What new Bike Computer?

Not sure if i saw a recent thread about this but if so point me in the right direction plz.

My old Garmin Edge 500 shit the bed the other day and i'm looking for a new bike computer. I know a lot of people use phone apps these days but i kinda like having real time stats in front of me while riding (mostly mt biking). Used to be concerned w mainly distance, elev gain and speed. Wondering if some of the newer touch displays w downloadable maps (ie trailforks) would come in handy so i don't have to dig for my phone every intersection at a new location.
price and size factors in so maybe not worth it for the higher tech stuff. what say ya'll?

the one with the fun button

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Peruvian

Attachment 373262

---

After some research I arrived at Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for the same reasons you describe, but have not had a chance to use it yet.

I love my ELEMNT Bolt, so easy, so intuitive. Garmin is finicky hot garbage.

I was probably the post you thought of in the other thread. I had the Garmin 500 as well and recently bought the Garmin 530. I looked at the Elmnts, but went with the 530 due to price and recent review from Rainmaker. It apparently does all the same functions as the Elmnt, but cheaper.

So far, the Garmin interface on phone and computer is much better then expected. I agree with the post above that Garmin used to be a hot mess. That seems to be much better. $300 at REI with the dividend back, so a good deal.

ELEMNT Bolt is $229, not sure you need to spend more than that on a head unit
YMMV

I bailed on Garmin few years ago for Wahoo, and am enjoying the Wahoo ROAM. I had an Elemnt at first but had a screen failure outside of warranty. I chalked it up to shitty luck, Roam has been rock solid thus far. Only complaint I have and its a minor one is that the front face buttons can be a bit hard to engage while riding.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by buttahflake

I love my ELEMNT Bolt, so easy, so intuitive. Garmin is finicky hot garbage.

---

This but Wahoo Elemnt Roam. I previously had a Garmin 530 which I unloaded on an unwitting buddy. The Garmin interface is like programming a Casio watch in 1995, and the LiveTrack is super unreliable (my wife really likes to check on my progress during night rides).

The Wahoo isn't perfect, but I like the ability to set up the screen from my phone rather than using clicky buttons on it. It's also a bit bigger than the 530, but whatever. I already used a K-Edge stem spacer mount, so changing over just required a $10 part. Biggest knock is that it doesn't come with a lanyard (you have to buy that direct from Wahoo for $10). It also doesn't let you automatically send out the LiveTrack link by text, just by email (although it gives you an option to share the link manually on your phone through whichever messaging app you'd like).

I have a Garmin 830 that I chose mainly because it has Trailforks on it.

As a bike computer (speed, distance, cadence, power, turn here now, etc), I think it works great. The battery lasts a long time. The screen is easy to read. The UI is fine. It has frozen on me mid-ride a couple times and needed to be rebooted, but it came back ok after reboot.

Trailforks on it, however, is not very good. The screen is really too small to navigate very well with. You're either zoomed out far enough to tell where you are and the screen is a spaghetti mess of trails, or you're zoomed in and all you see is a line showing the trail you're on. Not very useful. I still end up pulling my phone out to look at maps all the time.

If you pre-program your route it does fine with turn-by-turn navigation (including using trailforks), but I never do that on my mountain bike.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andeh

the LiveTrack is super unreliable .

---

I used to have this problem too. It's gotten MUCH better after one of last fall's firmware updates. I'd say it works 100% of the time on my 830 now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by elesquiador

I used to have this problem too. It's gotten MUCH better after one of last fall's firmware updates. I'd say it works 100% of the time on my 830 now.

---

As of a week ago, it seemed to work about 30% of the time for me, with all the latest updates. It would start and send the link, but my wife would tell me when I got home that it showed me going for about a block then lose track. I suspect it's related to the shitty BT pairing between the head unit and the phone, coupled with my phone transitioning from wifi to cell service. Half the time when I would start up the Garmin, the BT to my phone wouldn't connect and I would have to toggle BT on and off on my phone to get them to pair again.

Garmin Edge 530 has been great for me. Use Trailforks for the MTB and RideWithGPS for road/gravel rides and the apps are great. Can sync rides to it without plugging in to the computer, which is really convenient.

