Komoot GPS app - any good?

[lillyhobo]

Hi Guys,

I’m planning a 169 mile cycle trip down to Dorset via Bournemouth from Northampton and am looking at GPS options. Ideally I want to avoid Garmin as they cost so much. I’ve stumbled across an app called Komoot and a lot of reviews are positive. Does anyone on here have any 1st hand experience with it? Also if anyone can suggest any other options that would be great. I’ve plotted my course using http://cycle.travel/map and by the looks of it I can then upload my plotted GPX file into the app and go from there however I mainly want to know if anyone else has done this and whether it’s actually worked well for them out on the road. Am gonna give it a dummy run today.

Any info would be great.

Best,

Al

 

[Heltor Chasca]

So you will be using your phone? Then I think Kamoot will be ok.

I use Cycle.travel and Ride With GPS. Then upload it all to my Wahoo.

I have recently started playing with Kamoot. It seems pretty good WHILST riding, but very average for plotting routes. Fine for point to point, but is a struggle to insert waypoints and return dog legs. It would be fine for touring from town to town, but if you wanted to go via a certain point of interest it can be tricky.

I like the elevation profile and route surface feature it has. When you sign up, it occasionally sends you suggested day tours you can do nearby which is nice. They are offerings from other users.

I’m still learning.

 

[lillyhobo]

Hi,

Yeah that’s what I’ve kinda figured. Am gonna road test today hopefully cheers @Heltor Chasca

 

[lazytyke]

Fine for point to point, but is a struggle to insert waypoints and return dog legs. It would be fine for touring from town to town, but if you wanted to go via a certain point of interest it can be tricky.

Funny how people's experiences differ. I find that adding in a place is one of the easy things to do on Komoot, and great because you can do on the phone. Just touch the place you want to add in and add as extra waypoint and it updates the route - not sure about dog legs though. Haven't tried that. Overall though i think it's a great app

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Hi Guys,

I’m planning a 169 mile cycle trip down to Dorset via Bournemouth from Northampton and am looking at GPS options. Ideally I want to avoid Garmin as they cost so much. I’ve stumbled across an app called Komoot and a lot of reviews are positive. Does anyone on here have any 1st hand experience with it? Also if anyone can suggest any other options that would be great. I’ve plotted my course using http://cycle.travel/map and by the looks of it I can then upload my plotted GPX file into the app and go from there however I mainly want to know if anyone else has done this and whether it’s actually worked well for them out on the road. Am gonna give it a dummy run today.

Any info would be great.

Best,

Al

Hi,
If you're just using it to follow a route that you have planned elsewhere then it should be fine.
However, you will need to download the appropriate map segments for your route - and other than your first trial map download you have to pay for them. I have no idea how many segments you will need.

If you want to test it out properly, I suggest that you deliberately go off your pre-planned route so that you know how it will react.
Try also to change your route on the fly and be comfortable doing that.

I've played around a bit with Komoot but since it won't do route planning offline it's not much use to me.

I use Osmand (plus), not so much for navigation but as an emergency route planner for those times when I need to get somewhere asap. Download the maps (the first 5 are free, I believe, or a small one-off fee for unlimited downloading of all (world) maps and you can do everything offline.

You can import the route you've created and follow that. You can change that if you want on the fly - no data/wifi necessary. You can search Points of Interest on the way. It will track your route as you go, if that's your thing. You can have turn by turn navigation with voice instructions if that's your thing too.

It is kinda clunky to use and to get used to, but it works. It's certainly not the easiest to plan a route on your phone, but in an emergency it works, and I'm not sure of any of the gps apps are great for planning a route on your phone - but then again, it seems like you don't need that functionality at this stage.

If you are going to use your phone for navigation, make sure you have some way to recharge your phone such as a powerbank or stops where you can definitely recharge your phone. Also, some secure way of mounting your phone. You do not want to be riding one handed holding your phone! And remember phone screens can be difficult to read in certain weathers.

Have fun!

 

[stoatsngroats]

I now nothing about Komoot, but just used RWGPS on a Wahoo Elemnt, and had a fantastic blast. A very slight delay in recognising we had turned, only 10m maybe, but flawless, even on routes across the South Downs. Not just the SDW, but those which link villages into the SDW.
We purposely ran off route to gain extra miles, and the tbt resumed once back on the plan.

 

[steveindenmark]

My friend rode from Holland to Denmark last month using only Komoot. He planned it door to door and in the entire trip it took him on 1km of track he would not have chosen. He did the same on the route home. A lot of the Transcontinental race riders use it with their Wahoos