Phone apps vs. GPS watches

[Jwolf]

Runtastic measured my walk home as 4.6K, which I think is long. Looking at the map, it must have had a hard time finding a signal at the beginning because it shows me walking laps around the park behind my office building. And it shows me somewhat weaving on the route home.

This seems to often be the problem with the iPhone apps. The GPS signal is not as strong as in the watches. I see this also when I look at Google maps (the "blue dot" bounces around sometimes).

Once I used MapMyRun on my route on the path around the Langara golf course. It's a 2.7K loop and my Garmin is always consistent (and the map it makes is normal). On MapMyRun the map had me running diagonally across and back several times. Good thing I didn't get hit by any golf balls.

[Double Bellybuster]

After three Garmin 205s and 305s bit the dust after 18 months or so each, I have gone with the bare bones Timex Marathon GPS watch. It is terrific, even though at a $79-$99 price point. Gives me everything I need.

Or I may be reading between the lines here on Garmin disappointment. I sure don't want to carry a big old telephone around with me!

[Jwolf]

No Garmin disappointment. I've tried the iPhone apps because as Mike said "I'm carrying it anyway" but they simply aren't as good as the Garmin. Occasionally I will use MapMyRun if I forget my Garmin or if its not charged. Speaking of charging- the iPhone also eats battery very quickly when using a GPS app. I still carry the phone for almost all my runs (for audio as well as to have it "just in case") and it's really not much heavier than a watch so that's not the issue.

[La]

No Garmin disappointment. I've tried the iPhone apps because as Mike said "I'm carrying it anyway" but they simply aren't as good as the Garmin. Occasionally I will use MapMyRun if I forget my Garmin or if its not charged. Speaking of charging- the iPhone also eats battery very quickly when using a GPS app. I still carry the phone for almost all my runs (for audio as well as to have it "just in case") and it's really not much heavier than a watch so that's not the issue.

I rarely carry my phone with me when I run, so I use my Garmin. I just tried Runtastic on my BB to see how it was. The app itself is good, but the fact that it's so inaccurate means that I likely won't use it again (esp. not for a real running workout).

[Stampie]

I ran a test this weekend. I tracked my run with my Garmin (305) and with my MapMyRun app on my phone. My Garmin read 22.04K while my phone read 22.08K. A 40m difference is nothing as far as I’m concerned. My running partner had 22.04 on their Garmin (410) as well. Sorry, I don’t have the map from my phone as I thought I saved the file, but deleted it in error and I have not upload the Garmin as of yet.

[MarkPoppen]

I tested my iPhone vs. my Blackberry vs my 305 a few times on courses up to 10 km and they were always within the margin of error.

I used my iPhone for about a year because i was thinking "I'm carrying it anyway". I've now switched back to the 305 because I find (because of how I train) I need the more immediate pace feedback. With the iPhone, I wouldn't know my pace until the end of the run and as a result I wasn't running my desired paces. I need to know more than just distance at the end of the run so the iPhone doesn't work for me.

I'm always running with my Runkeeper app on my phone, mostly because I listen to music while I run. You can set Runkeeper so it notifies you in your headphones of your pace, distance, average speed etc. every X minutes/meters.
I have it set for a notification every kilometer that tells me the pace I'm running at.

[CAW]

I tested my iPhone vs. my Blackberry vs my 305 a few times on courses up to 10 km and they were always within the margin of error.

I used my iPhone for about a year because i was thinking "I'm carrying it anyway". I've now switched back to the 305 because I find (because of how I train) I need the more immediate pace feedback. With the iPhone, I wouldn't know my pace until the end of the run and as a result I wasn't running my desired paces. I need to know more than just distance at the end of the run so the iPhone doesn't work for me.

I'm always running with my Runkeeper app on my phone, mostly because I listen to music while I run. You can set Runkeeper so it notifies you in your headphones of your pace, distance, average speed etc. every X minutes/meters.
I have it set for a notification every kilometer that tells me the pace I'm running at.

