Longer gravel races?

[Birru]

@hozn 172291 wrote:

I probably just need to invest in a battery pack for my Garmin 1000. I admit I have not looked into that at all, buy if I could get something that I can hook up to the Go Pro mount under my k-edge out-front mount, that would be sweet …. Time to do some research!

Probably just time to upgrade to the 1030 and get the integrated battery pack. It’s only a $730 outlay.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/571552

[Subby]

How do you feel about 335 miles of gravel in under 24 hours?

[rcannon100]

@Subby 172305 wrote:

How do you feel about 335 miles of gravel in under 24 hours?

Queasy?

[Sunyata]

@Birru 172298 wrote:

Probably just time to upgrade to the 1030 and get the integrated battery pack. It’s only a $730 outlay.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/571552

OR… And I am just going to throw this out there… You could just buy a regular old battery pack.

One of these kept my Garmin going for 20+ hours and STILL had enough juice to charge my phone twice. And they are relatively inexpensive at $18 each. I bought three of them thinking I would need to change them out at every check point at DK200, but it just kept going and going and going.

[hozn]

@Sunyata 172318 wrote:

OR… And I am just going to throw this out there… You could just buy a regular old battery pack.

One of these kept my Garmin going for 20+ hours and STILL had enough juice to charge my phone twice. And they are relatively inexpensive at $18 each. I bought three of them thinking I would need to change them out at every check point at DK200, but it just kept going and going and going.

Thanks — that’s more what I had in mind . How do you secure yours to the bike?

[hozn]

@Subby 172305 wrote:

How do you feel about 335 miles of gravel in under 24 hours?

Yeah, no.

That sounded tempting to me at first. But there is a significant chance I’d do some damage to my body attempting that.

DK200 sounds fun — maybe will try for that next year.

I am, however, interested in that skyline drive out and back “training ride” …

[musclys]

@hozn 172322 wrote:

I am, however, interested in that skyline drive out and back “training ride” …

Trying to get that one on the calendar. I’d definitely much rather die on Skyline than in the PawPaw Tunnel.

[AFHokie]

@hozn 172320 wrote:

Thanks — that’s more what I had in mind . How do you secure yours to the bike?

I put mine in a top tube bag. That way it can charge the edge while still on the mount. It works really well, but the connections aren’t waterproof so I don’t recommend doing this if its raining.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk

[Subby]

@hozn 172320 wrote:

Thanks — that’s more what I had in mind . How do you secure yours to the bike?

I use the Revelate gas tank – it will hold a decent amount of items, including a power bank – and is situated on the frame in a location that makes it easy to recharge lights or devices on the fly.

https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/cockpit/GasTank

[hozn]

Great suggestions. I had forgotten that I own a top/tube “fuel” bag that would probably be a perfect fit for the battery.

Done & done.

Now maybe will reconsider that 200-mile PA adventure ride

[Sunyata]

@hozn 172338 wrote:

Great suggestions. I had forgotten that I own a top/tube “fuel” bag that would probably be a perfect fit for the battery.

Done & done.

Now maybe will reconsider that 200-mile PA adventure ride

Yep. I have an Apidura top tube bag which is water resistant enough. The only damage to my power bank after several gravel rides in the rain and one stupid stormy second half of DK200 was a little stickiness from some damp shot blocks rubbing off on the power bank. A little alcohol cleaned it off nicely.

[Raymo853]

@Birru 172298 wrote:

Probably just time to upgrade to the 1030 and get the integrated battery pack. It’s only a $730 outlay.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/571552

I have an older type Garmin, an Oregon series, that uses AA batteries. So nice to be able to save the tract, swap batteries and have another 8 hours of run time.

When my Oregon dies, no way will I buy a bike specific GPS ever again. It makes no sense. Much better is to buy an older smart phone, ruggedized or not, and use it as a dedicated bike GPS without ever getting it a SIM card. Or even better, pull that older Galaxy S5, iPhone 5, etc… out of a desk drawer and use it.

That is my plan. Will primarily use Ride with GPS as I love the various base maps you can choose and cache on your phone while at home or in a coffee shop on wireless. I will use something like JB Weld to improve the mount because I will not care if the phone ends up looking a little ugly.

Modern smart phones are fully ANT and can connect to just about any sensor via ANT or Bluetooth without all the restrictions Garmin, Magellan and others love to engineer in to drive up the prices. Plus when you stop for coffee, you can connect to their wireless and upload your ride, and download stuff, Skype someone, use a data based text app, modify your Tinder profile …..

And then you can buy the external battery packs for $ 15 to keep your phone running effectively for ever. Unlike Garmins that like to switch off if you try that.

