[Closed] Garmin or Wahoo - verdict?

Ex 810 user here.

It was ok, but kept shutting down mid-ride and was flaky with sensors as you say. Plus a bit of a faff loading routes onto TBF.

Elemnt Bolt user since January - it’s brilliant! It’s like someone took my Garmin and made it 100 times better!

Thought I’d miss the touch screen and colour screen, but screen (particularly for navigation) is so much clearer!

It’s fair bit smaller than the 810, (its closer to a 520/820 form factor) but I’ve gotten used to it. Didn’t want to go for the original ELEMNT due to size. A few guys at work have both the original ELEMNT and the Bolt.

It’s a doddle to set up with the app too.

Sensor pairing is quick and painless too.

I like the row of LEDs too - have started to use them for heart rate, and actually trying to stay in certain zones rather than guessing on the Garmin.

Really happy - definitely wouldn’t go back to Garmin now.

A

Any comments on the Wahoo zip tie mount?  I swap mine between 3 bikes so that’s a pain....

If you need/want functional mapping, on-device routing and proper turn by turn directions go Garmin. Otherwise Wahoo. IMO.

Any comments on the Wahoo zip tie mount?

I used Garmin mounts. Use a Stanley knife to remove about 0.5mm from the end of each tab on the mount, and refit it at 90 degrees. Takes under a minute.

Former 500 user. Elemnt Bolt for over a year and it’s brilliant.  Wouldn’t go back

Just buy buy some more mounts!

No idea on the mount, I had K-edge mounts on the MTB, gravel and roadie, so I just changed the inserts.

Original post updated to add comments ref size and LEDs

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I HAD a garmin edge 25 and traded up to the Bolt and i would never go back to a garmin. The biggest difference you will notice is just how much easier it is to operate and then after 6 months you will realise it has never failed or been problematic. I dont want to knock the garmins too much as they all work well but the wahoo stuff for me is just easier and more reliable.

I have a wahoo element bolt out front mount if anyone wants one £10 posted, drop me a mail at jonathantraverse@hotmail.co.uk

If you need/want functional mapping, on-device routing and proper turn by turn directions go Garmin. Otherwise Wahoo. IMO

Whats the Wahoo benefit?  Only one ride in but i’m very impressed with the Garmin 130 compared to either my Touring or Edge 200.  It really feels like someone at Garmin has done some proper user testing/feedback.  Screen is brilliantly clear in any light and most of the things that have irritated me about the others have been solved -

- can get it to display an OS grid reference in a place you can actually get to quickly (on the “compass” screen. (On the Touring had to work out which of the many screen you could tap on the “satellite” icon. Appears on many but only works on one)

- can disable the “lap” button so it works as menu instead

- seems to wake up and lock to satellites quickly.

- fields highly customisable

I nearly sent mine back (Bolt) after set up, had a glitchy problem that i couldn't get past

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/garmin-edge-520-vs-wahoo-element-bolt/page/2/#post-9983781

Then it just decided it would work, and since then it's been flawless

Glad I didn't (send it back)

I bought a Wahoo Elemnt bolt last week when there was a PSA on here for £40 off when you spend over £200 on Sigmasport.

I haven't actually been for a ride with it yet, as I've done my back/hip in....but, it was really easy to get set-up compared to my Edge 500 and I can't wait to actually try cycling a route & not having the route line just disappear as it does more often than not on the Edge 500.

There are numerous reviews/posts about the differences between the Garmin & the Wahoo offerings. I think Bez has a review post explaining about the fact that the Wahoo navigation system is inherently 'dumb'. It will show you where you are on a map & you can follow a route, but there is no 'car sat nav' style intelligence built into the device. It relies on using a planned route to display on the built in map. The Garmin has proper navigation capabilities built-in, so if you go 'off-route' for whatever reason, it can get you back on track. You can also scroll around the map.

Of slight concern to me with the Wahoo is the amount of map detail lost when you zoom out, but then the Edge500 doesn't even have a map & I have managed OK with that for God knows how long.

There is also no way of scrolling around the map.

Things that put me off a replacement Garmin...my Edge500 has been flaky at best. Courses not working, the breadcrumb trail disappearing halfway into a long ride on unknown roads doesn't exactly inspire confidence, software updates causing more problems than they fix, flaky connection with Garmin Connect. The battery life indicator has been permanently fixed on 100% for perhaps the last 4 or 5 years - it just doesn't shift from that. etc.

The Garmin 810 (& I think the 520 Plus??) has a touch screen. From seeing people using them, they just look rubbish. I can understand why you would use a touch screen as a hardware/software developer, but as an end user I think I just prefer buttons on this kind of device.

Battery life - I have seen people report that when actually following a route on the Garmin, battery life can be down to 4 hours or so.

I think it's one of those cases where there is no 'best' device for everyone. It depends on your individual set of requirements & priorities.

I've had a Garmin Touring Plus, then 510 then 520, Touring Plus was OK, but glitchy and screen not really detailed enough to view OS well, 510 battery died and 520 just kept switching itself off. Bought Element a fortnight ago and so far really liking it especially the ability to do everything on the app and create routes easily on RidewithGPS and them simply be there on head unit, i think for me it does everything i need, i think if i really needed detailed mapping i was going to go with an Etrex 30X.

