I have 16 (yes sixteen) GPS sports watches and 3 bike GPS units. They range from an 18 year old Garmin wrist based GPS to the latest Garmin / Cronos / Polar / Suunto units.
As expected the older units do not perform quite as well as the latest gear, especially round town, but all perform well in open country.
I don’t get the Strava problems the OP reports on any on my devices. Never used a phone based GPS but, if I did, I certainly wouldn’t place it in a pocket.