[Sunyata]

@Raymo853 172436 wrote:

And then you can buy the external battery packs for $ 15 to keep your phone running effectively for ever. Unlike Garmins that like to switch off if you try that.

I think the only ones that try to switch off when you plug them is is the old Edge 500. I know the newer series just keep on keeping on when you plug them in. They do ask if you want it to turn OFF when you unplug it though, if it is not running an activity. But you can easily tell it to stay on.

[hozn]

@Raymo853 172436 wrote:

When my Oregon dies, no way will I buy a bike specific GPS ever again. It makes no sense. Much better is to buy an older smart phone, ruggedized or not, and use it as a dedicated bike GPS without ever getting it a SIM card. Or even better, pull that older Galaxy S5, iPhone 5, etc… out of a desk drawer and use it.

That is my plan. Will primarily use Ride with GPS as I love the various base maps you can choose and cache on your phone while at home or in a coffee shop on wireless. I will use something like JB Weld to improve the mount because I will not care if the phone ends up looking a little ugly.

Modern smart phones are fully ANT and can connect to just about any sensor via ANT or Bluetooth without all the restrictions Garmin, Magellan and others love to engineer in to drive up the prices. Plus when you stop for coffee, you can connect to their wireless and upload your ride, and download stuff, Skype someone, use a data based text app, modify your Tinder profile …..

So this *sounds* like a good plan, but the reason I’ll keep buying a dedicated bike GPS are:
(1) Waterproof / rugged. As you note there are some smartphones that claim this, but they’re not the cheap ones.
(2) Much better GPS. Antennas designed to track location make a difference. GLONASS support, etc.
(3) ANT+ support. The list of mfrs with ANT+ phones is limited to Samsung and Sony and a few select models from others, as far as I can tell. Perhaps if buying a phone dedicated to just being a bike computer, I’d consider one of those options.
(4) Size. I have a Garmin 1000, which I think is too big. I can’t imagine having a full-size phone cramping my style.
(5) Battery life. This probably varies, but even though I complain about my Garmin 1000, I like being able to navigate for ~8-10 hours without needing external battery. That’s 99% of the riding I do and I’m gonna get that external battery for that other 1%.

That all said, I think the Hammerhead Karoo, which is an Android-based platform (but with GPS-specific antenna, etc.) is a very interesting idea. If it had better battery life, I’d probably buy it. I might still get it when my Garmin craps out. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with a phone OS for recording bike rides; I just think that a product that I’d own for being a phone is going to be less than optimal for my bike due to the reasons above.

I’m happy Garmin is getting some good competition from Wahoo, Lezyne, and hopefully Hammerhead. I think Garmin products are nice hardware with a terrible OS, and hopefully this will push them to vastly improve that — and drop their price points.

[Birru]

@Raymo853 172436 wrote:

When my Oregon dies, no way will I buy a bike specific GPS ever again. It makes no sense. Much better is to buy an older smart phone, ruggedized or not, and use it as a dedicated bike GPS without ever getting it a SIM card. Or even better, pull that older Galaxy S5, iPhone 5, etc… out of a desk drawer and use it.

That is my plan. Will primarily use Ride with GPS as I love the various base maps you can choose and cache on your phone while at home or in a coffee shop on wireless. I will use something like JB Weld to improve the mount because I will not care if the phone ends up looking a little ugly.

Modern smart phones are fully ANT and can connect to just about any sensor via ANT or Bluetooth without all the restrictions Garmin, Magellan and others love to engineer in to drive up the prices. Plus when you stop for coffee, you can connect to their wireless and upload your ride, and download stuff, Skype someone, use a data based text app, modify your Tinder profile …..

And then you can buy the external battery packs for $ 15 to keep your phone running effectively for ever. Unlike Garmins that like to switch off if you try that.

I tried using my smartphone for a while and generally it was fine for commuting, but for longer rides, especially at either end of the temperature spectrum, it sucked. The screen was hard to see in sunlight unless at max brightness, and that kills battery life and generates lots of heat. On hot days in bright sunlight it would overheat. On the coldest days the battery would effectively freeze, resulting in shutdowns, something that my Garmin Edge seems to handle a lot better.

Look, I have a lot of beef with Garmin (and other cycling companies) regarding their insane pricing and tech that often feels insultingly ancient and undercooked. But the reflective displays, sensor connectivity, extreme weather tolerance, comprehensive training features, battery life (especially with a USB pack) do make dedicated cycling computers the best available choices for a lot of us.

Just don’t get a Garmin Edge 820. That thing is for chumps.

[Author]

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