Question: For turn-by-turn navigation, do I need a bike computer or is my phone good enough? —John K.
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: For navigation, your smartphone is good enough, and, at first glance, it may even seem like a better choice than a dedicated bike computer. Phones usually have larger screens than computers, and, unlike many current bike computers, they can provide spoken turn-by-turn navigation — not merely the beeps that the computers emit to alert you to check their onscreen map.
But there are a couple of hitches in those seeming advantages. One is that a phone screen can wash out in bright sunshine. The other hitch is that the battery charge in your phone doesn’t last as long as the charge in most GPS bike computers. That means that the phone charge may flatline before your ride is over, or in the case of an emergency, the phone may not have enough remaining charge to make a call for assistance.
There are some ways to overcome your phone’s shortfalls, however. One is to use an old phone stripped of other functions except for a navigation app, such as Google Maps or Ride With GPS, to be your handlebar-mounted device, saving the battery on your regular phone. If you choose a bike-specific app, such as Ride With GPS, Strava or Map My Ride, the app can capture other metrics of your ride as well.
Another option is to use your regular phone, but keep it in your pocket, paired with an earbud or headset worn near, but not over the ears, so you can hear the turn-by-turn directions, without needing to also visualize them on a screen, thus minimizing battery drawdown.
I have two friends who use this phone-in-the-pocket method and are satisfied with it enough that neither one has purchased a GPS bike computer. But while reading a bike forum thread about such usage, I noted this comment from someone identified as “Wildcat445”: “It’s too bad someone doesn’t have a remote screen for a smartphone, similar to how Android Auto works in a car. You tuck your phone safely away, start up an app called Android Cycle, and it projects video and sound to a rugged remote screen with your TbT directions. It could even be a ‘digital paper’ LCD screen so that it is readable even in bright light.”
Good idea, but it’s unlikely to be developed, since each new generation of the GPS computers improves on the previous ones.
In fact, as of this writing, some top-tier computers, such as the Garmin Edge 1050, now have built-in speakers that can provide spoken navigation, as do some smart watches, but that innovation isn’t present in most of the bike computers in current use. So in the meantime, a smartphone might serve your navigation needs well enough to keep you from buying a computer that doesn’t have all the functions that you want.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
Thanks Stan for all your good “works”!
I use Cyclemeter “Elite” paired with my iphone
and it serves me well. The app has excellent
cycling use functionality and a multitude
of programmable features. I used the free version for 8 years and decided the $10.99 yearly
Elite option was a worthwhile way of paying back
for all the free data storage
Jim Happy Riding in 2026
I’ve used Cyclemeter for 16 years now. In addition to the Elite version, Cyclemeter offers its own head unit for $150 that connects to the app running on your phone. It displays all the metrics while allowing you to keep your phone in your pocket. I will strongly consider buying this head unit when my Garmin Edge finally dies. The idea of using my $1000 smart phone as a head unit never appealed to me. I do t want to sweat all over it and/or risk damaging it in a crash, etc.
Thanks Stan for all your good “works”
I’ve been extremely impressed with the
Cyclemeter Elite app paired with my iPhone.
The app is capable of supporting road and
off road riding with all the characteristics
you would expect from a cycling specific
device. Elite is $10.99 yr with support and data storage. They also offer a free version which
works perfectly fine! Jim
Thanks for this info. I’ll check out the Cyclemeter Elite.
If you use Ride With GPS set the phone to Airplane mode after loading your route and the battery usage is considerably less.
Good tip! Thanks.
I believe that to get turn by turn guidance with RwGPS, you need to have a paid account.
Our bike club has “free” Bike with GPS for all members. i do not know if club has a special rate,, or is free
Riding with Ride GPS and my Wahoo with the downloaded ride. I use bone conduction headset, so I have full unimpaired hearing, and the headset is light and doesn’t pop out like an earbud can. , I get the visual prompts and map on the Wahoo and the voice prompts on the headphones. It takes a minute to get all that turned on at the start of a ride, but I’m no longer “wrong turn Jeff” on the route! I don’t use both on big charity rides, the course markers and riders usually keep me on course, but on tours like VBT when you are on an unmarked route it works like a charm.
If you are riding in an area with spotty cell phone coverage, don’t forget to download offline maps of the area to your phone.
I have to respect the answer that a phone is “good enough.” Several years ago I cautiously invested in a Garmin Edge, and now I find that I would not go back. My screen displays grade, heart rate, wattage (with an added power meter), cadence, among other data options. And my Edge with Garmin Connect will estimate my Lactate threshold, FTP, VO2 max, training load, etc. I got drawn in to the data, and that has me riding more and pushing myself more. If all I had was a phone, I could get by – but I now expect more. If my Edge broke today, I’d head to my bike store and buy a replacement within 24 hours — and a couple of years ago I did just that.