Shame as i prefer the Garmin hardware, just tired of shocking software glitches, Element isn't flash, but it just works

As a few have mentioned, the turn-by-turn directions on Garmin devices are better than on the Wahoo, as is the on-screen map.

However, I never really found the on-screen map on the 810 that great anyway and always ended up stopping and using my phone to navigate so it wasn't a big deal for me. Although the wahoo doesn't do native on-the-fly navigation, that is something that you can do on your phone and send to the device. I've used it a couple of times on the road and it's worked great - not sure how good it would be off road.

I've had my Bolt for about a year now and had no issues I can remember, in contrast to my 810 which was flakier than a packet of Frosties. Setup is SO easy, as is re configuring when needed.

The hacked-out garmin mount idea from Bez works brilliantly - I prefer them to the wahoo stem mount. I really like the wahoo bolt out-front mount though - it just looks good.

I'm using a Garmin 820 and I don't have any problems with it. It does exactly what I want (turn by turn directions, logging distance, speed etc) but I don't use any of the other functionality such as HRM, Cadance etc.

I don't want to jinx it but I've had no problems with it so far after 18 months of use.

I've never used a Wahoo so cantc comment on those I'm afraid

The battery life on the  bolt is just amazing, I did a 15 hour sportive at the weekend with the mapping constantly on and still had 8% battery left at the end, every one with Garmins took external batteries....

My only gripe is that you can't scroll around the map, so if you want to check out alternative routes , or get lost/off course it isn't really any help. I also need to work out how to send routes to it from my phone, it seems to rely on my home wifi at the moment.

Simon, as you know I've not tried the 130, but it sounds good.

For me the advantage of the Wahoo is in having basic mapping and seamless RWGPS sync, but they're not valuable to everyone. Personally I have no use for any performance data, segments or anything like that; maybe the 130 has some wins in those areas.

The Wahoo battery life is great, though. I'm heartily fed up with Garmin never coming even close to their claimed life (on cameras and GPSs… though I seem to recall my old eTrex units came close if you used alkaline batteries. But then that's a horribly wasteful approach.)

I have had my Bolt for just over a year now, used several times a week and often used for routes I have planned but never ridden before.  Previously I had a Garmin 800, but changed to the Bolt as the battery life on the 800 was getting a bit short.   Overall I am much happier with the Bolt compared to the Garmin equivalent.

Bits I like:

The screen is very clear, even in bright sunshine.  I find the black and white maps easier to read and navigate with compared to the OS colour maps on the garmin that were often too cluttered.  The maps on the Wahoo have most off road trails (including ones not on OS maps like trail centres) but lack the detail of OS maps. Easy to increase or decrease the number of boxes on the screen.

Easy to set everything up via the phone app.

I find the navigation easy to use.  I normally plot routes with Ride with GPS and it autos syncs with the Wahoo.  If you use RWG it does give turn by turn navigation but the writing on the screen is a bit small.   The scrolling leds for turns are handy but can be hard to see in sunshine.

The customisable LEDS are a big plus point.  I have these set to HR zones so without really looking at the unit I can tell what zone I am in.  Again this can be affected by sunshine, but not as much as the white turn LEDS.

Battery life seems really good, it has only gone flat once and that was when I forgot to charge it for a few rides...  Occasionally I get a reminder pop up on my phone to say it needs charging.

I have had a few questions for Wahoo and they have always been very quick to respond, and I get the impression they are continuing to improve the software.

Bits I don't like:

No auto logging of laps by location.  Hopefully Wahoo will add this at some point in the future.

No scrolling on maps, or re-routing.  When I have had to divert from a route I have just had to go in the vague direction of the route until I pick it up again.

There is a bit of a bug with mixed metric and imperial units.  I had switched mine to having mixed units, but every so often it reverts back to all metric.  I just leave it in metric units now.

Overall if I had to buy a new GPS I would go for the Bolt again over the current Garmin offerings.

I also need to work out how to send routes to it from my phone, it seems to rely on my home wifi at the moment.

It the route is showing in the Wahoo phone app, then as long as the unit is connected to your phone you will have an option in the app to send the route to the unit.

I have several Garmin (edge 810/520 and fenix 3) that all work well. There was a time when I thought I would stick to garmin due to keeping all my data in one place (garmin connect) but now i never even look at connect. Strava and training peaks are what I use. I would certainly look at wahoo next.

For those commenting on the navigation, is that based on road riding or off road?

The mappage looks poor for off road.

Thanks for the extensive feedback.   I’m bang in the middle of the Bolt/130 or perhaps 520 plus as I would like get me home maps although only say, once a month.   I wonder if it’s better to get the bolt, as I can use Google Maps on my phone if I’m lost alone.  I’m certainly liking the aero and clarity of the display, but the 130 seems a little more MTB with “just in case” simplistic directions.

I'm "tolerating" my current Garmin Edge Touring. It's the second one I've had, this one is a warranty replacement. It's flaky as hell. Works fine when used as a basic computer which is what I use it for locally (where I know where I am, where I want to get to and can more or less make up routes as I go), it's very glitchy when navigating routes, especially long ones where it will almost invariably crash completely at some point. I just can't trust it to navigate me round a long route without losing itself, trying to divert off down some random trail or telling me that I'm off route and shutting down.

Next computer will be a Wahoo.