Head Unit GPS accuracy

[prebsy]

Problem: mountain bike trails I ride are super twisty, local legend has it you'll at 20% onto your ride distance comparing a wheel sensor to GPS. Well it's 2021 and i'm not putting a wheel sensor on my bike but I'd love for some more accurate data.

I've had many different units from garmin over the years. I only big difference I noticed was going from the 500 to the 510 and getting glonass. since then i've used a 520, 2 wahoo elemnt bolts, my iphone SE 2020 and a multitude of androids (running the strava app). Surprisingly I thought some of my androids were the best.

Does anyone with actual GPS hardware / software knowledge have an opinion of the head units / phones / wearables on the market today?

[DanW]

Comparing to a wheel sensor has it's own problems so I would be cautious of comparing to that.

Garmin head units are as good as anything for receiving GPS, any phone will be less stable.

The only real thing to check is that you have 1 second interval recording rather than smart recording which may miss some of those twists.

[Lozaen]

Some of the newer units can also make use of Galileo and the Chinese equivalent. But yes, especially on twisty routes and in forests, there can be irregularities.
Are you riding the same trails all the time or always new ones? If there are Garmin or Strava Segments, isn't Strava/ Garmin connect going to chose the segment with it's properties anyway?

[prebsy]

I just looking at the data on strava, comparing distances. It's a bit of a futile effort comparing bad data with other people's bad data. What I'm looking for is info like the first line Lozaen posted "Some of the newer units can also make use of Galileo and the Chinese equivalent. " what units are those? I just generally want better data for myself.

[TheRich]

I just looking at the data on strava, comparing distances. It's a bit of a futile effort comparing bad data with other people's bad data. What I'm looking for is info like the first line Lozaen posted "Some of the newer units can also make use of Galileo and the Chinese equivalent. " what units are those? I just generally want better data for myself.

You can enable them all...and then you'll still have inexpilicable crazy GPS errors.

I have GPS+GLONASS enabled and for a couple weeks had GPS tracks that wandered off enough to not recognize segments on a specific trail including a 99.9mph top speed. Data is time, HR and power, distance is just something that those things produce.

[R0CKETMAN]

22 miles today using iPhone 11 & Cyclemeter which uses Apple Maps.
It works

Got a Wahoo Elemnt on one of my road bikes

[LeDuke]

Get a receiver that can connect to GPS + Galileo.

This will get you the most accurate, current civilian consumer grade (Galileo) solution and the most accurate civilian future solution (GPS, using L2C and L1 ionospheric error correction), until Galileo is updated with another upgrade. Which, as far as I know, is not yet in the works.

But, if you’re mountain biking, you’re going to be dealing with the effects of multipathing. The only way to eliminate that is stop and let the receiver achieve a solution. It will happen; but you have to ask how much you care. Is it worth stopping for 30s?


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[Lozaen]

I just looking at the data on strava, comparing distances. It's a bit of a futile effort comparing bad data with other people's bad data. What I'm looking for is info like the first line Lozaen posted "Some of the newer units can also make use of Galileo and the Chinese equivalent. " what units are those? I just generally want better data for myself.

The recent Garmin units are Galileo compatible (530/830)
The last generation (520/820) wasn't.

Current iPhones also can use Galileo and also the Chinese....the iPhone 6 only knew gps and glonass.

[prebsy]

looks like my bolt is up to these standards so no idea why i preceive it to be so much worse. Of course gotta check all my settings.

[LeDuke]

Even a mil grade, L2 capable receiver is going to have errors like you have, if used in that manner. Smaller errors, but errors all the same. Terrain, vegetation, etc.

And they have access to a whole different band that, in conjunction with the civilian band you use, helps account for errors caused by the atmosphere. Ionospheric delay and all that.


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