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In dreaming of long days exploring in the sun, I'm tempted to get a bike computer to help with navigation of pre-planned routes (road and mtb).
Obviously there is a huge amount of choice out there and I'm sure that the mid-range options from Garmin and their equivalents cover more than what I will need (providing battery life is 8-10hrs plus).
However, I'd like to know what people use and love/hate about theirs. I don't want something which technically works but the use interface is a shambolic PITA.
I think as lot of people switched to Wahoo because they were so simple and easy to use. The Elemnt Bolt last around 14 hours on full charge, even with the backlight on permanently (which is fantastic in the dark). The native maps are basic (with no option of anything else), but the high contrast display actually makes navigation very easy on pre-planned routes, especially on the road. It's not ideal for mountain bike rides out in the wilderness, but I've used mine for multi day mountain bike adventures. Can charge it on the go from powerbank or dynamo. It just does everything you need it to, and quite effortlessly.
There's been various complaints about past Garmins, from poor battery life to not being able to charge on the go, though I think the newer models may have improved a bit. And the higher end stuff have the option for proper maps. They also have a few more advanced functions and even support for stuff like radar to warn you about approaching cars.
Edit: I will say with the Wahoo, it kinda ties you in with RideWithGps, as routes are automatically sent from there. I can't remember if there are other options? It's actually a pretty good route planner, however importing routes into RWGPS is not quite so simple without a subscription...
I have a wahoo elemnt bolt. Its ok but basic. The mapping is pretty poor. Gps logging is also pretty poor compared to garmin.
But it has good battery life, very reliable and connects to my wahoo kickr without any issues.
I see it more as a training tool than an out and out satnav.
Thanks both. Just soooo much info/reviews/yt vids out there. Good to have some real world perspective.
I bought my wahoo elemnt last summer and am very happy with it. Have done some long rides and never had battery issues. I would use Komoot over RWGPS as it is more flexible.
I'm really happy with my wahoo, in fact I'd say it was wilderness were it excelled. Its when you have loads of paths to choose from the lack of detail makes it tricky. For road use and open terrain brilliant. Where it falls down is in forests where you have actual ROW and forest tracks that aren't easily told apart from each other.
The "find me a route from A to B" is pretty hopeless as it'll use anything you can ride along so on your MTB you'll get taken on roads and on your roadbike you'll get taken down muddy bridleways.
I don't feel tied into Ride with GPS as you can write or be given a GPX from anywhere and just upload it through RWGPS as its pretty seamless. I think you can even open a GPS from an email using the phone app.
The phone app is a godsend for setting up and so on.
I find that my elemnt for actual riding is great as the simple maps can be easily understood on the move. If you do want more detail, there aren't many bar mounted devices that will compare with the 6" HD screen on your phone for double checking and scoping options.
I went elemnt over bolt for the bigger screen/battery. The element also runs perfectly well from a USB battery for really long rides.
I just use a phone. I bought a second hand one for dedicated bike use. Loads of apps to choose from. Lots with proper OS maps. Easy to get routes. Battery life is very good if you put it in flight mode. Way cheaper than a dedicated bike device. Only issue is toughness, but there are some rugged phones, and the GPS on cheaper phones is a bit average, but it's good enough.
I had an older Garmin, it was ok but could easily get confused and the battery life was only about ten hours, which is not enough.
I recently got a Garmin 1030 edge and it is very good. Battery lasts for ages, communicates with my phone, no crashes so far and lovely large screen for my knackered old eyes.
It's great.
Garmin 520 here, does exactly what I need, maps work fine, records what I need and battery lasts fine. I’ve never had any software problems, it’s been faultless bar the outage we had last year.
I tried a Wahoo last year and didn’t like it at all, the functionality didn’t seem intuitive to me. This maybe as I’m quite far into Garmin infrastructure with a watch and fitness tracker too.