# Good value Android phone to run Komoot whilst touring



## lazytyke (14 Jun 2018)

Having had lots of "fun" with my Garmin whilst touring, I'm keen to try running Komoot directly on an android phone instead. I already have I phone for day to day use and comms, so just looking for a cheapish android, with good battery life that would run Komoot. Any experience/suggestions welcome. I'd rather maintain a separate phone for the navigation and comms etc.


----------



## Cycleops (14 Jun 2018)

Its been said many times on here the Motorola Moto phones by Lenovo are great value. I'd choose one with a larger screen and battery like the E4 plus:
https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e4_plus-8722.php


----------



## alicat (14 Jun 2018)

Twice in fact!


----------



## Crackle (14 Jun 2018)

First time I've heard of Komoot, looks interesting.


----------



## steveindenmark (14 Jun 2018)

I use a Samsung J5/6 with Komoot and Wahoo. It works well.


----------



## lazytyke (14 Jun 2018)

Crackle said:


> First time I've heard of Komoot, looks interesting.



It's really quite good, though as with all navigation aids, it sometimes throws in the odd curve ball. What I really like is the ability to easily change the route on the phone. Very easy to add in extra way points to change the route. Also it was very straight forward to get it onto the Garmin via bluetooth from the phone. I'm now thinking though why bother with the Garmin at at all !


----------



## Cycleops (14 Jun 2018)

[QUOTE 5276571, member: 259"]Moto G6 play. ......and it has the best battery by far of all the current Moto G6 family.[/QUOTE]
4000mAh as opposed to 5000mAh in the E4plus and it’s fifty quid more but the G6 is lighter and slimmer. Screen size is nearly the same.


----------



## Crackle (14 Jun 2018)

lazytyke said:


> It's really quite good, though as with all navigation aids, it sometimes throws in the odd curve ball. What I really like is the ability to easily change the route on the phone. Very easy to add in extra way points to change the route. Also it was very straight forward to get it onto the Garmin via bluetooth from the phone. I'm now thinking though why bother with the Garmin at at all !


Which Garmin is that?


----------



## snorri (14 Jun 2018)

lazytyke said:


> Any experience/suggestions welcome.


Leave your 'phone at home get away from it all, you're on holiday, relax and enjoy yourself


----------



## Crackle (14 Jun 2018)

User said:


> I too am something of a Komoot fan - partly because of the integration with Garmin. Being able to 'flick' a route across from my iPhone to my Garmin is great and allows me to use the Garmin for navigation and the iPhone for other things (i.e. music or online geocaching) without worrying about battery life. If I try to do all three on my iPhone (as I did last Saturday) then, even with the external battery case for the iPhone,. I only just managed about 3.5 hours. When I went out on Sunday, using both the Garmin and the phone, I was able to go out for a similar length of time and come back with lots of battery life left on both devices.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ah OK, I have the 810 and the only way of transferring routes is via Garmin Connect from their own Garmin mapping. Can it be saved as a gpx file, if so it could still be useful with a small fiddle factor?


----------



## lazytyke (14 Jun 2018)

I use the 820 - which is Bluetooth enabled. My problem though is I just find it a bit flakey. It completely froze several times when using over the last two weeks, also it went into constantly recalculating route at one point, despite having this option turned off and consequently drained the battery in 2 hours. When it works well, it's a brilliant combination. But frustrating when it plays up - hence the thought of removing the Garmin from the equation.


----------



## Crackle (14 Jun 2018)

User said:


> Yes - you can save it as a .gpx file.


Cool, I think I'll give it an explore then, it looks eminently useful and solves the problem of creating electronic routes on the fly and getting them into a navigation device without carrying a pc about.


----------



## Crackle (14 Jun 2018)

User said:


> The downside of Komoot is that it isn't really free. You can get a free 'region' map but these are relatively small. However, they are doing a deal where you can buy the complete region bundle (basically most of the world) for €30.
> 
> I can also 'gift' you a region if you're interested.


Tah, let me have a look and I might take you up on the offer. It's not something I'll need often, so it'll probably get filed in the 'something useful I might need in the future' section of my brain and phone.


