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iGPSPORT iGS618

March 23, 2018

Why the iGPSports cycle computer and not Garmin?

I've been using the Garmin Edge 25 for quite a while now and is pleasantly satisfied with it except the battery life. Today, it can only manage around 5 hours of recording, moving and non-moving time included. I found a way to extend its longevity by running juice from a power bank via the charging cable, but it failed me a couple times when the connection breaks mostly due to road conditions and will cause recording to stop, which is a PITA.

The natural upgrade to me is the Edge 820 but the price is steep to pull the trigger so I've been holding out really long for a replacement until I came across these products from iGPSPORT.

The Chinese company offers five products from iGS10, iGS20E, iGS50E, iGS60, and iGS618. I reviewed the features of each product and decided that the iGS618 is what I'll get.

Why the iGS618? Firstly, I don't want to spend much on an experimental accessory but I found a seller (Rockbros) on Lazada that sells this model and comes with a free outboard mount for P6,914. For the record, I purchased the Edge 25 at the cost of P7,500. Secondly, what attracted me to these products are that they have at least 20 hours of working time. It will be interesting to find out what the behavior will be when power is fed from a power bank to extend the battery life. Lastly, the iGS618 supports data from Shimano's Di2. I cannot find any video on YouTube to confirm this, in fact there's only one video of the iGS618 on YouTube currently so it looks like I'll be the first to produce one.

iGS618 vs. Edge 25

How does the iGS618 stack up against the Edge 25? Here's a comparison of the main features.

Feature iGS618 Edge 25 Notes
Protocols ANT+, Bluetooth 4.0 ANT+, Bluetooth Both devices use ANT+ for sensors and Bluetooth is for Smartphone interface.
GPS protocols GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou GPS, GLONASS BeiDou is the Chinese navigation system.
Waypoint navigation Yes Yes  
Ride modes Racing, Indoor, Training, Custom Ride, Indoor  
Data pages Six, customizable. Two, customizable. Edge 25 has a third page dedicated for the HRM.
Storage 1,000 rides (100 km per ride data) 10 rides  
Battery life 20 hours up to 8 hours Currently, my Edge 25 lasts for about 5 hours.
Display size 2.2 inches (diagonal), 240 x 320 pixels color screen 2.3 cm x 2.3 cm, 128 x 160 pixels monochrome screen  
Water rating IPX7 IPX7  

Data capture

The iGS618 captures much more data points compared to the Edge 25 although the latter supports Light and Radar sensors (Varia product line).

Category

Data points
Speed

Speed, Avg Speed Tot., Avg Speed Mov., Max Speed, Lap Speed, Pre Lap Spd, Max Lap Spd, Max Pre Lap Spd
Cadence

Cadence, Avg Cad, Max Cad, Lap Cad, Pre Lap Cad, Max Lap Cad, Max Pre Lap Cad,  Cadence Zone
HRM

Heart Rate, Avg HR, Max HR, Lap HR, Max Lap HR, Pre Lap HR, Max Lap HR, Max Pre Lap HR, HR Zone, Heart Rate %, Avg HR%,  Max HR%, Lap HR%, Pre Lap HR%, Max Lap HR%, Max Pre Lap HR%
Power

Power, Avg Pwr, Max Pwr, Lap Pwr, Pre Lap Pwr, Max Lap Pwr, Max Pre Lap Pwr, Pwr Zone, Pwr3s, Pwr10s, Pwr30s, Pwr %FTP, Pwr IF, Pwr NP Avg, Pwr TSS, Pwr watts/kg, kilojoules, Pwr Left%, Pwr Right%, L.TQ.Effect, R.TQ.Effect, L. Ped.Smooth., R. Ped.Smooth.
Distance

Distance, Ascent Dist, Descent Dist, Lap Dist, Pre Lap Dist, Odometer, Destination Dist
Altitude

Altitude, Grade, VAM,  VAM 30s, Elevation(+), Elevation(-), Max Altitude, Min Altitude,  VAM+ Avg ,  VAM - Avg ,  VAM+ Max ,  VAM - Max, Avg Grade+, Avg Grade - , Max Grade +,  Max Grade-,  Lap Elev +,  Pre Lap Elev + ,  Lap VAM+ ,  Pre Lap VAM+, Lap Grade +,  Pre Lap Grade +
Time

Tot. Time,  Moving Time,  Record Time,  Avg Lap,  Laps,  Lap Time,  Pre Lap Time
Shifting

Front Gear,  Rear Gear,  Gears,  Gear Batt.,  Front Batt.,  Rear Batt.
Other

Time of Day, Sunrise, Sunset,  Temperature, GPS(signals strength),  Accuracy(GPS Accuracy), Direction
Energy

Kcal(Calories )

Package contents

The box contains iGS618 x1, Micro USB Cable x1, Standard Bike Mount x2, Mount Pad x2，O-Ring Band x4，User Manual x1.

The free outboard mount is not iGPSPORT but RockBros' own.

The unit, the manual, and accessories.

Here's a closer view of the outboard mount. While the quality is inferior compared to genuine SRAM or Garmin, it is functional.

