[Closed] lobbing my garmin 1030 in the bin - whose got an element roam?

if you don't need anything too flash, if you just want speed/distance/time ridden and fairly good navigation then the Wahoo is brilliant, the best thing is, it just works, and battery life navigating is 10 hours or thereabouts.

The only time i'd go back to Garmin is if i needed micro-navigation and then i wouldn't get an Edge unit it would be one of the Etrex walking ones.

I love the Garmin hardware, but the software is rubbish and it isn't a new problem, they seem to release head unit after head unit without ever sorting the problem.

Also the Wahoo is all set up by a phone app, so if someone sends you a .gpx, you just press and hold link, sent to Wahoo app and its on there, next time you switch head unit on, the route is there

I gave up on Garmin about a year ago, for same reasons. Hardware is great, but I think they have their least-experienced mail-room interns write all the software and UI stuff. And yes - gave up on ever using any of the Garmin software on my Mac.

Wahoo Element Roam with an iPhone is bliss. I've never uploaded any maps - the built-in ones work well-enough for me, and all setup/configuration/synching is done via the iPhone and Wifi.

I don't use my Roam (nor Garmin) for mapping - I tend to just use Strava routes or Komoot to plan a route, then just follow that on the Roam. If you need detailed OS-style maps, not sure if/how you do that.

Overall I've been super pleased with the Roam. In six months or so I've had one device crash, and ride was recovered fine. Had a couple of times when synch/upload to Strava and Training Peaks didn't happen for some reason, but I was able to manually force the synch using the iPhone app.

I occasionally miss the touch screen of the Garmin, but then I remember it usually never worked for me anyway, given rain/wet gloves/etc. This is something to keep in mind though, and was the biggest "getting used to it" of the Wahoo - no touch screen.

I’ll have it rather than you binning it, what’s your email?

If it helps, whenever I’ve had a Wahoo the connection to an iPhone has been the worst part of the experience. In one case it drained battery rapidly, in the other it completely locked up the phone and exhausted the battery in minutes.

For some reason no-one producing bike GPS devices seems to be any good at software.

Maybe it's an Apple thing...

As far as I recall I had similar issues with Android.

Aye similar experiences with my 520plus. Its the only thing I own that cant seem to connect to my phone reliably. And it's recently given up entirely, I do seem to be having better luck with my watch though (fenix 5) so I persevering with Garmin for now.

Shocking performance for something that costs so much

My Edge 820 has never connected to my Pixel 2 without having to open Connect and then later having to open Connect and turn the Bluetooth off and on.

Then the last but one Android update, it started connecting as soon as you fire the Garmin up and I think it's carrying on with the latest Android update (yesterday).

So I think it's just as much an Android issue as it is Garmin?

To balance the discussion, im a garmin fan. Had the 500, edge 25 and now a 530 aswell as an Instinct. All working well with Apple iPhone, iPad and Mac Mini. I did have an issue about a month ago where i lost direction prompts but Garmin help resolved it and there was another issue with an Apple update where I struggled with bluetooth but Garmin resolved that quickly aswell. It may be worth asking Garmin help for support before making a costly change, they have been really helpful with me in the past

Not got a Roam, but an Elemnt Bolt and i love it.

It's not perfect, but about a 1000x better than the Edge500 i had before.

Stupidly, i decided to give Garmin another go this year and bought a Forerunner 235 for running.
Jeez, what a mistake. For some reason it doesn't like my phone's bluetooth set-up and connection is very dodgy (when it's not causing my phone to reboot).
I must have about 10 bluetooth devices that connect to my phone seamlessly. The ONLY one that messes about is the Garmin...

If it is that bad, I'll give you 30 quid for it...pm if you are about to bin it.

Are you also an apple user stumpy ?

Fwiw I've had a forerunner 305 (go look up the age on that one)

An edge 205

An edge 500 (in blue and one in red also)

An etrex

And 2 forerunner 735xts.

The only one to give any bother is the forerunner 305 on windows 10 -mainly because Garmin stopped supporting it about 10 years ago.....

I had a similar issue with my 530 connecting to my Android phone however I did follow the following video and it's been fine since I followed the instructions. Maybe give this a try.

Have you considered the Lezyne Mega XL? Loads of features includes massive battery life and offline mapping, ~£153 is best price I know of at https://www.probikekit.co.uk/bicycle-computers-gps-hrm/lezyne-mega-xl-gps-cycle-computer/11777347.html

My 810 wouldn’t connect with my iPhone. Unpair then, restart both. Now works

Regular element user here and it's brill. Does kill phone battery but I only connect it when I need it connected, i.e.transferring route or uploading to Strava. In which case phone life is untouched.

I don't miss the lack of map detail compared to my old 810 as A) I'd take reliability over detail and B) oS maps on a small screen are illegible at speed. If you have to slow/stop to make out detail I may as well look at the HD maps on my 6" phone screen.