----------



## steveindenmark (14 Jun 2018)

lazytyke said:


> It's really quite good, though as with all navigation aids, it sometimes throws in the odd curve ball. What I really like is the ability to easily change the route on the phone. Very easy to add in extra way points to change the route. Also it was very straight forward to get it onto the Garmin via bluetooth from the phone. I'm now thinking though why bother with the Garmin at at all !



Last weekend a friend rode from Groningen in Holland to my place in Denmark and back.

He plotted his route from his door to my door using Komoot and return. He downloaded it to his Wahoo and just rode the route. In the entire journey it sent him down tracks he would not have chosen, for about 1km.

That is either a fluke, or very impressive.

I know a lot of the Transcontinental guys use Komoot.


----------



## lazytyke (14 Jun 2018)

steveindenmark said:


> In the entire journey it sent him down tracks he would not have chosen, for about 1km.
> 
> That is either a fluke, or very impressive.
> 
> I know a lot of the Transcontinental guys use Komoot.



I am really impressed with it, sometimes I wondered where it was going as once it directed me into a supermarket car park, only to find in the very corner of it was a cycle track that gave me a very direct route avoiding a main road. Equally though it sometimes took me off a road which was fairly quiet and sent me on cut throughs to avoid it- rejoining a matter of a couple of hundred metres later. That’s a small price to pay though for how good it is generally


----------



## lazytyke (14 Jun 2018)

User said:


> I think it may be an issue with Komoot rather than the Garmin. When I used Komoot on the iPhone app it really doesn't like you deviating from the route and being forced to reroute on the fly. It seems to be more geared towards you stopping and redesigning the route, then proceeding. I think this then sometimes conflicts with the Garmin's propensity/ability to reroute on the fly.



You might be on the right track there - if you’ll pardon the pun. All my freezes occurred directly after missing turnings


----------



## Crackle (14 Jun 2018)

It runs quite well on my G5, lazytike.

I'm quite impressed with it. It's routing is not necessarily my first choice but it's not far out and I'd take it in an unfamiliar area and with some fiddling I Managed to get the route from Komoot into my 810 using only my phone.


----------



## Crackle (15 Jun 2018)

User said:


> Want a free region?


Thanks but no. You don't get much in a region and I wouldn't know which one to go for, so I think it'll be all or nothing. You get the one free one anyhow which is all I need for evaluation


----------



## Blue Hills (17 Jun 2018)

[QUOTE 5276583, member: 259"]We've used it a bit for walking and I really like it. It's based on Open Street Maps, which is both a good - and at times and extremely bad - thing.[/QUOTE]
Out of interest, why bad? I use it on my garmin and on an android tab install of osmand. Never had a significant problem.


----------



## Gravity Aided (17 Jun 2018)

Thank you all, I just joined, on the strength of your recommendations. We've sure come a long way from the 70's, and hand drawn maps and cue sheets. (although I still draw those roughly in case of malfunction.).


----------



## climo (21 Jun 2018)

Komoot is good but I ditched it in favour of Osmand. You're stuck with their choice of POI's and can't waymark off route, say to mark campsites, shops, etc. Online there's something flaky about creating / editing routes which causes the map to show the entire route when you don't need it too, though I can't remember what I did to cause that to happen. You then have to zoom in again.
It's got a sort of social media side to it which I find irritating.
Routing is reasonable but not as good as cycle.travel.
Osmand is a more comprehensive solution but it's a complex interface


----------



## Blue Hills (21 Jun 2018)

I use osmand and find it excellent, though agree about a somewhat odd interface and still trying to get my head round "markers". Easy to import my own gpxs generated elsewhere. And to import my own POI files. Both of which can then be displayed on the mapping offline. Wil explore but struggling to seevwhat komoot offers that it doesn't. Also plus one for cycle.travel.

Oh, sod social media, why o why? When cycle touring I am happy to talk to the folk I meet.


----------



## Crackle (21 Jun 2018)

Osmand ran like a pig when I tried it, really laggy.


----------



## Blue Hills (21 Jun 2018)

Crackle said:


> Osmand ran like a pig when I tried it, really laggy.


