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Ordered directly from Wahoo online and was slightly cheaper than the prices locally
Same here. Although I had to pay for the import duties (after I got the unit).

I have used the navigation feature with no problem, although, if you're off course, it will not reroute. Now I am considering a Garmin Fenix 7 or Epix, but that price...
 
But in the mean time I got a very cheap

[COOSPO Cycle Computer, GPS, Cycling, Wireless, Bicycle Speedometer, Built-in Battery, Bluetooth 5.0 & ANT+, Cadence Speed Sensor, Continuous IP67 Level Waterproof, 2.3 Inch Display
Maybe I should have done the same.

I found that my phone worked excellently as a tracking device. It wasn't even too much of a battery drain. However, tracking (with RwGPS) on the phone tends to crap out during long rides. So I got myself a "XOSS G" as a backup, and today ran out of excuses for procrastination, charged it up, and ... hmmm. After quite a struggle (blank screens; Bluetooth "pairing rejected"), it now seems to be on speaking terms with my phone. But I belatedly realize that it doesn't overtly provide files on one's phone. Instead, it sends the data (presumably in a file), and the software then asks you if you want to send it on to Strava (no I don't) or TrainingPeaks (never even heard of this one).

Sure enough, a customer review at the world's greatest tax evader and union basher says that "[The software] only connects to a couple services. If you use Ride with GPS you'll have to manually find the 'fit' file on your phone and upload it yourself."

I'm happy to email a file from my phone to my computer, but when I open Gmail in the former and opt to "Attach file", no such file appears in "This week" or "recent files", and Xoss isn't one of the "other apps" that are shown. Where would the FIT file be, and/or how would I get Gmail to acknowledge its existence?

If I seem like a total phone ignoramus, that's because I am. This thing is running Android 10, MIUI Global 12.0.6.

And if this seems an extraordinarily laborious way of avoiding Strava, I really want fewer crApps on my phone rather than more, and anyway I'd ignore my Xoss-tracked logs except when my phone messed up its logs of the same.
 
I really don't want to leave my phone on my handlebar, because it's too big for the Minoura mount that I confidently used for its predecessor, and it's so big and heavy that I'd prefer not to trust it to the mount that I use now. (Every one of the various mounts sold these days looks rather dubious in some way, at least when used for what now are mainstream phones.)

It's been a couple of months since I last looked, but back then there were a few small smartphones on the market, and I might yet get one of those, equip it with a cheapo (no talking) SIM card, and use it as a navigation device (and occasional backup for my regular phone).
Not sure if your main goal is to record your ride track or to be able to navigate a route, or both. But, sounds like using the phone is the best solution for you if you are confident that you can have a good solid mount that allows you to put it on and take it off quickly and easily.

I use the Topeak Ridecase and bike mount. It is very solid, not very heavy, and allows you to swivel the phone horizontal if you want. Used mine for years with no issues. It comes in a few different versions. I like the one that mounts to the front of your stem so the phone is out front of the handlebars. You replace the two top bolts on the stem with their bolts that then allow you to attach the mount. This one is best, IMO, because it allows the phone to be out of the line of sweat when you're biking up a mountain on a hot summer day. Attaching and detaching is a breeze, so when you don't need it, your phone can be removed easily. You would have to buy the Topeak Ridecase that works for you phone, but they are something like 5k.
https://www.topeak.com/global/en/products/243-Ridecase-Mount/1398-UTF-MULTI-MOUNT

Then... if you use MapsMe app, you can overlay your RWGPS route onto its map. MapsMe is free, it allows you to use the map offline. If you use it in low power mode and with airplane mode on, your phone battery should last a long time (mine lasts about 6 hours or so) although I always carry a battery charger just in case. The thing I really like about it is, you can expand or contract the map very easily so it's easy to zoom out for the big picture or zoom in when you need the detail. I don't subscribe to RWGPS... I know you can use your RWGPS routes offline as a subscriber, but not sure how/if they work well if you use low power mode and/or airplane mode to save battery.

Edited to say that I just saw your last post. So, it sounds like you want to track your activity. In that case, you would need to keep the RWGPS app open and the track would be on RWGPS automatically. Have you tried downloading your route to RWGPS for offline use, then using the app with airplane mode on? Still, if you need more than 6 hours or so of phone battery life, you'd need a charger, I imagine.
 