An external battery pack, also called a power bank, solves the battery life problem for longer rides. You can run a USB cable and keep the battery in a bag or just have the battery available in case the phone battery gets too low. A battery pack isn’t any larger or heavier than the extra GPS unit, either.
One of the few advantages of being an old guy with hearing problems is that my hearing aids are bluetooth compatible, so I can hear turn-by-turn directions easily.
Didn’t Cateye offer some GPS cyclocomputers that used a Bluetooth connection to your smartphone? I’m not sure what data it displayed on the head unit.
Since bikes use gps points to measure distances, if you need highly accurate distances your bike cyclometer (if set up correctly) will be much more accurate than the gps distances. However for all the above reasons phones are great. Also an extra battery pack tucked away in a small frame bag with a wire to the phone can also offer more ride time.
I agree with the comments about using a smartphone during the ride and battery life.
One other thing to look out for: Watch out when using a smartphone if it starts raining during your ride. Every time rain it my screen it would open random apps from the touchscreen. I did put my phone in a ziplok bag, but it then defeats the touchscreen and it makes it hard to read. I went back to my old non-gps cyclocomputer to alleviate the problem.
For the past 2-3 years, Bike Illinois has been using Ride With GPS and not marking the route with paint or signs. Registrants get an account on RWGPS and a set of maps with audible cues. Personally, although I still rely on my Edge head unit, I appreciate the little “alarm” prior to a turn. I am an Android user and have never gone into airplane mode for a day’s route. I have generally finished with at least 60% battery. Most of my cohorts have Apple phones. It is typical for their batteries to be sucked nearly dry with about 20 miles (out of 50) remaining. Interesting that, for once, an Android version works better than an iPhone version!
One issue I have found with cellphones is overheating. Once a few summers ago I was following an RWGPS track for part of a Rando 400 on Vancouver Island. But the heat shut my phone down, and I had to abandon rather than get hopelessly lost. I also found that using a tablet inside a waterproof pouch while kayaking also shut down very quickly. So I carry my old eTrex as a backup now. Two is one and one is zero.
I’ll confess to using my phone’s map function — with the voice turned on — to leadme to the nearest coffee shop while in unfamiliar territory.,
I’ve happily used the bikemap app for many years. The web address for it is bikemap.net
Jeff
I ride with a Garmin bike computer, which I normally use to check heart rate, distance and speed.
When I need to follow a pre-planned long-distance route, I couple the Garmin with my iPhone.
The Garmin displays the route map and navigation prompts, and the iPhone in my cargo bibs pocket sends voice prompts to my open-ear headphones.
I liike how easy it is to switch between data screens on my Garmin, while always having voice prompts from my iPhone.
I use Ride with GPS on my desktop PC to plot my routes and to send the maps to my Garmin and iPhone. I use the Ride with GPS app on my iPhone for navigation voice prompts.
There are other problems using cell phones not discussed in the article.
One is that a cell phone battery will only last about 8 to 12 hours, which isn’t bad, but if you are on a multi-day trip and won’t be near an outlet, or your battery is less than brand new that could cause a problem, whereas a Garmin Edge Explorer can run up to 24 hours.
The other problem is that a Garmin Edge Explore will show places to eat, bike shops, etc, as you travel, the phone navigation system will not show any of that stuff.
The last issue is that the Garmin Edge Explore will take you on known safe cycling routes, the phone navigation system sort of does that but not near as good. In a city the phone will route you onto bike paths and lanes…sometimes, but sometimes not! Once you leave the city the phone navigation system is completely useless for bicycle traveling, it will take you on roads not safe or bikes, it will send you down gravel roads, it will route you sometimes on a route that could take up to 2 hours longer. The Garmin won’t do that nonsense.
The Garmin won’t talk to you, it will beep at turns, so you have to keep an eye on the map more, but sometimes the voice on the phone isn’t loud enough to hear what’s it’s saying anyway.
I have tried both methods and Garmin Edge Explore wins for me and what I want a GPS to do.
You address my concern. Sure, using the phone to get you where you plan to go is ok. But letting your phone (by which I mean Google Maps or other non-cycling systems) tell you how to get there is risky. Only last week, I made the mistake of using Google maps when traveling, only to be sent from a main road to what looked like a very nice trail along the ocean (Hawaii). The only catch was the trail sign that said, among other prohibitions, no bicycles. I have also had times when it tried to send me into a closed mine (Illinois that time); down an “unpaved road” which turned out to be a roughly tilled, steep field that even a tractor would struggle on (California Delta); against traffic on one-way roads – too many cities to count.
I have used an older cell phone with Ride with GPS. (my club standard for navigation).
Also, to extend battery life, i disable the display for “simple” legs, straight distances, etc. A quick push of the button re activates the display.