Garmin 520 vs Wahoo Elemnt Bolt
- Thread starter Robbo_123
- Start date
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Lee_M
Guru
went from a garmin 800 to a bolt and love it.
Piss easy to use, set up and linked from my phone
Easy to see the greyscale screen in bright sunlight
auto syncs routes from ridewithgps and strava
auto uploads rides back to both
live segments (which I hate as they make me work)
linked to my di2 gears and also shows di battery level - the most useful thing in the world!
has a climbing page so shows how much further until you get to the top of the hill - second most useful thing in the world
regular firmware updates and system enhancements
cheap
Piss easy to use, set up and linked from my phone
Easy to see the greyscale screen in bright sunlight
auto syncs routes from ridewithgps and strava
auto uploads rides back to both
live segments (which I hate as they make me work)
linked to my di2 gears and also shows di battery level - the most useful thing in the world!
has a climbing page so shows how much further until you get to the top of the hill - second most useful thing in the world
regular firmware updates and system enhancements
cheap
Does it do this, for all hills, without having to upload a route or star a live segment?
If so, that's superb.
Find that very useful on my Garmin 520, but have to do one of the above to see how much of the hill is left and the percentages.
delb0y
Legendary Member
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos
I'm starting to get tempted, reading this thread. I'm another Garmin Touring user who endures many, if not all, of the bugs already mentioned in this thread.
Heltor Chasca
Out-riding the Black Dog
Excuse me copying and pasting from various places I have mentioned my new Wahoo Elemnt, but it made more sense to post the lot for clarification, albeit a bit of a messy review.
Just got back from a 4 day tour. 50% off road. I ended my friendship with Garmin and jumped into bed with Wahoo. UTTERLY faultless. None of this nonsense that Garmin chucks your way. It blew my Garmin Edge Touring out of the water.
HUGE heads up for anyone touring, riding Audax. The fitness add ons are their thing too, but I don't use these bits.
I went for the Wahoo Elemnt with the bigger screen after 'Bank of Ebay' provided the funding.
The mapping is staggeringly clear, global and has Turn By Turn abilities if you get your TCX or GPX file through Ride With GPS. I uploaded my routes from cycle.travel. It took seconds unlike my previous device.
It also instantly puts your ride onto Strava or Relive which I was emailing to my kids so they could see a graphic, map animation of each day's ride.
With a Wahoo you need a smart phone. The beauty is that your phone is the 'mothership' where you set things up and store stuff. I assume that is why the device is so quick and why it has global mapping. You do this all though Bluetooth. You use the phone to set up your hundreds of configurations and to upload maps. And then again when you download or share your ride. I have set mine up with 3 pages: Mapping with 4 info windows; Statistics with 11 info windows and Climbing with 5 info windows. You can zoom in or out whilst riding to see less in large font or more in smaller font.
You can switch your phone off while you are riding unless you want your gps to tell you when you have a call, message or email. I don't need this function, but I guess club riders who have been separated may. Or so loved ones can tell you to come home.
On my little tour a few days back I just used google maps for campsite/food/poi stuff etc.
Over 4 full days and 195 miles I topped up my Wahoo twice (25% and 75% approx) and my iPhone once (80%)
The device charges while in use unlike Garmin which shuts down without much notice. Garmin also shuts down when charging off a Dynamo hub when going slow up hills or traffic. I am yet to try running my Wahoo whilst charging off a Dynamo hub. Wahoo assure me it does not shut down when going slow, it just stops charging until you pick up speed again.
I love it. I am officially a Wahooligan.
Apparently.
Just got back from a 4 day tour. 50% off road. I ended my friendship with Garmin and jumped into bed with Wahoo. UTTERLY faultless. None of this nonsense that Garmin chucks your way. It blew my Garmin Edge Touring out of the water.
HUGE heads up for anyone touring, riding Audax. The fitness add ons are their thing too, but I don't use these bits.
I went for the Wahoo Elemnt with the bigger screen after 'Bank of Ebay' provided the funding.
The mapping is staggeringly clear, global and has Turn By Turn abilities if you get your TCX or GPX file through Ride With GPS. I uploaded my routes from cycle.travel. It took seconds unlike my previous device.
It also instantly puts your ride onto Strava or Relive which I was emailing to my kids so they could see a graphic, map animation of each day's ride.
With a Wahoo you need a smart phone. The beauty is that your phone is the 'mothership' where you set things up and store stuff. I assume that is why the device is so quick and why it has global mapping. You do this all though Bluetooth. You use the phone to set up your hundreds of configurations and to upload maps. And then again when you download or share your ride. I have set mine up with 3 pages: Mapping with 4 info windows; Statistics with 11 info windows and Climbing with 5 info windows. You can zoom in or out whilst riding to see less in large font or more in smaller font.
You can switch your phone off while you are riding unless you want your gps to tell you when you have a call, message or email. I don't need this function, but I guess club riders who have been separated may. Or so loved ones can tell you to come home.
On my little tour a few days back I just used google maps for campsite/food/poi stuff etc.
Over 4 full days and 195 miles I topped up my Wahoo twice (25% and 75% approx) and my iPhone once (80%)
The device charges while in use unlike Garmin which shuts down without much notice. Garmin also shuts down when charging off a Dynamo hub when going slow up hills or traffic. I am yet to try running my Wahoo whilst charging off a Dynamo hub. Wahoo assure me it does not shut down when going slow, it just stops charging until you pick up speed again.
I love it. I am officially a Wahooligan.
Apparently.
400bhp
Guru
Check the brightness. From experience this drains battery life. I usually now have it at 0%. Annoyingly, it can sometimes go back to 100% when you accidentaly don't hold down the off button for long enough.
New cheaper element mini released much cheaper than the bolt but needs a smart phone for the GPS as no gps in head unit .not sure about battery life on phone
I'm a bolt user can't fault it .just had two weeks in Cornwall pre loaded routes from ridewithgps worked faultlessly . I'm not at all tech and find the bolt easy to use
I'm a bolt user can't fault it .just had two weeks in Cornwall pre loaded routes from ridewithgps worked faultlessly . I'm not at all tech and find the bolt easy to use
Heltor Chasca
Out-riding the Black Dog
12 months on Mini apparently. Good back up for Audax perhaps?
I meant the battery life on the phone being used for GPS and presumably having the app open during the ride .
Heltor Chasca
Out-riding the Black Dog
Beg your pardon. My bad. Probably individual to each phone. My iPhone 5s doesn't last that long which is why I've always gone for a gps for touring and Audax.
Yes mine too I think that could be a weakness of the mini