Also, wouldn't touch a Lezyne Mega XL with a barge pole. The battery life is massively exaggerated and the interface is ghastly. I'd rather have a Garmin.

Had a 1030 and sold it to buy into Wahoo, first a Bolt and now a Roam. It has 95% of the functions but they work 100% of the time.

I was a bit dubious about its off-road navigation ability but it works well enough that I don't miss the Garmin with OS mapping.

The only thing which did bug me was the lack of Varia radar which I found surprisingly useful but wahoo have updated their computers to support it so I'm perfectly satisfied now.

trail_rat

Are you also an apple user stumpy ?

Ooooh, no! Android.

Must say I've never had an issue with Garmin Fenix 3, Instinct and Edge 530. Might have had one crash once.

I'm an android user and rarely bother connecting any of them to my Macbook.

Not bike computer but my Vivo active music wouldn't pair with my Samsung put paired straight away with my iPhone. These things just seem temperamental to what they want to pair with.

I use an Elemnt and, for me anyway, it works well. Good battery life. Easy to use and understand. Automatic synching via your home wireless works fine. They've effectively delegated route planning to third party apps like Komoot. And you're saved from the ghastliness of the Garmin software chaos jungle. I don't have it connected to my phone for any length of time, so can't really comment on that front. I guess if message alerts on the unit are important to you, that might be an issue, but not a big deal for me.

I've never really got on with Garmin's user interface, though as with anything, you can learn it if you have to. It just doesn't seem very intuitive to me.

Well, I followed benjiM's YouTube link and got mine connected to my phone again. So that's a win, thanks

Not sure how long it will last though....

To balance the discussion, im a garmin fan. Had the 500, edge 25 and now a 530 aswell as an Instinct. All working well with Apple iPhone, iPad and Mac Mini. I did have an issue about a month ago where i lost direction prompts but Garmin help resolved it and there was another issue with an Apple update where I struggled with bluetooth but Garmin resolved that quickly aswell. It may be worth asking Garmin help for support before making a costly change, they have been really helpful with me in the past

I'm a happy enough user of an edge 25 and a 2nd hand 510 too, but I have a couple of theories about garmin "support" and user expectations:

1- Never buy the top end models, they probably sell one 1030 for every hundred 530s they shift and even more of the budget units, so they're probably focusing their support/Patching efforts proportionately.

2- If you find yourself with a stable unit do not update the firmware! It's working so that's good enough, whatever garmin promise it's just not worth the gamble...

3- It's actually worth having a cheap garmin as a standby/emergency spare, my edge 25 is super basic and limited on battery, but if my other one packs up I'll use it as a stopgap and the newer edge 130 is probably in the same sort of ballpark...

4- Bluetooth connection/upload issues are par for the course across the whole garmin range and have been for a long time, my belief is that they deliberately make the BT crap to head off the idea of 3rd party sensors, so it's Ant+ (ideally garmins own) or it is going to drop your HRM halfway through a ride. The trade off is shite phone connectivity (its neither an apple or android thing).

But yeah, others have spotted the gaps in the market and are doing several things better than garmin. I can't advise you not to try a wahoo.

For some reason no-one producing bike GPS devices seems to be any good at software.

It’s cos softwares surprisingly hard 🙂

I think the issue with Garmin is they have too many products and instead of being able to focus on a few core products with a shared codebase they’re attempting to support too many devices.

I have a hammerhead Karoo and they’re now knocking out good software releases and I think they’ll end up with a good product and will have a stable android codebase they’ll be able to put on future hardware without user pain.

I do prefer a product Syncing through home WiFi always seems less hassle.

Do those that find the current connect app hard struggle with changing Chanel on the TV also ? It's a similar level of complexity these days.

I agree in days of old it was a chore.

And the pc software was a joke

Since buying an ELEMNT three years ago two of my riding friends have bought them as well. So far ahead of Garmin in ease of use and legibility.

If all you want is to follow a pre-planned course then the normal ELEMNT can do this perfectly. The ROAM adds dynamic routing (although by all accounts it’s a bit useless) and limited colours. DC Rainmaker reckons the ROAM is significantly overpriced.

Only thing I miss from Garmin world is Climb Pro and the advanced pedalling dynamics. Wahoo sold out to Pioneer a couple of years ago and are prevented from supporting other pedals. You still get pedal smoothness and torque effectiveness though.

Or, try and develop even a vague sense of direction, and not rely on #stemstaring 😊

Nobeer I think it's an english thing

One slight wrong turn and it's not only inconvienant....it's illigal.

#crapaccesslaws

Ooft. Poor buggers.

Garmin -> Wahoo convert here. The Wahoo (bolt) has had the same number of issues in 2 years that I would have had in the typical month with my Garmin.

Threads like this make me realise I should put a lottery ticket. On.

I come up trump's with French car and Garmin's.

