Your phone is probably already going on your bike rides.
It takes your photos. It plays your music. It lets you call home if something goes wrong. It probably has a map of wherever you're riding, and with the right app, it can track quite a bit of information about your ride.
So if your phone can already do all of that, why would you buy a separate Garmin Edge bike computer?
It's a fair question.
For some cyclists, a phone may be all they ever need. If you occasionally take a short ride around the neighborhood or simply don't care about having information in front of you while you ride, there's nothing wrong with keeping things simple.
But as your rides get longer, you start exploring unfamiliar places, or cycling becomes a bigger part of your life, there's something really nice about letting your phone be your phone and giving the job of bike computer to something that was actually designed for it.
Your Phone Already Has Enough to Do
Think about everything you're asking your phone to handle during an average day.
Calls, texts, email, photos, music, navigation, apps, work, social media, weather, and whatever else is happening in your life.
Now take it on a long bike ride and ask it to continuously run navigation and track your activity while you use it for everything else.
Can it do it?
Absolutely.
But that doesn't necessarily make it the best tool for every job.
A Garmin Edge is built specifically around cycling. Your ride information is available on a dedicated screen mounted where you can see it, while your phone can stay safely tucked into a pocket or bag.
That's a small difference that can feel pretty significant once you're several hours into a ride.
Navigation Without Constantly Reaching for Your Phone
This may be one of our favorite reasons to ride with a bike computer.
There's a particular kind of freedom that comes from seeing a road you've never ridden and deciding to find out where it goes.
The problem comes when you have to stop every few intersections, pull out your phone, unlock it, look at the map, figure out where you are, put it away, and start riding again.
A Garmin Edge with navigation capabilities can put route guidance where you're already looking.
That makes exploring feel a lot more like exploring.
Your phone can stay available if you need to make a call, take a picture, check something more detailed, or handle an emergency.
Meanwhile, your bike computer keeps doing its job.
Then There's Battery Life
Battery becomes more important as the adventure gets longer.
A phone that's been navigating, tracking an activity, playing audio, taking photos, and communicating throughout the day is also the phone you may be counting on if something unexpected happens later.
Using a dedicated cycling computer means you aren't asking your phone to handle every part of the ride.
For a quick spin around town, that might not matter much.
For a long road ride, an all-day gravel adventure, a bikepacking trip, or a day spent exploring somewhere unfamiliar, keeping your phone available can become a much bigger deal.
A Bike Computer Is Meant to Live on Your Handlebars
There's also something to be said for using equipment where it was designed to be used.
A Garmin Edge is made to be mounted on a bicycle and used while riding. Depending on the model and your connected sensors, it can put information like speed, distance, route guidance, elevation, heart rate, cadence, training data, and other ride information right in front of you.
You choose what matters.
Maybe you only want your route and distance.
Maybe you're training and want much more.
That's part of what makes the Garmin Edge lineup interesting. The right bike computer for a rider who wants basic navigation isn't necessarily the same one we'd recommend for someone who loves digging through every piece of performance data after a ride.
What Happens to Your Phone?
It comes with you.
And that's actually the point.
We're not suggesting you leave your phone at home because you bought a bike computer.
Quite the opposite.
Keep it available.
Use it to take the picture when you reach the overlook.
Answer the important call.
Send the "I'm running a little late because I found an amazing road" text.
Use it when you actually need a phone.
Your Garmin can worry about the ride.
Do You Need Both?
Maybe.
Just like we said last week, we don't think every cyclist needs a bike computer.
If your current setup works perfectly and you rarely find yourself wishing for anything more, keep riding.
But if you're riding more miles, exploring new routes, training toward a goal, or constantly pulling your phone out to see where you are, a dedicated cycling computer starts making a lot of sense.
The question isn't really whether your phone can do the job.
It can.
The better question is whether you want it doing that job every time you ride.
If you're curious about making the switch, stop by Gio's Outdoors in Smithville, Leavenworth, or Raymore. We carry Garmin Edge bike computers and can help you compare the different options based on how you actually ride.
You don't have to know which Garmin you need before you walk through the door.
That's what we're here for.
Go Adventure. Know Your Adventure.