Lezyne head units have been great for us. The battery life is fantastic (like 30 hours) and they have barometric altimeters so the elev gain is accurate. The downloadable maps are pretty decent, and show most of the trails in popular areas. No topo lines, though.

The best part is the price--way less than others.

I personally don't like touch screens for bike computers or watches, since I'm wearing gloves most of the time and they are spotty at best with them. Real buttons are reliable.

Iphone SE with Quad Lock mount, unless you don't care about navigation at all. Honestly being able to quickly look down at my bars, see what way to go and just flow with the trail has been a gamechanger. Much more willing to try out new trail systems, so nice not taking my phone out every 2 seconds (northeast, ton of trail splits)

I'm Team Garmin with a 510 that is still kicking, and also new 830. I also wear a Vivoactive 4 on my wrist.
I really like the Garmin Connect interface. My devices like heart rate and power meter always connect, as as well as my Strava and Zwift link to it instantly.

Bumping this up as my research has pushed me toward either the new Wahoo Elemnt Bolt (v2) or the Garmin 530. I have a single feature question for those who have the 530/830 regarding HR or power zones. On my Coros watch (which I'm using today), I can create a field that shows me with a little scale (see attached) what zone I'm in while doing an effort.

The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt uses the built in LEDs to do the same (different colors show you what zone you are in to my understanding).

Does the 530/830 have any way to show what zone you are currently riding in other than just displaying your power or HR values?

Thanks in advance,

Seth

Attachment 377324

Sent you a PM about the Wahoo. I got a Roam to replace a 530 for MTB tracking, but the Bolt v2 wasn't out when I got it. I'd like to have the smaller unit since I'm not doing road/gravel riding and don't need the larger screen for mapping etc. I'd be interesting in trading down if you end up decide to go with a Wahoo unit.

For the Garmins, you can install apps (from Garmin or 3rd parties) to customize the display and add features. There seem to be lots of different power and/or HR zone apps in Garmin's "Connect IQ" app store, but I have never used any of them.

Liking my Wahoo Elmnt Roam so far. Easy to use with Komoot, Ride w GPS, Strava, there are numerous other apps it works with, auto upload after a ride almost flawless but sometimes do have to manual upload if my wifi is bad, which it often is. Also works flawlessly with my Garmin Vario, always alerts me when cars approaching from behind (sometimes get spooked on those long gravel rides when a truck creeps up from behind). I turned off rerouting, like it better that way. Also use their Kickr HRM, one configuration and done, easy peasy. Love that I don't have to hook my computer up to another computer to download, never liked the jumbly mess of Garmin stats or their UI.

I did find a flaw in their live tracking link. I have mine set to send an email link as soon as a start a new ride. Well as of late, the amount of vert listed is double for each of my rides. But the computer itself, and all data uploaded to apps is correct; it's just the live tracker ascending vert stats that are incorrect. I suppose I could let Wahoo know but they are really good about updates, maybe they'll fix this one soon.

Broke the plastic/composite forward mount a few weeks in, stupid crash on some dusty ass singletrack coming around a corner. But the computer itself was fine. Have been using the basic center mount now that comes with it and I actually like it. Having looked at K-Edge and wondered- if I had been using that mount, my computer might have taken the hit versus the mount (as the KEdge looks to be really stout). Is there a breakaway design with the K-Edge?

Yeah, the K-edge mounts use a breakaway disc that's replaceable for like $10. I've broken them with a Garmin before and it worked as intended (disc broke, not the tabs on the computer).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by buttahflake

I love my ELEMNT Bolt, so easy, so intuitive. Garmin is finicky hot garbage.

---

The elevation gain on my Garmin 530 sucks! It's way off every freakin time. My old 810 had no issues.

Does the elevation gain on the Wahoo work better?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

The elevation gain on my Garmin 530 sucks! It's way off every freakin time. My old 810 had no issues.

Does the elevation gain on the Wahoo work better?

---

i ended up w a Bolt mostly cause a co-worker was selling his slightly used one. i've run Strava w it a few times for comparison and they both seem close w maybe strava coming in 5% or so more elev gain than my bolt. haven't really compared to trailforks.

