Wahoo Bolt: does Live Tracking use phone data?
 

I just got a Bolt and want to use the Live Tracking for my rides, starting with a 600k brevet this weekend. I just found out that the phone has to be on to use it...bummer, now I need to worry about keeping the phone and the Bolt charged (I was hoping to keep the phone turned off between controls).

But if I do use the live tracking, does it consume phone data?

Yep.

Yeah and if you are out of network then the live tracking does not work. All livetracking is doing is positioning on thw gps then telling the phone to send the data to the web. Not sure it consumes a lot of power so you might be ok not having to recharge your phone. You will have to keep it on for aure though.

Google group
 

I have a Bolt and have posted some questions on the Google group below. It is active and helpful.

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=...o-elemnt-users

Alan

Thanks guys, good info and good to know.

Alan, thanks for the link. Reading through some of the topics now has be a little concerned. :)
Hopefully I don't hit the lost GPS/restart route after 3-4 hours issue.

My experience
 

I have had good luck w the Bolt so far and use it with Ridewithgps routes a lot. It has quirks like any other software driven device but sure seems like Wahoo is much better than Garmin at fixing bugs and keeping the user base happy.

I don't use any sensors which makes life a lot easier.

Alan

Somebody must make a USB power supply that connects to your generator hub?

Yeah, the Bolt connects to your phone over Bluetooth, so of course you’ll need your phone on. You can expect battery life on both devices to suffer a little bit with Bluetooth on. It definitely won’t last thru a 600k, but you should be able to charge both devices when needed with an external battery pack. You could use a google maps tracking link and keep the Bluetooth connection off between the phone and the bolt.

Tracking is why I have a SPOT. Phones just aren't ready for randonneuring or back woods tracking, I think. I have batteries for my garmin, but I dont' think I would want to keep a cellphone transmitting for up to 40 hours

I wish I hadn't looked at that newsgroup. Wahoo is trying to do so much, no wonder they aren't getting it all right. Garmin tried to have a nav-only gps with their Touring model, but it never worked. I guess the strava users subsidize those of us that use these devices on long rides, but I feel like that part of the device should be dead solid, and neither Garmin nor Wahoo seems to have done that.

OTOH, it seems like the randonneurs that have a Wahoo are a lot more positive about it than the garmin users. I made some settings changes on my garmin 800, and now it doesn't lock up at 200 miles. But it stops giving cues at about 175 miles, just when you don't want that to happen. I have heard of people riding a 1200 with the wahoo without issue

I would be curious if you go with something older/simpler like an eTrex if it has these nav issues.

I still have my eTrex Vista HCx, it's ancient at this point and it can't use the Open Street Maps free maps (which are amazing), and it's annoyingly thick on the handlebars compared to my Edge 1000, but it still utterly destroys the Edge on battery life (at least 2X IIRC), and it's really easy to toss 2 more AA batteries in your pocket.

It is also way way more accurate than the Edge, but that doesn't really matter since the Edge doesn't really let you do anything that tests it's accuracy.

Had a talk on a 100k through the local randonneur group last month with several guys who do the longer rides and they had experienced the Garmin problems that occur beyond 200k of riding.

I have seen nav problems too. So many gotchas. Had some issues on that 100k following the route with the Garmin. I had to click "end ride" and start a new ride to get things working.

Everyone wants to support Wahoo since they are new and seem to be in good faith but what they are doing with the smartphone is harder work and has some real negatives.

If the Wahoo requires the phone to do the live tracking you might as well just let the phone do the live tracking. It's probably a net positive on combined battery life of phone + cyclocomputer. Same thing with a Garmin. The phones can do this on their own and they have a lot more effort going into the phone software to make them work really well.

I don't see how accuracy really matters much, and I want maps and not breadcrumbs. I have ridden with etrex users, and they have problems that lead them to reset their devices more often than with the 800, so I'm not tempted at all. But they will tell you those devices are much better :rolleyes:
I think all of the garmin devices are pretty rock solid up to _almost_ 300k. 820 had some really bad problems following routes, but it seems like they fixed them

Lots of people just break long rides into shorter rides. I am going to do that on next week's 600k. It's annoying though, and shouldn't be necessary.

I'm happy to report that the 600k was a success and that the Bolt did very well. It tracked the ride for the entire 600k, at one point I paused the ride and turned it off and was able to recover it when I turned it on again, and the cue sheet and elevation profiles we're really helpful. Overall, I give it a thumbs up.