Sensor compatibility

I own the Garmin HRM, Cadence, and Speed sensors as well as Giant RideSense combined Speed and Cadence sensor, and finally the Tacx Satori Smart bike trainer. All these have been recognized by the iGS618 cycle computer.

Operation and setting up

Operating the device using only three buttons (compared to four on the Edge 25) isn't that difficult and I was able to customize my iGS618 easily by adding my bikes, setting my User Profile, setting up the Pages, and adding sensors.

On this photo, the iGS618 is displaying the "Height" page. I strongly believe they meant "Elevation" instead.

Motion detection works very well and the device starts and pauses automatically and didn't have the dreaded "sensor loss" that plagued my Edge 25 during auto pause, until the firmware was upgraded.

Here's the menu structure for a quick reference.

Bike Bike1 Use This Bike
Name  
Weight  
Wheel size  
Odometer  
Connect sensors  
Delete This Bike
Add New+ <up to five bikes, Bike1 cannot be deleted>
Mode Race Mode Use This Mode
Page Selection Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Height Page
Set Pages Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Height Page
Set Alarms Time
Distance
Calorie
Heart Rate
Cadence
Power
Auto Save 10s
Auto Pause On
Auto Lap Off
Location
Distance
Auto Switch Page Off
Fast
Slow
Color Set  
Training Mode same settings as Race Mode
Indoor Mode same settings as Race Mode
Add New+ same settings as Race Mode
Setting Display Backlight Time Always
15 sec
30 sec
1 min
2 min
Night Backlight Auto
Off
Color Mode Auto
Day
Night
Day Bright (50%)
Night Bright (20%)
UI Style Simple
Sophisticated
GPS Mode GPS
GPS+BeiDou
GPS+Glonass
Off
GPS Status  
Power Save Smart
On
Off
User Profile Gender <Male, Female>
Age  
Weight  
Height  
Athlete <Yes, No>
Training Zones HR Zone Max HR
Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 4
Zone 5
Pwr Zone FTP
Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 4
Zone 5
Zone 6
Zone 7
Cadence Zone Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 4
Zone 5
Zone 6
Unit Dist./Speed <Metric, Inch>
Altitude/VAM <Metric, Inch>
Temperature <Celsius, (F)>
Weight <Kilogram, Pound>
Day Time Time Format (12 Hour, 24 Hour)
Time Zone <set>
Summertime <On, Off>
Language <language options>
Sound Buttons <On, Off>
Sensor Connect <On, Off>
Alerts <On, Off>
Auto Lap <On, Off>
Software Update  
Auto Functions Auto Sleep <On, Off>
Auto Power Off <On, Off>
Other Functions Lap Function <Yes, No>
Spee from sensor <Yes, No>
Reset Device Load Factory Sett.
About Device Firmaware Ver 1.02
Date Feb 28 2018
Model 101
ID: <device ID>
Memory Saved Activity Last Activity Laps
Map
Delete
All activities Laps
Map
Delete
Historical  
Delete Delete one month <Yes, No>
Delete all <Yes, No>
Delete last race <Yes, No>
Reset historical <yes, No>
Sensors Search All    
Spd&Cad <ID>  
Cadence <ID>  
Speed <ID>  
HRM <ID>  
Shifting <ID>  
Power <ID>  
Power Meter Details    
Power Calibration    
GPS    
Bluetooth <On, Off>  
Navigation History Routes <list>  
User Routes <list>  
Navi Settings Custom Data <On, Off>
Set Page  
North-upward <On, Off>
Turning indicator <On, Off>
Route Elevation <On, Off>

Software/apps

iGPSPORT has an app available on both Google Play and Apple App Store and must be installed if you want to automatically sync ride data to Strava.

Waypoint navigation

The iGS618 supports FIT, GPX, and TCX formats which allow courses created from Garmin Connect to be transferred to the IGPSPORT\Navigation folder of the device for waypoint navigation.

Using the browser, go to connect.garmin.com and plot your route. Save the route in FIT format and copied the file over to the iGS618 afterwhich it recognizes and adds the route to the User Routes list.

Data sync

Syncing data to Strava is easily performed using the iGPSPORT app (version 1.12) that is installed in my Samsung Galaxy S8.

Alternatively, one can use a computer (or Smartphone with USB OTG) and the upload activity function from the Strava website. The generated FIT files are uploaded with ease and without error.

I was hoping that the generated FIT files will load into Garmin Connect as well, but I always get an error during upload. It seems that Garmin is strict about the file format and it sees extra or misses some data for proper upload.

The work around is to generate a GPX formatted file from Strava and load it into Garmin Connect. While this is not how I envisioned my Garmin Connect syncing process, for now it will do.

Disappointments

Well, there's only one- the Shimano Di2 integration does not work. I checked their website again and I didn't notice the fine print about Shimano.

"Function is under developing" gives some hope that a new firmware will be made available to finally support Di2.

Conclusion

The iGS618 is functional, customizable, and works well given the price of P5,500 from Bike Parts Ph which I found out after I purchased the item from Lazada.

If one doesn't plan to invest on Garmin Varia radar and lighting system, this cycle computer is definitely worth the price, specially if they get the Shimano Di2 integration working. Yes, I'm still bitter about it.