So far I've been using my Android smartphone and a combination of Strava and Google Maps for navigating/recording my routes. This works reasonably well, but as I've been going on longer and longer rides I'm getting fed up with having to take my phone out of my pocket to check whether I've missed my turning.
I've tried mounting my phone on my handlebars, but this isn't a great solution for several reasons:
- It's bulky and vulnerable to getting smashed in a crash
- The battery quickly runs flat if I leave the display on for navigation
- It's hard to read the display in bright sunlight
I've looked at various cycling GPS units which seem to mainly fall into two categories:
- Small, relatively cheap units that record performance stats (distance, speed etc.) but don't offer any navigation functionality. I'm not really interested in these features since I can already record most of the information I want using my phone.
- Bigger, more expensive units with colour screens that offer route planning and turn-by-turn navigation. My phone already has a nice big color touchscreen as well as a GPS receiver so I find it hard to justify spending ~£200+ on one of these.
All I want is a small, dedicated "turn indicator" that I can mount on my handlebars and pair with my phone (perhaps over Bluetooth).
So far the closest thing I've found is the Schwinn CycleNav. However there are lots of angry reviews on Amazon claiming that the app is no longer supported on current versions of Android/iOS. If so then this rules it out completely for me.
By far the nicest-looking "turn indicator" solution I've seen so far is on the Hammerhead. It's reasonably priced for a cycling GPS unit, although I still feel like buying another GPS receiver would be overkill. I also have some reservations about their Android app, which has some quite poor reviews.
There also seem to be a few relevant products at the crowdfunding stage. In particular Beeline comes close to the idea of a dedicated turn indicator. However it doesn't actually do proper turn-by-turn navigation - all it gives you is the bearing and distance to your destination, which is no good for me.
I'm sure I can't be the only one looking for a solution along these lines. Does anyone have experience with the options I mentioned above, or any other recommendations?