iPhone Bike Computer

Sunday, I had planned to go to the Seattle Bike Expo.  Due to a last minute family emergency, I was unable to make it.  One of the vendors I was keen on seeing was Wahoo Fitness who makes products that allow you to turn your iPhone (or other smartphone) into a bike computer.  The company makes cases and mounts for your phone as well as heart rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors that will transmit data to your phone via ANT+ or Bluetooth.  If you want to use their case, you can purchase one with an ANT+ receiver built in or one without, so you can use Bluetooth.  They also have an ANT+ receiver you can purchase to attach to you phone if you have another case/method of mounting you phone.

Bike Case and Mount with built in ANT+ receiver

Bike Case for use with Bluetooth (no ANT+ receiver)

ANT+ Receiver Key for iPhone

One issue I  have read about when using your smartphone as a bike computer, being always on and constantly receiving data, is battery life.  It will drain your battery quite fast, as as all of us iPhone users know, it seems to drain quite fast all on its own through regular use.  Wahoo Fitness does offer a solution for this by providing an extra battery that integrates with the case.  It has about 1.5x the capacity of an iPhone, so if your iPhone is fully charged, you will get 2.5x the standard battery life which should get you through most of your rides.  If you utilize another mount and case for the phone that will allow access to the charging port, there are cheaper options available, but you would have to figure out how to mount the battery.

Wahoo's Battery option

Here is a pic showing how the system mounts with battery:

Wahoo offers a Speed and Cadence sensor as well as a variety of options for heart rate monitors.  At this point I have not done enough research to know whether or not there are other options for Bluetooth or ANT+ speed and cadence sensors, though I suspect there are.  There are cheaper alternatives for Bluetooth heart rate monitors though.

Speed and Cadence Sensor

Speed and Cadence Sensor Mounted

Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor

This looks like a very neat option for a bike computer.  They offer apps to allow you to see all the data real time and I believe the sensors will work with other apps that are out there as well.  As far as the case and mount goes, I did see cheaper options on Amazon.com and at lease one would allow you to use an external battery source provided you can mount it.

If I decide to move forward, I will definitely provide details of the experience.  If anyone out there has any feedback on the Wahoo product or other solutions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Chris