Bumping this one. Anyone have a bike computer that has fairly accurate elevation gain almost every time? Ready to swap out my POS Garmin. It's never even close.

Like my Bolt v2 for the most part. Elevations seems fine? But I'm not really sure what to compare it to as I've seen plenty of trailforks trails based of GPS tracks that seem to have totally wrong elevation. Really like that it charges with USB-C as I'm trying to eliminate other cables from my life.

Only thing I don't like is the lack of Trailforks integration. You can easily upload a route to to the Bolt (can do it all on your phone), but it has no way to just show you all the trails. If you are visiting somewhere with a spaghetti trail map, it is not going to help you much.

So if you are visiting an unknown area, you can download a "popular loop" type route and follow that, but there's no way to get any beta from the computer at intersections. If you want to know what that trail to the left is, you gotta pull out your phone.

It also can struggle somewhat when you end up off route (which given some trailforks GPS data is not the best can actually still mean you are 100% still on the trail). It will try to route you back, but it only knows how to do that with trails that show up in its own map data which are mostly just fire roads, well established forest service trails, etc.

On the road it is great. Maps and routing work well. It can do stuff like Strava live segments if you are into that (I assume it works fine, but I don't have a Strava subscription so I have never tried).

In an ideal word, you'd be able to download a full trail network from Trailforks and at a fork you could look down and see that the left fork is a green trail while the right fork is blue...and see the names if you are zoomed in far enough like you can with roads and "established" trails.

Oh, and there are pros and cons to it, but it might be nice if the Bolt supported tracking different bikes separately.

I hear garmin users complain about profiles, but as my stable has grown, I've been thinking about using something like ProBikeGarage via Strava to log mileage/hours on my bikes for maintenance...but it is annoying to go back into Strava and tag which bike I rode on every ride.

A menu on startup would be fine, but it would be super cool if the Bolt could figure it out based on which sensors it is picking up. Throw a cadence sensor on my road bike, a wheel-speed sensor on my FS, and no sensors on my hardtail and let the computer decide which bike I am riding.

If you look around Fort Rock and most likely the trail Demoralizer, you'll find my Bolt. It's only been out there since Tuesday.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by singlesline

Like my Bolt v2 for the most part. Elevations seems fine? But I'm not really sure what to compare it to as I've seen plenty of trailforks trails based of GPS tracks that seem to have totally wrong elevation. Really like that it charges with USB-C as I'm trying to eliminate other cables from my life.

Only thing I don't like is the lack of Trailforks integration. You can easily upload a route to to the Bolt (can do it all on your phone), but it has no way to just show you all the trails. If you are visiting somewhere with a spaghetti trail map, it is not going to help you much.

So if you are visiting an unknown area, you can download a "popular loop" type route and follow that, but there's no way to get any beta from the computer at intersections. If you want to know what that trail to the left is, you gotta pull out your phone.

It also can struggle somewhat when you end up off route (which given some trailforks GPS data is not the best can actually still mean you are 100% still on the trail). It will try to route you back, but it only knows how to do that with trails that show up in its own map data which are mostly just fire roads, well established forest service trails, etc.

On the road it is great. Maps and routing work well. It can do stuff like Strava live segments if you are into that (I assume it works fine, but I don't have a Strava subscription so I have never tried).

In an ideal word, you'd be able to download a full trail network from Trailforks and at a fork you could look down and see that the left fork is a green trail while the right fork is blue...and see the names if you are zoomed in far enough like you can with roads and "established" trails.

---

Elevation profiles in Trailforks can be way off, mostly on trails that have a lot of incidental climb/descending. Where they are all up and then all down they are usually pretty accurate. Not sure why gain/loss can be so far off on other trails. I've used Trailforks to record rides along side my Garmin (Oregon 600) and the elevation numbers weren't too different. The Oregon consistently over-records distance by a mile or two on long rides. (When I upload the ride to mapping programs mileage always comes up less.)

