Wahoo Elemnt Bolt review

[makoti]

Mapping & turn by turn...
Do you have to load maps if you go to a different area? Or does it have enough storage to cover, say, the US? My Garmin will give me TBT, but I have to load a new base map if I leave the area, such as go to Norfolk to ride from DC. That's not a huge distance.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by makoti

Mapping & turn by turn...
Do you have to load maps if you go to a different area? Or does it have enough storage to cover, say, the US? My Garmin will give me TBT, but I have to load a new base map if I leave the area, such as go to Norfolk to ride from DC. That's not a huge distance.

One global map. You load continents.

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by makoti

Mapping & turn by turn...
Do you have to load maps if you go to a different area? Or does it have enough storage to cover, say, the US? My Garmin will give me TBT, but I have to load a new base map if I leave the area, such as go to Norfolk to ride from DC. That's not a huge distance.

The Bolt has pretty much the whole world loaded but lacks the meta data for all the street names. That comes along with routes created in RidewithGPS and Komoot. I searched RidewithGPS for routes others had already mapped out for an area I wanted to ride but did not know all the roads. Synched several with my Bolt and picked a 38mile one to test it out. Worked perfectly and never missed a turn. Really cool to push a button to show the elevation and percent grade while on the climb. It does seem to take a few seconds to respond though. Every so often I would glance down while standing on the pedals only to see 2% on the display before it jumped to 8%!

Tim

[rnhood]

Garmin units have been showing elevation and grade ever since the 703 came out years ago. The electronic altimeters in these units are very sensitive, but when you're pedaling uphill it takes about 10-20 feet before they can reliably register a difference in elevation. So a little lag is pretty normal. I think Garmin now uses a little feedforward compensation on their units to more quickly respond, although the accuracy will be slightly better after a short bit of lag.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by mcteague

The Bolt has pretty much the whole world loaded but lacks the meta data for all the street names. That comes along with routes created in RidewithGPS and Komoot. I searched RidewithGPS for routes others had already mapped out for an area I wanted to ride but did not know all the roads. Synched several with my Bolt and picked a 38mile one to test it out. Worked perfectly and never missed a turn. Really cool to push a button to show the elevation and percent grade while on the climb. It does seem to take a few seconds to respond though. Every so often I would glance down while standing on the pedals only to see 2% on the display before it jumped to 8%!

Tim

My 520 works great, but the storage is so small, I can't even store all of VA in it at one time. A bit annoying (even if really easy) to have to create a map, delete a map, install a map.

[mcteague]

Interesting article about Wahoo gaining on Garmin.

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/09/waho...ter-supremacy/

Tim

[jruhlen1980]

Originally Posted by mcteague

Interesting article about Wahoo gaining on Garmin.

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/09/waho...ter-supremacy/

Tim

Had my Bolt for about 2 months. Even though I live ~30 miles from Garmin's HQ and regularly ride with garmin employees, I've always hesitated to pull the trigger on a Garmin because EVERYONE seems to have a random issue with their garmin at some point, and I didn't want to spend that much for something that may fail at a critical moment.

Zero problems so far and it's a breeze to use and set up. I don't use navigation much, but it was pretty vital a couple weeks ago when I did a 120+ gravel race in unfamiliar territory and realized I left my cue sheets at home. Navigation worked flawlessly all day.

That was a 9 hour ride and the battery probably would have lasted that long, but I had a spare battery pack and I was getting jumpy when the battery dipped below 50% so I plugged it in.

Plus at $250 I think a lot of people (myself included) are a little more willing to take a chance on the new technology, and given that the user reviews are overwhelmingly positive, not so much of a gamble (like, say, the Lezyne super GPS I used for 2 years.)

[wasfast]

I've been following the early adopters and finally bought one last weekend. I have a Garmin Edge 500 that I bough in 2010. Overall, I'm very happy with the Bolt. The display is easy to read in full sun which was one of my main requirements. I don't use mapping functions but like the data display. If bug list remains low compared to the Garmin 520 I considered, I'm totally happy. Recommended at this early point.

[dem]

I'm 9 months (~4000 miles) into my ELEMNT, and it has been rock solid. Not a single incident of "grage" (garmin rage - that glitch that makes you swear endlessly at Garmin.)

I've owned several Garmin nav products (Zumo 665, etc) in addition to the sporting products: Forerunner 305, 910XT, 920XT, Edge 500, 510, and 520.

The 520 was the last straw for me - worse power meter data reception than the 510 (dropouts) hard to read displays, UI and of course the random freeze or eating a ride. Garmin's reaction was basically a disinterested shrug.

I hope to never have to use a Garmin product again.

[Likes2ridefar]

I have a bolt and it works fine but the navigation could be better. I have missed a number of turns and am sometimes unsure where it is wanting me to go. It also does not get optimal albeit longer cycling routes that google maps finds that uses bike lanes, etc.

It will sometimes want me to cut corners going through parking lots.

When off route it does not help guide back to route or recalculate.

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by dem

I hope to never have to use a Garmin product again.

My 500, then 510, now 520 have been flawless.

Ditto with my running GPSes

I don't need another GPS computer, so until I do, I'm sticking with what I know.

The O-Sync head unit that came with my Verve Infocrank is configurable via laptop too if someone wants to try something different

M

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by Gummee

My 500, then 510, now 520 have been flawless.

Ditto with my running GPSes

I don't need another GPS computer, so until I do, I'm sticking with what I know.

The O-Sync head unit that came with my Verve Infocrank is configurable via laptop too if someone wants to try something different

M

Get an 820 and then get back to us. How are the pre-loaded maps on your 520?

Tim

[shovelhd]

I just picked up an ELEMNT for my overseas trip. It took a while to set it up similar to my PC8, but it's all sorted now. If I like it over time, bye bye PC8.

[b3pkay]

My bolt seems to hold a charge for so long that I threw away the charger—who needs it!



Okay, not really. But seriously, it has great battery life.