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I'm thinking of getting one of these... my three main reasons are:
- strava always crashes on my phone
- I want to be able to follow GPX routes that I get from other people
- I don't know my new local area that well, and want to be able to plan an off-road route from home and follow it (without having to keep getting a map out!)
How is the route navigation on trails?
From what I've seen it looks like the view doesn't rotate with you, but stays 'north up', which I could imagine being a pain, is this correct?
How is route planning? I've not created my own routes before but would love to be able to. I'm assuming I'd need some sort of OS map subscription. Does the wahoo have this included, or are there other services that are better for route planning that I could then export and put on it?
I've never used a bike GPS before so don't know much about these. It'll be used 99% for mtb, and with a focus on knowing where I'm going in an area I don't know.
It works great on the whole. If you want turn by turn notifications on the unit, you need to use one of several route planners such as Ride with GPS.
The map does rotate as you ride. If you need to deviate from route it can be a bit of a pain as you can't pan the map, only zoom out which results in less detail. However you can always pull out your phone to look in more detail.
It won't replan your route on the fly, but that's partly what makes it so fuss free and quick.
This is based on the Bolt, I've not tried the ROAM which introduces colour maps etc.
Ride with GPS is free, and you can use any old GPX files without turn prompts, however the Wahoo will flash red and beep if you miss a turn and leave the route. It will also use the lights to show off you are slightly off or stripe left or right before a turn.
I've used a bolt for years now and would never go back to Garmin. I use mine for navigating road and off road rides with great sucsess. I think the newer ROAM version does re-route on the fly if needed.
It's brilliant. I don't know of anyone that doesn't agree!
Yeah the bolt navigation is basic, but I've never had any issues with it. Strava routes sync nicely too (although there's no turn by turn on the bolt).
Only slight strange thing is that if you stray too far from the route, it'll disappear completely until you get back on the route, this can make you think it's lost it and gone wrong, but it's still there - just you're too far away from it.
I own a Garmin Forerunner watch and I still think I'd upgrade to a Wahoo ROAM instead of a Garmin MTB GPS if/when I come to upgrade.
My bolt gives turn by turn directions but I map my routes on Ride With GPS
Find the maps clearer and easier to follow than Garmin on roads. On the garmins I've used I had occaisonal problems distinguishing between the route (purple) and minor roads (grey) in bright light.
You can't really make or change routes using just the head unit, you need to use the app, which to be fair is OK. So for example, pull out your phone, select new destination, send to the device, takes no time.
This is what i mainly use mine for (along with logging rides) - it's great. The only slight annoyance is that you can't scroll on the map, although that is rarely an issue and you can always look at the phone (this is on a bolt, roam may be different). I had a Garmin 820 before which i hated - awful thing. The bolt is faultless in comparison.
Used the black and white ELEMNT for several years, home & abroad, on & off road.
Base maps are fine
I had a ride with gps subscription for some time but switch to Komoot.
It all works well and has never let me down.
Yep - Element B&W - works really well - for planning use Kamoot for road biking with turn by turn and OS for off-road'ness
Actually - just bought a quad-lock phone holder so now for road biking I just use the moby running Kamoot - don't actually looks at the map just listen out for the spoken directions - 'tis ace.
It’s brilliant. I don’t know of anyone that doesn’t agree!
/waves
🙂
Great, thanks for all the info guys, sounds really good.
I actually managed to borrow a 'bolt' off a friend and took rode with it last night, following a route. I was hoping to zoom in a little more, but other than that it seemed pretty good.
I can see it being a huge help when I'm exploring a new area and trying to follow a mates route. With the long battery life it should also be great for big days out hiking
Now to decide on the roam vs the bolt...
I love my Bolt.
It's limited but it does the basics really well.
I plot routes using Alltrails and upload them and follow the turns.
The thing that frustrates the most is being used to touch screens, you can't pan when you want to look to the side a bit.
Other than that, great.
It’s brilliant. I don’t know of anyone that doesn’t agree!
I used Garmin for years, swore I'd never get another, got a Bolt, sold it and went back to Garmin.
Don't get me wrong: GPS navigation on a bike is absolutely brilliant compared to not having it. The ability to go for a long ride on entirely new roads and trails and not have to stop to check where you are or where you're going is a real game changer, but objectively, the bike GPSs we've got at the moment are really pretty lousy.
I'm on an Edge 820 at the moment, and hate it for lots of different reasons, but for me, it's still better than the Bolt, mostly down to the inability to pan the map.
I dont miss panning around the map personally as you can only do that effectively if you've stopped in which case my 6.7" HD phone shows a much better map than any GPS device.
The only time my Wahoo has been lacking is in some Forestry Commission trails as ROW are marked but not all Fire roads are so you sometimes have to hesitate a bit where to go. Otherwise it's great with RWGPS created routes.
The routes that Wahoo creates for you aren't great as it just sends you the shortest way so you'll get sent off road on your road bike and vice versa.
I bought a Wahoo Elemnt 18 ish months ago, no experience of Garmin but did lots of research on here and elsewhere before buying and I have no regrets at all.
The mapping uses the freesource stuff which does mean you can get the odd wrong classification like footpath as opposed to bridle path but a quick zoom out and you cna find your way around it pretty easy using your own eyes or failing that pull phone and replan.
I'd never go back, not ever, it has enabled me to plan big routes, find routes i'd never have found and explore much more than I would have ever managed.
Is it perfect no, I can understand about rotating or panning the map, it simply doesn't but if you read almost all of the online reviews on chiggle etc most are would never go back to Garmin.
I went Elemnt as bigger unit and better battery life, use with Komoot and pay the £25 if you want to plan rides but if just downloading you will be cool.
James
You mentioned not being able to Zoom. The volume buttons zoom the map in and out... And they will also zoom most of the displays, i.e you can zoom in until you just have the speed on the display, or zoom out until you have something like 9 readouts.
The app allows a mind boggling number of displays and you just drag and drop them into an order of preference or hide them completely.
I’ve had a Bolt for a couple of years and Garmin 530 for a couple of weeks, as couldn’t resist a big discount PSA here and heard it was a big improvement on previous garmins. I use planned routes on almost every ride, especially on the road. Honestly they’re both great. The Garmin seems to have more features (most of which are probably unnecessary) and a ‘nicer’ screen (bigger, colour, higher resolution). But the bolt is easier to read maps in bright sunlight as it’s higher contrast, and can show 4 data fields on the map page vs the garmin’s 2. The Bolt is all configured on the phone, Garmin on the device. But basically either does all I need and more. I tend to just look at maps rather than use turn by turn. I think I just about prefer the Garmin but can’t argue with anyone that would choose the other way.
I use strava to plan routes which works fine but there are probably better options mentioned here.