I got an Edge 830 earlier this year. It's been pretty consistent with the Oregon except more accurate mileage. The Edge has been pretty good so far, though I'm still learning how to use it. It's not as intuitive for setup and navigation as the Oregon. It has the Trailforks integration though which is pretty nice. You can select routes on TF or use ones from Ride With GPS but I find it's pretty klunky to set up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by evdog

Elevation profiles in Trailforks can be way off, mostly on trails that have a lot of incidental climb/descending. Where they are all up and then all down they are usually pretty accurate. Not sure why gain/loss can be so far off on other trails. I've used Trailforks to record rides along side my Garmin (Oregon 600) and the elevation numbers weren't too different. The Oregon consistently over-records distance by a mile or two on long rides. (When I upload the ride to mapping programs mileage always comes up less.)

---

The trailforks app itself is just going to record ridelogs with whatever level of accuracy your phone can deliver.

But the trails that actually show up on Trailforks weren't necessarily created that way. You can add them by uploading a GPX file from another device/app, you can import them from Strava, or you can even hand draw them on a map. Some of these can result in REALLY bad elevation info since they basically just infer elevation from pretty rough topo data.

I'm sure you've also noticed that every app has its own way of accounting for elevation (and other factors like start/stop, speed, etc.). If my Bolt sends its GPS data to Strava and then Trailforks syncs that same data from Strava, all 3 sources often show slightly different climb/descend, max speed, and moving time even though all 3 are looking at the same GPS data.

Here's some info from trailforks on what they currently do: https://www.trailforks.com/help/view/90/

Lezyne computers (and others) have barometric altimeters, which are way more accurate than GPS for elevation. I don't think any phones have those. But on trails that go quickly up and down, nothing will be accurate. Think Gooseberry--constant small changes that barely register on the GPS but definitely do in the legs.

Some basemaps have trails (Lezyne shows most of them), but Garmin can actually link to Trailforks and show that data too, which is very cool. It even works on the watches.

My Lezyne head unit opens with a bike selection. Each bike has its own profile and screen configuration. Do other computers not have that? Seems pretty simple.

I end up using my phone a ton when in unfamiliar areas. Even with great maps on the head unit, the screen is just too small to navigate with.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jackstraw

If you look around Fort Rock and most likely the trail Demoralizer, you'll find my Bolt. It's only been out there since Tuesday.

---

She came back to me once again. Slightly brokenhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8680180aa0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...fa26e92338.jpg

I'm still getting by with my iPhone and earbud for turn by turn directions via RWGPS, but the Wahoo Element Roam is now on sale for $199 which is making my decision a little more difficult.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jackstraw

If you look around Fort Rock and most likely the trail Demoralizer, you'll find my Bolt. It's only been out there since Tuesday.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jackstraw

She came back to me once again. Slightly broken

---

I have my Garmin programed with a custom startup screen that reads:
"Belongs to Dee Hubbs, if found: deehubbs@email.com or 970-111-1111"

I also use the tether around my bars at all times now. The only instance I've ever lost it in a big crash, I just disconnected my bluetoothed Garmin app on iPhone, and reconnected my iPhone repeatedly, making the Garmin repetitively beep until I found it deep in the bushes.

I gave that thing away. I'm too reckless on a mtn bike. My knee pads would hit that thing when I'm flailing over some tech feature far too often. Bought a watch and haven't lost that yet [emoji16]

2 things to add.

On strava a change in elevation is not counted unless it's >10m (33') elevation change. So the mesa-miles thing is totally under-reported.

on Trailforks, when it calculates your total it adds up the totals of the trails you rode. If you ride part of a trail, you get credit for the whole thing (or none of it), not partial credit. So the #s get way skewed. FWIW.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by climberevan

Lezyne computers (and others) have barometric altimeters, which are way more accurate than GPS for elevation. I don't think any phones have those.

---

Just did a quick search and found this link for phones with Barometers. Not sure how accurate this is, but worth looking at as a starting point if it has any value in a purchase decision.

My V1 Elmnt Roam only lasted a little more than 2 years. Turns out, you are not supposed to use apple cube chargers on it, like at all. Wish they would have printed that somewhere obvious on the startup leaflet in the original packaging. Using the apple charger kills the battery life. Right after the warranty expired, I started getting random crashes during rides, first one during a century ride. Eventually, the head unit would not stay on at all after charging, even if it said it had a full charge. As soon as I would unplug it, it would turn off. The apple chargers don't have a high enough voltage for the Roam. Doing a complete reset did nothing.

