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wolfeh@lemmy.world

I'm looking for the most "open" fitness tracking system (bike computer, Strava alternative, etc.) (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by grue@lemmy.world to c/bicycling@lemmy.world

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I want to get more intentional about my fitness and measuring my performance and whatnot. As such, I'm in the market for fitness tracking technology for the first time.

However, I'm very much a Free Software / self-hosted sort of person, and I'm very un-thrilled about how proprietary all this stuff seems. It looks like the sensors themselves are kind of standardized ("ant+", whatever that is), and some of the data formats can be imported and exported, but the bike computers themselves and the companion apps and the online services appear to be trying to become walled gardens.

Short of building a bike computer from components myself, what hardware and software should I be looking into?

Edit: my most immediate concern is figuring out what bike computer to get, to be able to log data from the ANT+ speed, cadence, and heart rate sensors I've already bought (along with a GPS track). I'm considering anything from a Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt V3 ($300), to an off-brand(?) one like a Magene C506 ($100) or iGPSSport BSC100S ($38), to using my smartphone with an ANT+ dongle and the "A Training Tracker" app (Github, Play Store).

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[–] Schwim@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I sincerely hope you have better luck than I finding a Strava/MapMyRide/Trailforks/MTBProjec alternative that 1) works 2) has at the very least a quarter of the features of the proprietary apps and 3) is accurate. I have searched for over a year and tried an endless number of apps and have not found a single one that allows me to look at a trail map, record my ride or provide me accurate data at the end of the ride. I eventually gave up and carry an old phone with Play services on it so I can use Strava during the ride. If my experience is an indicator, there is no reliable and useful alternative.