Is it possible your phone/tab was underpowered? I first ran it on a 10 inch samsung tab with 1gig of memory. Now on the 7 inch cheapo lenovo tab i use when touring (also vastly better battery life) it runs fine - 2gig. 3 would maybe be optimal. You also need to check that you have android permissions set properly or it will have trouble getting at the files it needs. It also has problems, as do many progs, with some earlier versions of android.
In short i think it,'s brilliant and a bargain - lifetime continuously updated maps for anywhere I am likely to cycle in this lifetime. For a one-off charge. It is even half price sometimes.

Note, i don't use it for live navigation, i use my garmin for that.


----------



## climo (22 Jun 2018)

Osmand runs badly on iphones apparently. Apart from it's complexity it suffers from not working online which is a real benefit of Komoot, however iirc you can't create & plan a route totally offline in komoot and the map files are very large. The seamless way komoot transfers to the phone is very good.
I've not found a really good seamless planning & navigating app working on a mac offline and transferring to an android phone by bluetooth / wifi. Seriously thinking of getting a large android tablet just for that but that is crazy.
Has anyone got the answer?


----------



## Crackle (22 Jun 2018)

Blue Hills said:


> Is it possible your phone/tab was underpowered? I first ran it on a 10 inch samsung tab with 1gig of memory. Now on the 7 inch cheapo lenovo tab i use when touring (also vastly better battery life) it runs fine - 2gig. 3 would maybe be optimal. You also need to check that you have android permissions set properly or it will have trouble getting at the files it needs. It also has problems, as do many progs, with some earlier versions of android.
> In short i think it,'s brilliant and a bargain - lifetime continuously updated maps for anywhere I am likely to cycle in this lifetime. For a one-off charge. It is even half price sometimes.
> 
> Note, i don't use it for live navigation, i use my garmin for that.


My first phone was but this is a G5, which runs everything else really well. I wasn't comparing for cycling but car navigation, so the comparator was Google maps. There was no real contest in terms of functionality and speed. I also found osmand virtually impenetrable, very 90's in it's interface. I guess the bottom line is it didn't do anything for me I needed, others may have different needs which it manages well.


----------



## Blue Hills (22 Jun 2018)

Ah, google maps? So you were online? I prefer offline. You can download google maps of course but the sods inexplicably (to me) insists that you redownload them frequently.


----------



## HobbesOnTour (23 Jun 2018)

User said:


> OSMand is clunky and not particularly picky about how it routes you. Just out of interest, I plotted a walking route from Newmarket to home on both Komoot and OSMand. OSMand ignored virtually every footpath/bridleway etc. and instead routed me down main roads. Komoot, on the other hand, reduced the time on roads to the bare minimum. It resulted in a slightly longer - but much more pleasant - route.



Well, this is the thing, really. In my view there are 2 aspects to the gps navigation on a bike.
The first is planning.
The second is navigation.

In my experience (which is really not a lot because I just tend to wander around) there is no killer app that does both well.

And what "well" is depends on your own specific needs.

Yes, OSMand is not the greatest route *planner* and it is not the handiest to plan a route on using a phone or even a tablet - but it will allow you to do it offline (so long as you have the maps downloaded in advance). For me, that is the huge advantage of OSMand.
And it will give you turn by turn navigation and voice navigation if that's your thing.

I use OSMand as an emergency navigation device. If I find myself in the middle of nowhere and I need to get to point A asap, it will get me there. At those times, I'm not too bothered about how it gets me there, just that it can get me there irrespective of phone signal/data allowance or wifi.

It's also handy for those times when you find yourself somewhere and want to mark the location to come back to.

I wouldn't trust Google maps to plan a route at all. It is handy though, for downloading a map and marking off places that you may need, such as campsites etc. That way you have reasonably accurate info on your area offline.



lazytyke said:


> Having had lots of "fun" with my Garmin whilst touring, I'm keen to try running Komoot directly on an android phone instead. I already have I phone for day to day use and comms, so just looking for a cheapish android, with good battery life that would run Komoot. Any experience/suggestions welcome. I'd rather maintain a separate phone for the navigation and comms etc.



