Wahoo Elemnt questions

[shoota]

So I'm pretty sure I'm done with Garmin, now I'm deciding between the Elemnt and the Elemnt Bolt.
Wahoo is offering $80 cash back for the Elemnt which makes it the same price as the Bolt, $249. Which would you choose for the same price? As far as I can tell the biggest differences between the two is screen size and battery life (15hrs vs. 17hrs), neither of which are a big deal to me, and the Bolt's screen is brighter, not a huge deal either I guess.

But, my one big requirement is that my bike computer uploads to Strava via bluetooth through my phone, like the Garnin Edges do. I seem to be finding conflicting information about this regarding the Elemnts. Can someone put my mind at ease and reassure me that they will upload without wifi?

[Nooch]

The upload to the elmnt app which then uploads to strava -- I don't know if there's a way to cut out the intermediary or not, never tried.

[joosttx]

Can someone put my mind at ease and reassure me that they will upload without wifi?


Yes the wahoo element or bolt will upload to strava without wifi.

What Nooch said. You download the element app to your phone. The bolt transfers data to the element app and the element app transfer it to strava. It may sound convoluted but it is very simple and I found more reliable than Garmin.

Personally, I prefer the Bolt over the Element simply because of size. I feel I not giving much up for the smaller form factor.

[dbnm]

I was able to buy the Elmnt and the Bolt for the same price and now own the Elemnt.

As for the upload, I would think it is blue tooth. Just call Wahoo. They are quick and awesome.

[FlashUNC]

When I hit stop to end a ride, it's uusally uploaded to Strava by the time I out the bike away and already getting kudos.

As long as it's bluetoothd with your phone, it'll upload.

[joosttx]

I was able to buy the Elmnt and the Bolt for the same price and now own the Elemnt.

As for the upload, I would think it is blue tooth. Just call Wahoo. They are quick and awesome.

to clarify:

Head unit > phone with element app (Bluetooth)
element ap > wahoo cloud (Wifi or Celluar)
wahoo cloud > strava cloud (?) (and you probably dont need to care about that)
strava cloud > phone with strava app (Wifi or Celluar)

[shoota]

Thanks guys! That's what I needed to know. I think maybe the info that says wifi is required is either outdated or referring to using the computer itself while not connected to a smartphone. It was very ambiguous info.

[FlashUNC]

Thanks guys! That's what I needed to know. I think maybe the info that says wifi is required is either outdated or referring to using the computer itself while not connected to a smartphone. It was very ambiguous info.

The wifi bit is for downloading routes and software updates for the headunit. That's all really.

[Nooch]

Some devices will communicate over a local wifi (as best as I understand it), like a gopro communicates over the wifi channel to upload to my cellphone, my ring doorbell does this too in order to set up the device...

[cgolvin]

One point of difference between the two models is the route guidance.

If you often do rides where you rely on turn by turn navigation, I believe that the Elemnt delivers a better experience because it can use the second set of LEDs to alert you to upcoming turns.

I have a Bolt and am quite happy with it, but a riding buddy who does double centuries and brevets went with the Elemnt for this reason.

[jtakeda]

One point of difference between the two models is the route guidance.

If you often do rides where you rely on turn by turn navigation, I believe that the Elemnt delivers a better experience because it can use the second set of LEDs to alert you to upcoming turns.

I have a Bolt and am quite happy with it, but a riding buddy who does double centuries and brevets went with the Elemnt for this reason.

Can you elaborate on this?

Are the extra LEDs the thing that helps with brevet riding or something else?

I only ask because I was planning on buying either the elemnt or bolt soon for brevets. If they’re the same price it’s a 50/50 in which to get. I’d rather get battery life over extra LEDs but if there’s something else that makes the elemnt better I’d like to know.

I hope this isn’t hijacking OPs thread too much

[FlashUNC]

Can you elaborate on this?

Are the extra LEDs the thing that helps with brevet riding or something else?

I only ask because I was planning on buying either the elemnt or bolt soon for brevets. If they’re the same price it’s a 50/50 in which to get. I’d rather get battery life over extra LEDs but if there’s something else that makes the elemnt better I’d like to know.

I hope this isn’t hijacking OPs thread too much

Elemnt has a much bigger screen if you need the maps and the turn by turn. The Bolt's turn by turn is fine (just used it for a 60 mile loop in Santa Rosa with no issues), but I can see how for longer rides where you might want something with a bit more legibility.

[madsciencenow]

If maps and turn-by-turn are your jam then I would stick with a garmin. I have the bolt and edge 1000 and the bolt lags behind where you are and this is fine unless you are making multiple turns one right after the other. For everything else the bolt is pretty good with the exception of small grade changes.

Does anyone know if the wahoo units use both the Russian and US satellite systems for GPS as the newer garmins do?