Which if you believed everything you read on here I should be standing by the m9 with a car that's on fire cursing at my Garmin for saying I'm on the M25

One slight wrong turn and it’s not only inconvienant….it’s illigal.

😆

Wahoo Bolt user here and if I needed to replace it, it would most likely be with the Wahoo roam.

It adds stuff like turn by turn for strava routes and re-routing to get back to the route, which are the only things I really miss.

I've had 1 crash in the 291 rides and 1500+ miles I've done with it.

Lol @ TR! 😂

I’ve had 1 crash in the 291 rides and 1500+ miles I’ve done with it.

I have no idea how that's relevant! Or are you telling us you need turn by turn directions for riding 6 miles? 😂

Yes I have one and thinks it's superb - syncs fine with my android phone - and s/w is easy to use - decent battery life and screen easy to read in daylight (as compared to using my phone)

I do prefer a product Syncing through home WiFi always seems less hassle.

I have a Bryton sat in a drawer upstairs with that very feature, the only real problems with it being:

1- Bryton actually outdo garmin on shite software.

2- WiFi syncing locks up and crashes the device every other attempt...

Software issues will be down to something else installed on your phone, I'd imagine.

Must be, as there's folk like me have never had an issue via android, ditto others on IOS.

Software issues will be down to something else installed on your phone, I’d imagine.

If only. Every firmware update from Garmin was always a question of “how many known outstanding problems will it fix, vs how many new issues will it create?”

As mentioned above - the hardware is great. And clearly Garmin _can_ create great software for their devices - hence their usage in nautical/aeronautical fields. But for the consumer units they really do seem to have a bunch of software problems, although they are getting better.

For those people who the Garmin ecosystem is working for, I’d say stick with it. But if like the majority of my friends either the firmware, the phone app, (and) or the computer app causing problems, it is worth checking out Wahoo. While not perfect, the connectivity seems to be slicker and more robust that Garmin.

Lezyne Mega XL has extra 10% code today at PBK, making it ~£138, might think about this one for rest of the day for myself to replace my Enhanced Super GPS bought in summer 2016! 😮

I have no idea how that’s relevant! Or are you telling us you need turn by turn directions for riding 6 miles? 😂

I haven't crashed that many times, the wahoo bolt has crashed/frozen up once in the 1500 miles I've done with it 😉😁

Basically, it just works!

But then so does my 735xt

Sample size of 1 is crap.

Fwiw I watched a large portion of the riding group move to wahoo as it was much better.

Nearly all are back on a Garmin of sorts.

But I wholeheartedly agree with never buy a new model or a top of the range one*...you will have issues.....

* I realise that's against the over analysers must have the best most features brigade on here.....

My Edge Explore connects reliably to my phone and the android app has been fine. Maybe I've been lucky...

Thanks for all the info. Wahoo roam ordered. Garmin is going on eBay!

Just goes to show experiences can be quite contrasting - I very quickly warranty returned two Lezyne units (one wouldn't even turn on out of the box) so would never recommend them, hopeless. In contrast I have had 3 successful years with a Edge 520 and 235. Once I had a mid ride restart and very occasionally need to re-pair the Edge, but in general I have found it just works. Unfortunately this doesn't answer your question because I've never tried a wahoo!

My Garmin 1000 hasn't been perfect but really not bad and always pairs to the cadence, speed, power meters and the radar rear light perfectly. Normally it updates over WiFi with no problems. My Edge 25 and Vivoactive often need a phone reboot but my version of Android doesn't like the power drain of an app always looking for devices so I think this causes some issues.
Overall I think Garmin is slightly better than the Lezyne my daughter uses and the same as the Elemnt Mini my wife has. Can't comment on the other Wahoo devices as I haven't used them...

Must be, as there’s folk like me have never had an issue via android, ditto others on IOS.

For balance, I've been a long term Garmin User for years.. and the software is crap. The Edge works, but creating routes is so convoluted that it's easier to use MapMyRide to create the route then load that to the device then just use the record activity then sync it to Connect...

Mates have just bought the Quatix5 watch, being new to Connect they're asking the same questions we've been asking of Garmin since 2010..

I did tell them, but they didn't listen.

I agree that the devices are pretty good, it's essentially the same software running in the different model types, and the packaging does make the purchaser feel all Shiny = Good... But the syncing will be the main bugbear and thats a shame.

I just think Garmin want to sell Shiny stuff and ignore the backend, because infrastructure is costly. Making Shiny is relatively cheap.

Never used connect to plot a route in anger as it's not got proper mapping and the mapping it does have doesn't seem to correlate with reveal maps.

Bike hikes still my route plotter of choice thanks to its os map capability. - gpx export to computer and then import to connect. It then syncs with my device easily. That has been the case wether edge 500 , 735xt or etrex

When I tried connect and sent to the etrex the route didn't align with the os map on screen so was not inspired with confidence in the slightest