I tested a Garmin Touring device for about a month and thought it was totally unreliable. It crashed regularly. Had issues going off route and very poor battery life. 

You could also consider a cheap tablet instead of a phone. A bigger screen makes it easier to see. There are a lot of Chinese manufacturers of pretty good tablets and phones. I have a Cubot phone and no issues. Good battery life, no problem running Osmand and takes surprisingly good photos. Previously I used a cheapy tablet and prefer that for navigation. But it's not in use all the time on the bike, only when I really need to be somewhere. 

Just remember than phone/tablet screens can be difficult to see in some weathers and you do need a good mounting system and weatherproofing.


----------



## Blue Hills (23 Jun 2018)

HobbesOnTour said:


> I tested a Garmin Touring device for about a month and thought it was totally unreliable. It crashed regularly. Had issues going off route and very poor battery life.
> 
> 
> .


+1 to your comments on OSMand.

And loved your comments on the Garmin Touring. Must admit I have never used one (have the Etrex20) but have read plenty. A sick humour in something branded (and I stress "branded") touring having poor battery life.

As far as I can see the Etrex series is the best for "touring".


----------



## NorthernDave (23 Jun 2018)

+1 for the Motorola Moto series.
I've had several, currently running a G4 which is all the phone I could possibly need.

Will probably upgrade to a G6 once the price comes down a bit.


----------



## HobbesOnTour (24 Jun 2018)

Cycleops said:


> Its been said many times on here the Motorola Moto phones ...



[QUOTE 5276571, member: 259"]Moto G6 play. ...[/QUOTE]



NorthernDave said:


> +1 for the Motorola Moto series.
> I've had several, currently running a G4 which is all the phone I could possibly need.



[QUOTE 5287837, member: 259"] The G6 is pretty damn slick...[/QUOTE]

For anyone using the Lenovo/Motorola phones does anyone have any issues with the GPS?
I found (back when I had a car) that the gps couldn't keep up with me - it kept losing the gps signal (and no, I wasn't speeding! ), but also on the bike the gps is not very accurate (when used in offline mode, using Google maps). One notable experience was when I was on one side of the Schelde estuary (Dutch/Belgian border) and my phone was telling me I was on the other! It thought I was in Antwerp, when in fact I was across the bay looking at Antwerp! (and in another country!)
It may just be a Google Maps issue - it doesn't seem that accurate in offline mode. OSMand has no such issues.


----------



## NorthernDave (24 Jun 2018)

HobbesOnTour said:


> For anyone using the Lenovo/Motorola phones does anyone have any issues with the GPS?
> I found (back when I had a car) that the gps couldn't keep up with me - it kept losing the gps signal (and no, I wasn't speeding! ), but also on the bike the gps is not very accurate (when used in offline mode, using Google maps). One notable experience was when I was on one side of the Schelde estuary (Dutch/Belgian border) and my phone was telling me I was on the other! It thought I was in Antwerp, when in fact I was across the bay looking at Antwerp! (and in another country!)
> It may just be a Google Maps issue - it doesn't seem that accurate in offline mode. OSMand has no such issues.



I've never had that problem - I've used it on a train travelling at 125mph and it seemed to keep up with that OK.


----------



## HobbesOnTour (25 Jun 2018)

NorthernDave said:


> I've never had that problem - I've used it on a train travelling at 125mph and it seemed to keep up with that OK.


Thanks!
Can I ask if you had the phone data on, or were you in offline mode? And was it using Google maps? This only seems to be an issue for me in Google maps in offline mode. OSMand & other gps apps don't seem to have the same issue.


----------



## NorthernDave (25 Jun 2018)

HobbesOnTour said:


> Thanks!
> Can I ask if you had the phone data on, or were you in offline mode? And was it using Google maps? This only seems to be an issue for me in Google maps in offline mode. OSMand & other gps apps don't seem to have the same issue.



Yes to Google maps and data being on - almost certainly connected to the train WiFi too.


----------



## HobbesOnTour (25 Jun 2018)

NorthernDave said:


> Yes to Google maps and data being on - almost certainly connected to the train WiFi too.