Runtastic Pro does the same thing, but Runtastic (my app of choice) also has a Power Song feature so you can select a particularly motivating or favourite song as your Power Song and when you feel you need a push, just tap the phone and your Power Song plays. Runtastic also has a Ghost Run feature that allows you to race against yourself in a previous run of similar distance/route and the voice will notify you, not only of your pace, but also if you are ahead or behind your "ghost" and by how much. Runtastic also has a "live updates" feature where it will post to Facebook or Twitter throughout the run with an update on pace/progress/location. This comes in handy when running big races, and your friends want to track your progress. It also pairs with MyFitnessPal so you don't have to manually log your run/exercise into your food journal if you use MFP.

I sound like a freakin' commercial.

[MarkPoppen]

I'm always running with my Runkeeper app on my phone, mostly because I listen to music while I run. You can set Runkeeper so it notifies you in your headphones of your pace, distance, average speed etc. every X minutes/meters.
I have it set for a notification every kilometer that tells me the pace I'm running at.

Runtastic Pro does the same thing, but Runtastic (my app of choice) also has a Power Song feature so you can select a particularly motivating or favourite song as your Power Song and when you feel you need a push, just tap the phone and your Power Song plays. Runtastic also has a Ghost Run feature that allows you to race against yourself in a previous run of similar distance/route and the voice will notify you, not only of your pace, but also if you are ahead or behind your "ghost" and by how much. Runtastic also has a "live updates" feature where it will post to Facebook or Twitter throughout the run with an update on pace/progress/location. This comes in handy when running big races, and your friends want to track your progress. It also pairs with MyFitnessPal so you don't have to manually log your run/exercise into your food journal if you use MFP.

I sound like a freakin' commercial.

I used to have Runtastic on my old iPhone, but it kept crashing the app after a few songs. I guess it couldn't cope with all the awesomeness I was playing
Now my friends run with Runkeeper. It's how we keep each other motivated as well.

[AjaxRunner]

I have used Endomondo before. One of the cool features of that app is that friends can send you messages while you are running, and they get played on your headset. Still use the app for tracking purposes and because it connects to MyFitnessPal, but don't run with it. I don't like it when the phone and watch ar off and I get conflicting numbers...

[Double Bellybuster]

I downloaded Runkeeper as I forgot my watch at home and took a run on my way home. It ate through the last 64% of my iPhone 5 Battery on a 7K run. Are there settings I need to change?

[jgore]

I downloaded Runkeeper as I forgot my watch at home and took a run on my way home. It ate through the last 64% of my iPhone Battery on a 7K run. Are there settings I need to change?

Wow. I have a cheapie Android phone and after 18K had plenty left. I didn't fool around with the settings.

[Stampie]

I downloaded Runkeeper as I forgot my watch at home and took a run on my way home. It ate through the last 64% of my iPhone Battery on a 7K run. Are there settings I need to change?

Wow. I have a cheapie Android phone and after 18K had plenty left. I didn't fool around with the settings.

I've used MapMyRun on my android for 24K run with plenty of battery available.

[Jwolf]

iPhones seem to really eat battery when they are using the GPS. It might depend on whether you are carrying it in your pocket or exposed in a belt clip or armband.

[AjaxRunner]

I downloaded Runkeeper as I forgot my watch at home and took a run on my way home. It ate through the last 64% of my iPhone 5 Battery on a 7K run. Are there settings I need to change?

Make sure you turn off WIFI, that will help a bit, since it will continue to try to connect to wifi for better location accuracy. In the end the iPhones are extremely battery heavy.

[MarkPoppen]

I downloaded Runkeeper as I forgot my watch at home and took a run on my way home. It ate through the last 64% of my iPhone 5 Battery on a 7K run. Are there settings I need to change?

You can turn off the phone while running. The app will run in the background. On a 3.5k run, I used about 10-12% battery.

[turd ferguson]

MapMyRun doesn't use anywhere near that much battery.

I would turn off wifi but keep phone on, turn the screen off (that's a HUGE power suck), run the app and a podcast and will go through maybe 35% of the battery in a 3 hour run.

[Jwolf]

I downloaded Runkeeper as I forgot my watch at home and took a run on my way home. It ate through the last 64% of my iPhone 5 Battery on a 7K run. Are there settings I need to change?