So I was on the fence about Karoo or Garmin but still didn't like reviews I was reading...found a good deal on a V2 Roam and against my better judgement, pulled the trigger anyway to give it another try because I prefer their UI.

Better, convex buttons makes it easier to change pages on a ride. The finish on it has a bit more shine which I don't like, I preferred the matte on V1. The vibrant colors are nice but aren't a game-changer for me. It's USB-C now but the cord seems a little janky when plugged in. You still can't charge it while riding with the out-front mount provided, there's no room to plug in the charger. Ordered a right-angle adapter with proper voltage, and made sure to get a charger with proper voltage for home (needs to be minimum 2VA according to Wahoo's fine-print).

The main changes are the buttons, dual-band GPS, slightly better mapping (but still not very detailed), additional colors with a bit more clarity of the pixels, added memory, and live functions that I don't/won't use on hill-climbs. I turned those off right away for the sake of battery preservation. I also deleted all the world maps as I feel like the lack of space on V1 was another reason it started crashing on long rides. My hope is this one will last at least 2 years and then maybe by that time things will have improved even more. But no way would I be paying full-price for the recent upgrades. I feel like Wahoo is just hanging on at this point for the premium pricing they have in place. The one thing they didn't change was the battery, and I knew this going in. My hope is the proper voltage charger that will help keep the battery ticking a little longer than V1.

In retrospect, the newest Bolt does everything the new V2 Roam does, just smaller and a better value, IMO. I probably should have just bought the bolt.

To add- Wahoo's claim of 17 hour charge on V2 Roam is hype at best if you want to use any of the functions. I keep all notifications off, no backlight, minimal sounds, etc and on a normal 2 hour ride on a full charge, it shows around 80% after. I don't think real-world usage will net the battery life they claim, as with most things tech. I realize the LED's take up a lot of that usage, but I have already grown accustomed to using those from my Varia. This is why I will still need to charge it while riding on those longer days.

I've also got a v2 Roam, and would agree with all you're saying. Although I haven't had issues with charging on it. I do really like the small form factor of the Roam, and like their interface better than the Garmin I had before. For my use case its fine. Roam with a K-Edge stem spacer mount puts it in a perfect spot for me where it's visible when I want to see it, but also (mostly) protected in crashes. The overpriced lanyard works great.

My V1 Bolt experienced serious battery degradation in two years, it's down to maybe three hours of battery life. I complained to Wahoo about it and they offered me 20% off on a new one which I took them up on, a little begrudgingly. No mention of the charging thing, I wish I would have known that about it, but I do like my new V2 Bolt. Only charged it once or twice so far but I'll make sure I do it on a proper charger going forward. I wish they had Trailforks integration but it's a nice little unit.

I also use the overpriced tether and it's saved it once so far in Sedona. I use the out front mount on my road bike and a ripoff K-Edge top cap mount on the MTB, keeps it mostly out of trouble. No way the out front mount would survive on my MTB. That said, I wouldn't mind the top cap mount on the road bike if I thought I might have to plug it in.

I use a Garmin 530 and the out front mount for the road bike, and the MTB uses the rubber band mounts that came with it. I should get a stem top cap mount for the MTB .
I like the Garmin, I took some time to make sure I had the screens setup in the order I want etc... And it works quite well I think. I haven't tried wahoo.
Attachment 464891

I like the offset (k-edge style?) stem mounts way better than the direct stem cap mounts.

I have this one: https://www.amazon.com/Cestbon-Mount...g%2C142&sr=1-8
It has a decent amount of rise before the pivot point which helps it clear the clamps on short MTB stems, but there are also versions out there with less rise.

The pure stem cap designs leave the computer sticking out towards you which is both a more awkward location to use the buttons while riding, and makes it more likely for you to bump it while mouting/dismounting/crashing.

Also with this design you still get to keep your stem cap if you care about that/use a tool like the EDC, etc. If you don't have room for a spacer, they make a version that is just a cap.