Quote:
Originally Posted by torquer
Not yet here, but on the way: Wahoo Elemnt Mini; busted my Cateye over the weekend, was planning to get the Bolt (I have the Wahoo sensors and app on my phone for the trainer) but saw the email blast yesterday morning, went on line, but then couldn't complete the order because of credit card issues.
Decided to check out DCRainmaker's review, and bought it through his sponsor's link. I did miss out on Wahoo's free hat offer, though. 
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You know, I just took delivery of an Elemnt Mini myself. Here's what I've found.
The battery drain with a paired phone is significant. I use an iPhone 5 with a recently replaced battery, so it is at full capacity (1,440 mAh). This model uses Bluetooth 4.0, whereas the iPhone 6 and later use BT 4.2 (which reportedly has lower power consumption, but not sure how much lower). I've done 3 short rides with the device paired to my phone. On two rides, over about 40 minutes riding time and 10 miles, it took about 8 percentage points of juice (started with a full battery one day, an 80% battery the other). Today, with about 1h 40m including a couple pit stops, it drained ~25 percentage points from a full battery.
Going into my battery screen did confirm that the drain was mainly due to the Elemnt app itself during the ride. When my phone is not paired with the Elemnt Mini and I'm not actively riding, the battery drain isn't obviously increased, so the Elemnt app doesn't appear to be trying to pair continuously in the background. And right now, the battery usage attributable to my other apps pales in comparison to the Elemnt app.
Regrettably, the Elemnt Mini it doesn't look like it will work well for a very long ride while paired continuously to my iPhone. If I ride unpaired, then I let the device sync to a phone later (e.g. turn off my phone's Bluetooth when riding), this may work, and I should get brief summary statistics. I will not have a GPS track during the ride, however. Alternatively, I could get a battery case, and those can more than double the battery capacity of my iPhone. For example, the
Mophie Juice Pack Helium is $80, and has 1,500 mAh, if you can stomach pink or purple (I can). I think I've seen higher capacity cases from other manufacturers. Anything compatible with a 5 is also compatible with an iPhone SE, which is a modern iPhone.
It also needs to be said: I have an older iPhone. Newer smartphones may be more energy efficient at using location services continuously, and they do have larger battery capacity. iPhone 6 and up (including iPhone SE)
use BT 4.2 (no iPhones appear to use BT 4.1), and 4.2 may enable greater power efficiency (I don't know for sure, too technical for me). Also, Wahoo may be able to refine the computer's firmware or software to reduce battery use. Alternatively, perhaps my current battery case is partially blocking the BT signal, and so the transmitter has to work harder to maintain contact with the computer ... but if I get a battery case, then the problem could remain.
Also, today, the computer lost contact with the speed sensor, and couldn't re-acquire it. I had the computer forget, then re-pair with the sensor, and that worked. However, while it then showed the correct speed, it failed to increment my ride distance. I'll be in touch with tech support about this. Not sure how widespread these problems will be.
Overall, if the dropped sensor was a fluke, then I like the quality of the device
aside from the power consumption.