Do I Need a GPS if I Have a Smartphone?
Whether you're a hiker, cyclist, runner, or just navigating to the campsite in the car, do you really need a GPS if you have a smartphone? Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, there's a whole host of mapping and fitness apps you can use — popular ones we've used include Strava and Endomondo for cycling or running, plus plenty of hiking map apps.
So do you need a dedicated GPS, or can you make do with your smartphone?
Pros of a dedicated GPS (and cons of a smartphone)
Built for the outdoors — dedicated outdoor GPS units are generally of a rugged design; you can get them wet and they don't mind being dropped (a little).
Mountable — a dedicated GPS is built for a specific purpose and is easily mountable, whether on bike handlebars or a wrist strap. A phone can be mounted too, but without a proper mounting point you usually need a bulky case, and swiping a touchscreen with winter gloves on is unlikely to work.
Reliable — we've recorded rides on a phone before and realised the GPS wasn't turned on, or a call interrupted and overloaded it. A dedicated device only does one thing, but does it well.
Battery efficiency — dedicated GPS devices can be very efficient. A phone screen drains the battery fast, particularly if you leave it on to refer to while riding or running, whereas a dedicated GPS often has a simple screen built with battery life in mind.
Accessories — if you want a heart rate monitor, cadence or power output sensor, a dedicated GPS often comes with more of these as standard, though smartphones can now pair with plenty of external devices too.
Accuracy — smartphones have got a lot more accurate, but a dedicated GPS unit should generally still edge it, even if the difference is only a few metres — sometimes enough to matter when finding a geocache or a turning on the trail.
Cons of a GPS (and pros of a smartphone)
Price — the number one factor for most people. You already have a smartphone with a pretty decent GPS, so do you really want to spend £100–£400 on a dedicated unit that records much the same data?
Up to date — if you want mapping for car journeys or cycle routing, a smartphone stays up to date via free or cheap app updates. Dedicated GPS units are broadly more expensive to update and release map updates less regularly.
Flexibility — with a dedicated GPS you'll often plan a route at home and import it via a GPX file, which can be hard to change on the move (lower-end sports GPS units don't even have mapping). With a smartphone you can pan round a map looking for other routes, or search for a bike repair shop, campsite or cafe on the fly.
So which wins?
We're a bit of a fence-sitter here. Dedicated GPS units are reliable, rugged, have better battery life and are built for purpose. A smartphone is versatile, you most likely already own one, and it has up-to-date maps built in.
For cycling, a dedicated GPS wins for us — it mounts easily on the handlebars, displays ride data live, the battery lasts much longer and it copes with the rain. But price is a big factor: if we'd had a smartphone before we bought our GPS, would we have bought a GPS at all? Probably not, since the data collected is broadly the same — if you have a smartphone and just want something for the occasional walk, run, ride or drive, a dedicated GPS probably isn't worth it.
Finally — and we can't say this enough — don't rely on either. Both are electronic, so can break or run out of battery. Always carry an Ordnance Survey map or similar as a backup.