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@Chuck , I want to be able to record where I've been. For this purpose, my phone, rammed into my central rear pocket, does an excellent job 95% of the time. Annoyingly, the 5% are only longish, non-humdrum rides. It's a big, heavy phone, and I don't trust my handlebar mount to keep the phone in place unless I pause every 10 km or so to check that no, nothing's coming loose -- and I'm sure I'd forget to do that. Because of the missing 5%, I bought a "Xoss G", to be held in a different rear pocket and only as a backup for my phone. I've only used the Xoss once so far: I walked to the supermarket, did some shopping, and walked back. The Xoss software in my phone says that this was a 1.54 km walk taking 18 minutes 11 seconds, etc etc, thanks to which I know that data from the doodad did indeed reach my phone. I presume that the data are in the form of a file, and there's a hint (see above) that it's a FIT file. Now, how the intercourse do I find this FIT file (or perhaps rather, how do I get Gmail to find it) within my (Android) computer and email it to my computer -- that's the question.

(And therefore sorry, but at this stage this is less a tracking question than an Android question.)

RwGPS does invite me to "Upload files", and FIT files are among those that it accepts. (Though the way this is going, I half expect that if I succeed in sending the file from my computer, it will announce that the file is in the wrong format, or is corrupt, or something.)

Incidentally, the battery of my phone -- a "Redmi Note 9S", and my thanks to @luka for the recommendation -- has no trouble tracking for six hours. I rather suppose that if I charged it up fully beforehand and made little other use of it during the ride, it would track for twelve hours or longer.
 
They don't look bike mountable (would be quite the hack), and I haven't explored the power requirements, but it's interesting that there are GPS modules for raspberry pi.

In the garmin world, the 130 plus is recommended if you only want recording. Screen--tho small--is high contrast and supposedly easier to read than their larger units.
 
@microcord, have you seen this blog? In the roundup, he notes that the activity didn't appear in XOSS app until the next day, and he supposes that the 'onboard' activity might not be generated or displayed until after transfer to Strava is complete. Perhaps a clue to your elusive file! It's very likely that the data is transferred as a .fit file, and that you would be able to use that to generate a RWGPS activity if you can find it. You could certainly download it from Strava and then upload to RWGPS, but I understand your reservations about app bloat.

N.B. I have not used the XOSS G, or an android phone.

Perhaps try with Strava as a proof of concept? As your XOSS is only intended as a backup, you could delete the Strava and XOSS apps from your phone, and reinstall them only when you need to activate your backup plan. Alternatively, if you have a an old spare phone at home, you could keep those apps on that just for emergencies.
 
The data is in my phone, so I presume that a file is in my phone. Where is it? Google's "file manager" is a joke, Xiaomi's hung during installation, but Ghost Commander does actually manage to list a lot of directories and files. (Oddly, no bin, dev, usr or the other stuff I'd expect.) And, unusually for Android software, Ghost Commander doesn't advertise stupid-looking games.

Found it! It's Android/data/co.xoss/files/.gfiles/20220402045704.fit . But I don't know how I can attach it to a message: none of the visible options seems to cater for that.

Perhaps it will make sense in the morning.
 
Using Ghost Commander (GC) 1.60.7, I look for the FIT file. GC finds it. I click to the right of this item (over the timestamp), which selects it. I then click to the left of this item (over the generic file icon). This invites me to "Open with", and three of the options are "Gmail". Promising! However, clicking on any of these doesn't seem to do anything. (OTOH, maybe I clicked on the same one of the three each time.)

Memo to self, mostly: what was described as Android/data/co.xoss/files/.gfiles/20220402045704.fit turns out to be /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/co.xoss/files/.gfiles/20220402045704.fit

My brain hurts. (It's not surprising that my inattention, since the earliest days of "pocket bell", to any phone-related chitchat has left me in a state of near-complete ignorance.) I suppose I'll just have to use Strava, like a normal person.
 
Using Ghost Commander (GC) 1.60.7, I look for the FIT file. GC finds it. I click to the right of this item (over the timestamp), which selects it. I then click to the left of this item (over the generic file icon). This invites me to "Open with", and three of the options are "Gmail". Promising! However, clicking on any of these doesn't seem to do anything. (OTOH, maybe I clicked on the same one of the three each time.)