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[shoota]

Can you elaborate on this?

Are the extra LEDs the thing that helps with brevet riding or something else?

I only ask because I was planning on buying either the elemnt or bolt soon for brevets. If they’re the same price it’s a 50/50 in which to get. I’d rather get battery life over extra LEDs but if there’s something else that makes the elemnt better I’d like to know.

I hope this isn’t hijacking OPs thread too much

The Elemnt has more LEDs and two more hours of battery life. 17hrs vs. the Bolt's 15hrs.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/03/wahoo-elemnt-bolt-in-depth-review.html

[shoota]

If maps and turn-by-turn are your jam then I would stick with a garmin. I have the bolt and edge 1000 and the bolt lags behind where you are and this is fine unless you are making multiple turns one right after the other. For everything else the bolt is pretty good with the exception of small grade changes.

Does anyone know if the wahoo units use both the Russian and US satellite systems for GPS as the newer garmins do?


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Funny, my navigation experience with my 510 was awful. Turns would start out being notified semi-correctly and gradually get farther and farther behind the turns, to the point where it would notify me of the turn after I had already turned. Then it would just flat out stop giving notifications at all.
Anything will be an improvement over that.

[Alan]

Ck out the Google group below if you have detailed questions about the Bolt etc

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/wahoo-elemnt-users

Alan

[Kirk007]

my eyes just entered their sixth decade and they prefer the larger screen of the Elemnt (which isn't very large or obtrusive btw), and the rest of my body mass makes the aero advantage of the bolt a nullity.

[madsciencenow]

Funny, my navigation experience with my 510 was awful. Turns would start out being notified semi-correctly and gradually get farther and farther behind the turns, to the point where it would notify me of the turn after I had already turned. Then it would just flat out stop giving notifications at all.

Anything will be an improvement over that.



I think the edge 1000 may have improved on the 510 but no hard evidence on this. I’ll give the edge 1000 and bolt a side by side go and report back. I ride both because I like the maps on the edge and it works with my garmin radar light letting me know when cars are inbound. However, the garmin is so hit or miss w my stages PMs I bought the bolt and really like how it works. This said, I have noticed that while the wahoo is much better w stages it will also periodically drop out.


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[marciero]

Can you elaborate on this?

Are the extra LEDs the thing that helps with brevet riding or something else?

I only ask because I was planning on buying either the elemnt or bolt soon for brevets. If they’re the same price it’s a 50/50 in which to get. I’d rather get battery life over extra LEDs but if there’s something else that makes the elemnt better I’d like to know.

I hope this isn’t hijacking OPs thread too much

I would not let battery life be a factor in deciding. For brevets you are going to want an auxiliary battery pack regardless. Stated battery life can be highly variable.

[adampaiva]

my 2 cents. (I have the Bolt, after having had a Garmin 800 then 820)
Choose the screen size you prefer. To me the Elemnt is larger than I need and the larger screen isn't a big plus for me without the ability to pan around on a map. If it had that ability, I'd probably have gone with Elemnt.
Know where you'll be mounting the unit? On an out front mount, both fine. If on the bars or stem, I prefer a smaller device. If you're thinking you'll use a handlebar or rando bag on brevets, the out front mount may not work.

I think its a great device. I'd buy another in a heartbeat and still happy I made the Wahoo over Garmin choice. By the time I need another I'm hoping Garmin makes everything work better and/or Wahoo adds a bit more to the mapping/nav functionality.

[Likes2ridefar]

If maps and turn-by-turn are your jam then I would stick with a garmin. I have the bolt and edge 1000 and the bolt lags behind where you are and this is fine unless you are making multiple turns one right after the other. For everything else the bolt is pretty good with the exception of small grade changes.

Does anyone know if the wahoo units use both the Russian and US satellite systems for GPS as the newer garmins do?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This was my experience as well. The 1000 works perfect once I figured out to ignore the navigate to start of course option.

The bolt element was terrible in Phoenix area for navigation. I don’t know how many times I had to stop and figure out where I was supposed to go.

The lag was especially annoying...

[madsciencenow]

I think it has something to do with how the gps is accessing signal or what satellites the wahoo is on. When I stop the auto pause feature on garmin is almost instant while wahoo has a delay. This ends up impacting avg power, avg speed and ride time most notably. I also see this come into play riding up and down hills. Wahoo takes at least 3-5 seconds longer to recognize an incline/decline while garmin sees it soon after you start the ascent/descent. Again, I want to reiterate the wahoo is great but it has a few shortcomings to b aware of if you are considering a switch to or are a first timer looking to ride w numbers.


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[CDollarsign]

I wouldn't even base your decisions on how many LEDs the unit has. You cant see them in the sunlight. Also the bolt uses the LEDs to tell you which way to turn.

