cateye stealth Evo £65 new
It is old school as it looks like a generic cycle computer and you need to sync each workout via a USB cable to your PC and then you can upload it to strava.
Try turning off the auto pause function for a start. I had problems until I did this and strava will automatically calculate moving time when you complete the ride anyway. Also make sure that the app has all the permissions accepted so that it keeps the gps running.
Alternatively, Lezyne gps's are cheap and work well, with auto sync to strava. Lezyne super gps is what I use now because I wanted a cheap option for following route maps.
I picked up an Edge 500 for my son from eBay for £50 as "broken, for parts" - from the description I was pretty sure that the on-board storage was corrupted and so it proved to be. 10 minutes after unpacking it, it was fixed and he's been using it for the last 18 months.
Another thing on Samsung phones that messes with strava is battery saving mode - if that's on then the GPS is only intermittent. But suspect you've tried all these things!
I have an old Garmin that I used to log rides - it was faultless for 3,000 miles last year, but I've stopped tracking rides so I don't use it any more. Yours if you want it Ton (I'll find out exactly what it is when I get home, but it's a bobby basic entry level one from a few years ago).
Bike mount rather than watch, battery isn't too bad - I think I used to get a week of commuting (about an hour a day) out of it with juice to spare at the end of the week, and it'd do an all day MTB ride fine.
10 quid bike computer manually inputted into stava.
well you said cheap 😉
Bike computer? You've already got a watch and google maps works for the distance surely 🙂