You can turn off the phone while running. The app will run in the background. On a 3.5k run, I used about 10-12% battery.

Turning off the phone while running would defeat the purpose of why I am running with it in the first place. (that is for my kids to be able to contact me if necessary).

Like Mike I'd love to be able to use one unit while running, since I run with my phone anyway. But I simply haven't found the iPhone apps to be functional enough.

[Stampie]

MapMyRun doesn't use anywhere near that much battery.

I would turn off wifi but keep phone on, turn the screen off (that's a HUGE power suck), run the app and a podcast and will go through maybe 35% of the battery in a 3 hour run.

I have to agree with Mike here too. I turn off WiFi when I use the MapMyRun app for my android, the phone is full charged (usual, the most I would use up in battery is maybe 25-30%. That is based on a 2 to 2.5hr training run.

[turd ferguson]

Turning off the phone while running would defeat the purpose of why I am running with it in the first place.

Automatically livetweeting my run, frequently with a string of profanity.

[Stampie]

Turning off the phone while running would defeat the purpose of why I am running with it in the first place.

Automatically livetweeting my run, frequently with a string of profanity.

I have to admit, the FB updates & Tweets from that day in early September when you were 'testing' that function out was rather comical.

[turd ferguson]

Turning off the phone while running would defeat the purpose of why I am running with it in the first place.

Automatically livetweeting my run, frequently with a string of profanity.

I have to admit, the FB updates & Tweets from that day in early September when you were 'testing' that function out was rather comical.

That was a social media disaster - it had everything short of a picture of my junk. I have a twitter account just for running tweets but for some reason mapmyrun was tweeting to my main account, I'd thrown in some profanity (because nobody follows my running twitter handle), and my twitter app was automatically cross-posting my tweets to facebook. I was about 15k into my run and Carrie called me and said "what on earth are you doing? Did you install a Tourette's app?"

That said - livetweeting is pretty cool because my wife can look at my tweets to see where I am and how my run is going. I was testing it out in advance of NYC so that I could live-tweet my marathon.

[FishPants]

I use MapMyRun, and I didn't see much discrepancy between it and my Garmin 205. I have upgraded my Garmin, so we will see how they compare once I start running again.

For the most part I find it pretty accurate to use my phone app. if anything it might differ by 200-300m in total over a 5K run.

There was this one time I used my old blackberry and MapMyRun to track myself, out of curiosity, while I mowed my lawn...this was the result. Note: I mow in straight, diagonal lines.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/36293496

here's a workout I did on an oval track: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/138005786 I was just curious about how it would map, and thought it was hilarious

I have a Twitter account and don't use it. I will have to figure out how to link my mapmyrun to it, so Dan could track me if needed. Smart idea! All that is on twitter now is youtube videos Bubs has decided to share, and 2-3 rants about horrible Edmonton drivers.

[Stampie]

I use MapMyRun, and I didn't see much discrepancy between it and my Garmin 205. I have upgraded my Garmin, so we will see how they compare once I start running again.

For the most part I find it pretty accurate to use my phone app. if anything it might differ by 200-300m in total over a 5K run.

There was this one time I used my old blackberry and MapMyRun to track myself, out of curiosity, while I mowed my lawn...this was the result. Note: I mow in straight, diagonal lines.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/36293496

here's a workout I did on an oval track: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/138005786 I was just curious about how it would map, and thought it was hilarious

I have a Twitter account and don't use it. I will have to figure out how to link my mapmyrun to it, so Dan could track me if needed. Smart idea! All that is on twitter now is youtube videos Bubs has decided to share, and 2-3 rants about horrible Edmonton drivers.

Did you sneeze a few times?

[FishPants]

here's a workout I did on an oval track: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/138005786 I was just curious about how it would map, and thought it was hilarious

Did you sneeze a few times?

I was pregnant, so that probably threw my balance off

[Stampie]

here's a workout I did on an oval track: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/138005786 I was just curious about how it would map, and thought it was hilarious

Did you sneeze a few times?

I was pregnant, so that probably threw my balance off