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Wahoo vs garmin

theBlob

Bokeh master
Sep 28, 2011
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so my garmin is losing the plot. No complaints it has done about 55000km so I'm happy.

But what next?

I'm thinking the Wahoo bolt vs the garmin 520.
I've read that you can't get more than about 4 hours mapping out of a 520 till it runs out of battery. That seems a little weak.
How about the Wahoo any data from you users out there?

Any users of these two devices with any positive or negative comments please post em up!
 
I got way more than 4 hours of mapping with the 520... however I would still pick the Wahoo bold no contest.

Me and @Musashi13 did a little test on his bolt yesterday and let the BOLT lead the way to Ogawamachi with the "take me to" function sent directly from his phone on the spot, besides a weird loop in the beginning it kept us off the main roads, you almost thought something was wrong at times when it sent us down some small alleys... but we got to the station avoiding all major roads and traffic and some new roads to remember :)

I did keep beeping some annoying sounds and crap, but hopefully those can be turned off.
 
After my Garmin 800 died I got a 520 and the space for maps made me change to an 820. This never worked without giving me some form of grief and I swore I wouldn't bother with Garmin again if I could help it.

Just recently I got the opportunity to get my hands on a Bolt without having to give up the 820. I have used it on a short inner city ride and a longer ride out in Saitama, as @saibot has attested to.

I can say I am happy so far, not much else as it hasn't been through the paces nearly enough, but so far so good.

The mapping/routing and customisation of the screens is great.

I need maps as I use routes I don't know and ride in areas I am unfamiliar with, I also need the full sensor array as I run the lot. If that's not an issue the Mini might be the way to go.
The Elemnt seems a bit big to me but people ride with phones and those massive Garmin 1000 and 1030s. For me the Bolt seems the best fit and I will update as things arise or don't.
No news would be good news but I'll let you know even as issues don't come up, too.
 
Was the route finding a Wahoo function or is it pulling it from google maps or something?
 
so my garmin is losing the plot.

Any users of these two devices with any positive or negative comments please post em up!

I've had Garmins for years but bought the Elemnt Bolt recently to give it a try. Much easier to set up and customize pages since it is done on the smartphone. Moving unwanted routes off the Elemnt gave me some problems at first but seems to have sorted itself out. I do miss the colored screen but don't have any trouble following the routes on Bolt's screen. I love the fact that zoom in and out is a one touch deal on the Bolt. I found that if I left the phone connected to the Bolt as I rode, it drained phone battery really fast, so, now I ride with my phone in my pocket but don't keep it connected. As for battery life, the Wahoo lasts all day. My Garmin 520 would need a recharge at the end of a longer day in the saddle (8 hrs?) For me, I think the Bolt has the edge because it is much easier to set up and use on the go.
 
Was the route finding a Wahoo function or is it pulling it from google maps or something?

Not sure how it worked or where it got the route from but it took us along the roads you were with us on a few weeks back.

It was not the fastest route nor was it the most direct but it kept us out of traffic and got us where we wanted to go. I've just tried to look up how that function works but I didn't see any explanation on the glance I made.
 
You're suppose to be able to connect your RWGPS account and pull routes directly from there as well, I'll let @Musashi13 confirm :p
 
Yes, that's how you do it. That or Strava but I don't make routes with Strava so I wouldn't know about that.
You sync the apps with each other then when you want a route you select it on your phone and it uploads it to the device. No more copying to the "New files" folder on your computer.
 
So I got the Wahoo and got it mounted. I like the connectivity to the phone. And it was my first ride with a hr strap in a long time.
It was a little harder to see as it was a little smaller or maybe my eyes were just not used to where to look to see what I wanted to see.
I couldn't get it to scroll the different pages, but it turned out I just didn't have the pages turned on. I like this feature as I use different stuff when I'm on weekend rides or morning training.

