Strava Accuracy – iPhone 5

[Bobbo_SA]

I was wondering, am I the only one recently that has noticed a distinct loss of accuracy in Strava over the last 3-4 updates?

 

I have routes where looking at the satellite view on the website the track is no where near the actual path. (Today I'm planning on taking the knock on the weight and running the old etrex on my bar to compare the 2 - iPhone vs Garmin)

 

Also, I can repeat a segment 4 or 5 times and it only picks up one or 2 of the "laps".

 

This is happening between trees as well as open space so I don't think its due to the trees covering the segment, I also keep it in my back pocket with no camelpack or anything else to obstruct it.

[Mountainman44]

No problems, in fact a very good and consistent correlation between my iPhone 5 and my riding partner's iPhone 4 in terms of distance and elevation.

[Bobbo_SA]

@MM44, agreed, between the various IOS devices we use its consistent, however it would be nice to see a comparison to say a Byrton or Edge device.

 

On Wednesday I rode with both my iPhone and old Garmin Etrex, the image below tells an interesting story, on the left is the Garmin with the track very close to where we rode, on the right is the iPhone's track which shows that I'm 4-5 meters from where I actually am riding.

 

Will do some more parallel runs (I messed this one up by stopping Strava on the iPhone during the ride) and see if it stays this way, if it does I'll be posting a wanted add for a Edge 500 unit, :-)

[Skylark]

I've not found bike Gps apps on iPhone to be very accurate.

I'd say -15% or so is a better idea of the true distance

Edited June 14, 2013 by Skylark

[Markdeep]

It is not necessarily Strava but the smart phone GPS unit, remember it does not function as accurately as your dedicated GPS units such as a Garmin. It also may be polling the phone GPS co-ordinate less frequently to improve battery life.

 

Bottom line, dedicated GPS for best accuracy.

[Bobbo_SA]

It is not necessarily Strava but the smart phone GPS unit, remember it does not function as accurately as your dedicated GPS units such as a Garmin. It also may be polling the phone GPS co-ordinate less frequently to improve battery life.

 

Bottom line, dedicated GPS for best accuracy.

 

If I go back a few versions it appears more accurate, but I think you are right, in order to save battery its running at a lower rate, also noticed some times it picks up a segment and the next time it does not, probably due to the same reasons.

[schizo]

I have found very similar issues when using Strava to record my rides, one of the most irritating is when you finish a ride and it tries to update, but because of low signal it gets half way and complains about an error, there is no way to fix or save that ride.. So I moved over to using a very simply gps tracking app on my phone, I settled with Endomondo which is super light on battery and uploads your ride at intervals, also found it to be the most accurate, Then after very one or two rides, you just export the GPX and upload to Strava