Memo to self, mostly: what was described as Android/data/co.xoss/files/.gfiles/20220402045704.fit turns out to be /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/co.xoss/files/.gfiles/20220402045704.fit

My brain hurts. (It's not surprising that my inattention, since the earliest days of "pocket bell", to any phone-related chitchat has left me in a state of near-complete ignorance.) I suppose I'll just have to use Strava, like a normal person.
Does it not allow you to Share it somewhere?

Otherwise... Create a new email in the Gmail app, add an attachment, go to aforementioned path and pick the route of the day?
 
@Benedikt , thank you for the try! There's no option to "share", just to "open with". One of the options -- actually two of them (lots of icons are duplicated) -- is/are "Files by Google" (FbG). Guessing that this might mean "pass it to 'Files by Google' so that this can do something with it", I clicked on that, but FbG says that it can't open it. (Well of course it can't!)

As for the other way around, yes: I start to compose a new message in Gmail, I click on the paperclip symbol, I click "Attach files", and FbG pops up. It's a near-useless piece of software that (as far as I can see) only shows files that meet a very restrictive set of criteria, but it does give me the option of finding via other software, including GC. So I click on the GC icon within FbG, and GC responds "Are you sure you want to do the search again?" Thanks but no; I know where the file is. So I click "cancel", am told "Invalid path" .... and am no closer to attaching the file.

FbG seems designed to protect the very timid phone user from contemplating such mysteries as directories. I'm not that timid, but this protectiveness leaves me too in ignorance. I suppose what I could do is (i) use GC to copy any FIT file to somewhere that FbG will see it, and then (ii) get Gmail to use FbG to attach the copy.
 
Feels like the fastest way would be to connect to computer via USB and share files... but even that might be locked down then lol.

Quick search also says there may be an option to export workout in the app... which may give a more useful way to then share it out to computer?

I find the USB cable and allowing file management is the easiest way to copy things over from phones... Apps try to think too much, preventing you from doing what you want to do.
 
I find the USB cable and allowing file management is the easiest way to copy things over from phones...
Now why didn't I think of that earlier? Ghost Commander is good, but Thunar is better. And RwGPS even likes what it sees. Here's my epic (and of course brutal and insane) and ambulatory "bike" ride:

amazing_ride.png
Unfortunately it doesn't seem possible to use Thunar to suck files directly from the Xoss toy via USB cable. But that's OK. (Come to think of it, this computer is supposed to have Bluetooth. I've never once used this.)
 
Cheap GPS tracker: Next day free shipping
Actual ride: 34 minutes
Figuring out how to get the information off the damn thing: Countless hours and days of fiddling

At least you've had plenty of recovery time for your next ride. Good to see you got it it figured out.
 
@Benedikt , the 34 minutes were for walking to "OK Every day low price", buying some groceries, and walking back. Since that time and until this morning I didn't ride anywhere (because it was raining and Eddy isn't my middle name); however, today I did ride up Tama (with a head wind for the first 40 km) and back (with a head wind for the last 40 km), so I'm using my "Xoss". But investing a lot of time in order to save a little time -- that's what computers are all about!
 
Cheap GPS tracker: Next day free shipping
Actual ride: 34 minutes
Figuring out how to get the information off the damn thing: Countless hours and days of fiddling
Quite right too!

I had a similarish frustration when I got back from a group ride on Saturday and found that half of the footage from my Cycliq light/camera was upside down. Easy enough to rotate it, but doing so messes with the EXIF data which stops the video editing software from syncing with my Strava data for telemetry overlay. Hours of research and fiddling later, I'd got a good repeatable workflow set up with exiftool. Here's the result - in the first few clips you can see the Cycliq stamp upside down at the top right; it reset to the correct orientation after we stopped for liquid lunch.

I could have just, ya know, not bothered. But where's the fun in that?
 
@Half-Fast Mike , digressing a little, yesterday the cherry blossoms near the mouth of Tama had, unsurprisingly, been washed away; but upstream of Akishima or thereabouts they were plentiful and fresh. I imagine that next weekend there'll be a lot to see around Okutama.
 
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