Hooked up the cadence sensor to my shoe as I couldn't bear to put cable ties on my high fashion campy cranks:warau:

Was also pleasantly pleased to find that it would attach straight onto my garmin mount. Which also has my light mounted to it.

So far so good...
 
So I got the Wahoo and got it mounted. I like the connectivity to the phone. And it was my first ride with a hr strap in a long time.
It was a little harder to see as it was a little smaller or maybe my eyes were just not used to where to look to see what I wanted to see.
I couldn't get it to scroll the different pages, but it turned out I just didn't have the pages turned on. I like this feature as I use different stuff when I'm on weekend rides or morning training.

Hooked up the cadence sensor to my shoe as I couldn't bear to put cable ties on my high fashion campy cranks:warau:

Was also pleasantly pleased to find that it would attach straight onto my garmin mount. Which also has my light mounted to it.

So far so good...

Cadence sensor on the shoe - wow that never occurred to me - not sure how cadence sensors work exactly - is that the wahoo one you're taking about? (Doesn't the Garmin one need a magnet??).

Power meter gives cadence and can't ride anymore without power so a sort of mute point I guess but, good idea! Yeah Campy + cable ties = eating Wolfgang w/ picnic cutlery

Hope the screens are working better now.

How do you like the total lack of glare? (I could always see the trees and my awful complexion more clearly than the readout on my Garmin)
 
Yeah it works fine on the shoe, comes with a clip that I can put through the wires and it was under my toe cover. No complaints.

It had trouble connecting to the HR strap today. I had to get the phone out at some lights and it connected after that.
Still the readings seemed a little off to me but before I start jumping up and down I want to rule out pilot error first as I had the strap a bit loose and it kind of descended onto my stomach so will have to check once I have it properly tensioned.
Glare I have never had an issue with but I need to sort my screens out as they are hard to see at a glance
 
Mine is doing well. No problems connecting to the HRM but it often wouldn't show up on the app even though the BT showed it was engaged.
Yesterday I told the unit to forget the phone and started again, for now this seems to have fixed the connection issues

Still sorting out my pages, constant faffing but the zoom to exclude and ranking system they have is nice.

I thought I would keep touching the screen or feel like touching it coming from Edge 800 and 820 but I haven't had the urge at all. Buttons is best.
 
The Wahoo cadence and speed sensors failed today. Just dropped out at a conbini break. Tried reconnecting numerous times, it said it was connected but it wasn't showing any numbers. The speed sensor defaulted to the gps signal and the smoothing on it was so useless that it was showing a drift of up to 10km/hr every second, fail.

Honestly what's the point of neat features if you can't do the basics. I'll give it one more ride and if it fail again it's going back and I'll get the garmin.
 
The 520 was actually cheaper than the Bolt where I bought it. Yes, it's a bit of faff to set up the data screens but so far no issues. Just wish that it held more map storage. Don't need a smartphone to operate it either.
 
The Wahoo cadence and speed sensors failed today. Just dropped out at a conbini break. Tried reconnecting numerous times, it said it was connected but it wasn't showing any numbers. The speed sensor defaulted to the gps signal and the smoothing on it was so useless that it was showing a drift of up to 10km/hr every second, fail.

Honestly what's the point of neat features if you can't do the basics. I'll give it one more ride and if it fail again it's going back and I'll get the garmin.
I'll trade you my Garmin 520 head unit for the bolt if you're interested? (I'll pay an extra few yen's too if you are up for it!)
 
So Wahoo got back to me with a response saying it was a known problem and they were working on it as the highest priority. And assured me it would be dealt with in the next firmware update( thatvas yet has no date). In the meantime They gave me a workaround that wasnt really a fix. But I think I solved it anyway. When I got home I turned the device off and on... they connected again. A bit annoying to have to do midnride of course, and I'm not sure what that would do to your ride file on a wahoo.

Anyway my rage seems to have abated somewhat as I rode yesterday without drama...

Sorry Saibot, at this point, I'll hang onto it for just a little longer...
 
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