Thanks again.
I wonder if there is an issue using Google maps offline and less than accurate gps positioning? It certainly seem to affect me.
I know that with data or wifi on it seems ok.


----------



## SteveF (28 Jun 2018)

Crackle said:


> It runs quite well on my G5, lazytike.
> 
> I'm quite impressed with it. It's routing is not necessarily my first choice but it's not far out and I'd take it in an unfamiliar area and with some fiddling I Managed to get the route from Komoot into my 810 using only my phone.



Was that via Bluetooth or a different fiddle factor?


----------



## Crackle (28 Jun 2018)

SteveF said:


> Was that via Bluetooth or a different fiddle factor?


Download the route from Komoot as a gpx, open Garmin Connect on the website not the android app. Upload the route via the website as a route, which is slightly awkward but doable. When that's done, open the android Connect app and the route should be available in the routes section to transfer to the Garmin via bluetooth.


----------



## jefmcg (28 Jun 2018)

Crackle said:


> Download the route from Komoot as a gpx, open Garmin Connect on the website not the android app. Upload the route via the website as a route, which is slightly awkward but doable. When that's done, open the android Connect app and the route should be available in the routes section to transfer to the Garmin via bluetooth.


Download the komoot for Garmin app in the IQ Store and sign in with your komoot account. This will allow you to find and follow any routes you plan on komoot directly on your Garmin.


----------



## Crackle (28 Jun 2018)

[QUOTE 5293053, member: 259"]I can see this sort of thing popping up on the next reboot of the Generation Game.[/QUOTE]
Let's see if he does well


jefmcg said:


> Download the komoot for Garmin app in the IQ Store and sign in with your komoot account. This will allow you to find and follow any routes you plan on komoot directly on your Garmin.


Not the 810 though.


----------



## SteveF (28 Jun 2018)

Crackle said:


> Download the route from Komoot as a gpx, open Garmin Connect on the website not the android app. Upload the route via the website as a route, which is slightly awkward but doable. When that's done, open the android Connect app and the route should be available in the routes section to transfer to the Garmin via bluetooth.



Thanks....


----------



## jefmcg (28 Jun 2018)

Crackle said:


> Let's see if he does well
> 
> Not the 810 though.


Ah. 

I was impressed how easy @vickster found it to follow a komoot route on her newly acquired wahoo, so assumed garmin would be similar


----------



## vickster (28 Jun 2018)

jefmcg said:


> Ah.
> 
> I was impressed how easy @vickster found it to follow a komoot route on her newly acquired wahoo, so assumed garmin would be similar


Erm I never actually used it!


----------



## jefmcg (28 Jun 2018)

User said:


> Not all Garmin are Bluetooth enabled.


Yeah but.... 


Crackle said:


> transfer to the Garmin via bluetooth.


----------



## Crackle (28 Jun 2018)

The 810 just works via the Connect app, I think the next incarnations will communicate directly via bluetooth from 3rd party apps


----------



## jefmcg (28 Jun 2018)

Crackle said:


> The 810 just works via the Connect app, I think the next incarnations will communicate directly via bluetooth from 3rd party apps


I finally read to the bottom of the page I linked to and saw it didn't work with your device. 

The depths of my ignorance of garmin (and wahoo) knows no bounds. 

The last garmin I owned looked like this






It did not have Bluetooth.


----------



## jefmcg (9 Jul 2018)

[QUOTE 5307742, member: 259"]
Word to the wise on the Moto G6 so far bought for my daughter a month ago. Disappointing battery life (much less than a day). Buy an extra usbc cable.​[/QUOTE]
I choose the G6 Play on the battery life and am pleased.


----------



## JohnE (23 Jul 2018)

Have been using a Moto G4 for over 2 years - no problems and decent battery life. I always take a power bank ... just in case, but have never needed it ! ... yet.

My current solution is to plan routes on cycle.travel - I like the fact that it is biased to quiet routes. Export the tcx/gpx files for use on the phone, using the Bike Tracker app (free) for turn by turn navigation. I also have OSMAnd (free) on the phone as backup. I personally find the OSM maps excellent. OSMAnd is great in emergency situations ... find me a route from where I am to wherever.


----------