[vqdriver]

i've been waffling between the two as well. now i'm curious if they have a new version of the elemnt to be released this summer. it seemed due for a replacement last year anyway....

[shoota]

i've been waffling between the two as well. now i'm curious if they have a new version of the elemnt to be released this summer. it seemed due for a replacement last year anyway....

Sure seems like it since they are offering $80 cash back on it. That's a lot.

[shoota]

I have to admit I'm not too thrilled to read all these negative comments about the Wahoo's mapping ability (or lack thereof). That was one feature I was hoping to use quite a bit. Hopefully it will be good enough where I live.

[marciero]

I would not let battery life be a factor in deciding. For brevets you are going to want an auxiliary battery pack regardless. Stated battery life can be highly variable.

...speaking of which, can you charge the Wahoo when mounted to the stem? This is not possible on the the Garmin as the port is obscured by the stem.

I just bought the 520 plus from lbs. Was going to get Wahoo but they did not have the Bolt. They did have the Element. Wanting to support lbs and cost being a factor I wound up with 520. In hindsight maybe I should have gotten the Element if only for the screen size.

Some remarks:

Wahoo plays nicer with ride with gps. It syncs everything via bluetooth. With garmin you are still manually downloading and copying individual files from computer. The Garmin-Strava pairing is a bit nicer as there is an app. I should have anticipated this based on my experience with the touch-screen Garmin (510? 520?) I had a few years ago.

The Garmin Connect app acts as a platform for other third-party apps, with its own app store. (The unit itself also acts as a platform for apps; that is, apps are loaded onto the unit.) Some dont seem to work that well. I tried routeCourse to generate routes and was not able to generate routes on the phone using the app. I emailed the company and was directed to the web site to could generate routes. So apparently you cannot use the app to generate routes. Using Safari to go to the web site to generate a route works fine on the computer but on your phone is very clunky. Seems to defeat the point of an app. DC rainmaker talks about the ease of use of the yelp app as a work-around for generating routes on the fly but that app did not appear in Garmin connect's app store when I searched. The "regular" Yelp app from the apple store is not recognized by the garmin app. The whole third-party thing adds another layer of complexity, as you must often register for an account on with the other site.
From what I gather, the Wahoo app's functionality is native to the software. It would be great if there was a ride with gps app available for the Garmin.

[shoota]

...speaking of which, can you charge the Wahoo when mounted to the stem? This is not possible on the the Garmin as the port is obscured by the stem.


Almost positive the answer is yes here.

[ptourkin]

Almost positive the answer is yes here.

In some cases you might have to use one of these: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Micro-USB-Cable-UUSBHAUB3RA/dp/B001AR4NC8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527179079&sr=8-3&keywords=micro+usb+angle

[marciero]

In some cases you might have to use one of these: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Micro-USB-Cable-UUSBHAUB3RA/dp/B001AR4NC8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527179079&sr=8-3&keywords=micro+usb+angle

Was just picturing just this type of thing but was thinking would have to make it. It may work on the Garmin too.

[ptourkin]

Also, for my shorter mtb stem, I use one of these on top so it still clears for an external battery on endurance rides. Also works for Garmin:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G35DLQ0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[gary_a_gooner]

I have to admit I'm not too thrilled to read all these negative comments about the Wahoo's mapping ability (or lack thereof). That was one feature I was hoping to use quite a bit. Hopefully it will be good enough where I live.

Not sure what else you read from this thread. Thought I only read one "negative" comment from just one user. I went from an Edge 500 to a Bolt so the upgrade was big for me. Everything about the Bolt is better--from gaining and holding on GPS signal, the mapping is EXCELLENT, easy initial set up, and long battery life.

DCrainmaker has an excellent review and comparison that is worth the read if you have an hour or two, heh.

No regrets or issues at all with the Bolt over here. Glad that there's some legit competition for Garmin and within the cycling GPS market so everyone has to keep their game up. Highly recommended.

edit: RE: ride syncing--after I end my rides, the unit automatically uploads the activity to Strava. My bluetooth/wifi/etc are not even on and not "paired" at the time. FYI, I don't keep my phone paired to my Bolt during rides as I want to avoid any alerts coming thru and there's no other benefit for me.

[parallelfish]

Mine has ongoing issues with randomly losing the HR or the power meter signal. Sometimes both at the same time. Typically have to reboot the unit to restore the signals. Sometimes occurs multiple times during a ride.

[shoota]

So I got my first ride in with my new Bolt. All went well except for something weird. My Bolt was showing my heart rate, the Elemnt app showed it, but when it uploaded to Strava there was no HR data! What the heck?? Is there a setting or something I don't know about?

edit: There's a setting in Strava now that you have to allow access to your HR data. Probably has something to do with the new GDPR rules or something. Anyway, that was annoying.