Review on iGPSPORT iGS50E: Advanced GPS Bike Computer with Big Screen, ANT+ Function, and Waterproof Design by Ronny Prather

UPDATE 3 (2 YEAR REVIEW): I have had this GPS for over 2 years now and still use it almost daily. I don't use it as my main GPS, preferring to use my GPS watch to send data to my main Strava account. I use IGPSPORT to sync with an additional Strava account. I do this because this device is just useless on trails and I ride both road and mountain bikes. On the roads, this device moves quite well - it's always less than a tenth of a mile from my watch. For example, off-road, especially on rough terrain with many curves, etc., the device will be very inaccurate. Today I rode 11.4 miles on a mountain bike and IGPSPORT was 0.64 miles behind. Compare that to a 20 mile road trip I did 2 days ago - the difference between my GPS navigators was only 0.07 miles. A month ago I added a XOSS speed and cadence sensor and connected it to the IGPSPORT. You pair perfectly (and stay paired) with this device. There is one main issue that makes it difficult to recommend IGPSPORT - the reliability and functionality of their app. In particular, getting data from the device into the app and then uploading it (and syncing it to Strava) remains inconsistent and difficult. In 2 years of owning and using this model I have changed 3 Android phones - OnePlus 3T, Google Pixel 3 and OnePlus Nord N10 5G. I had the same issues on every phone, leading me to believe the problem was with the GPS unit. After you finish the ride, you need to stop it and then save it. In an ideal world, it would automatically sync to your phone (without even opening the app) - it doesn't. When you open the app, the device is not recognized. The ONLY workaround I've found (on 3 different phones) is to first open the Bluetooth settings, select "Add a new device" and then select your GPS device. At this point, the phone will inform you that the pairing has been rejected. But this still basically "turns on" Bluetooth on the GPS, so THEN open the app and it will start retrieving data from the device. There are many steps to go through to get the data from the device. BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE! Once the app gets the GPS data from the device, it tries to upload it to the IGPSPORT servers and (if you have linked your account) send it to Strava. The problem with this is that uploading from the application to the server is often literally FAIL. If you set your GPS device to delete automatically, YOU COULD LOSE YOUR TRAVEL DATA IMMEDIATELY. I had to turn off auto-delete; That way you can at least plug it into your computer and manually extract the .FIT file. Sometimes your data gets stuck in the app with a sync error - in this case you can go up to about 3 levels into the menu system and try to sync again - sometimes it can take 5-10 attempts before the data is actually received. loaded. I suspect the app is trying to upload to a server in China, which often fails. I don't know but sync errors happen so often and have been for over 2 years that I don't believe it's true. Now I want to leave you with an honest and accurate account of this device. SUITABLE FOR ROAD BIKES ONLY. Constant problems with data transfer to the phone are unforgivable. The app's frequent failures to properly upload data to IGPSPORT's (and later Strava's) servers make this device difficult to recommend, even for cyclists. I find a 3-star rating generous, but since the device performs exactly ON THE ROAD, I leave this rating unchanged. UPDATE 2: I'm increasing my rating for this item to 3 stars (up from 1) because my experience has improved. a little and I want to be fair. First I started using it as a backup GPS on my road bike. This greatly improved accuracy. As long as you're driving in fairly straight lines, the accuracy is on point. I've tested it quite a bit and found that the GPS polling (ie the frequency with which the device collects GPS coordinates during a trip) is lower than the default setting for most GPS devices. This can easily be seen by comparing GPS data in which the driver is deliberately driving on an "S” shaped road, for example. On a GPS with a higher polling rate, you'll see the route you drove; On this device, the pattern is not captured well and the trace looks less smooth. BTW, as long as you're generally going linear, the device will record accurately. This device is completely unsuitable for off-road driving and its accuracy is invariably far from that of other GPS devices. The data synchronization software has been improved and is now stable to download and sync with Strava. It's still hard to recommend this device as there are more accurate devices out there, but if you're an exceptional road cyclist who rides without a lot of trees, this device should be for you. Money. However, I've had this GPS for over a year now and it still stinks. I bought another GPS (watch) which I rely on instead, but I still use this unit as a backup on almost every trip - mainly because I'm a GPS geek and love checking the tracking accuracy etc. to compare. What I'll tell you This GPS just isn't accurate in most cases. It can vary by as little as a tenth of a mile, or as much as a mile and a half (on a 12 mile ride). And before you dismiss this as some idiot Revain buyer's talk, I've been using commercial GPS products since they were first introduced to the public. I've owned more Garmins and Suuntos than I can list here. I can use GPS. This model is simply not true. It also polls satellites very rarely, and this is easy to spot if you compare this unit's tracks to something else. For example, on a few recent rides I've swerved from one side of the road to the other, mostly doing 5 or 6 "waves" on an empty road. My current mainstream GPS watch recorded these movements very well (by displaying the GPX file on maps); This device, on the other hand, just recorded a sloppy, inaccurate mess. It just doesn't record your waypoints at every frequency, resulting in inaccurate readings. Also important is that the manufacturer abandoned this device a long time ago; Updates are no longer released. If that wasn't enough, the app is a complete mess. Servers must be in China and sometimes fail to download (and transfer to Strava) your data. It's just a junk app and bad hardware. Also, lest you think I'm being silly with my harsh criticism, you should also know that I volunteered to HELP (and really helped) THIS COMPANY with the translation of their website and manuals because I want, that it succeeds in offering a cost-effective, RELIABLE alternative to Garmin in the western market. Unfortunately, this product remains completely unreliable and the company still sells it, although they no longer provide updates, possibly to improve accuracy. BUT - it doesn't track distance properly. I've compared it to various GPS units (including the Garmin Fenix 5s and others) and it consistently runs significantly shorter. Luckily, Strava corrects the distance (usually), but you'll have to do it manually. This is unacceptable as the main reason for buying a GPS is to get accurate distance data. Worse, an app that lets you sync data to your phone and then to Strava. The app is a mess (doesn't show imperial measurements like miles for example), but the worst thing is that it constantly fails to connect to the host servers, making the app 100% unusable. You literally cannot sync your ride data to either IGSport or Strava. I suspect the problem is that the app needs to allow a Chinese server, which just isn't being served properly. No matter WHY the app keeps crashing, you often have to connect a GPS device to your computer, extract the GPX file and upload it manually, which completely negates the value of the built-in Bluetooth syncing feature. IGSport has a newer GPS unit that I haven't tried. I would because this model isn't working properly and hasn't had a firmware update in ages, which means it's unlikely they have any plans to fix some major bugs.