Cycling Computer Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT reveiw - Min's Bike story
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Wahoofitness Ratings : Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt
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The most helpful reviews I ever read on cycling computer, Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt - Top 10
1. mrfox : 5 out of 5 stars
I've used the original ELMENT for a few months and have been happy with it, but annoyed with its size and heft. The Bolt has all the same great features, and my bike no longer looks like I have a small laptop strapped to it!
There are some differences to the original to be aware of.
LEDs: This is where wahoo has taken a step back. On the original ELMNT, there are 2 rows of LEDs seamlessly integrated into the case, invisible when off. That looks clean and is perfectly readable even in direct, bright sunlight. The Bolt has a single row only, and they aren't neatly hidden when off. In direct sunlight, I can't tell which ones are on.
DESIGN: I prefer the original's matte black to the Bolt's glossy dark grey. Overall, the Bolt's design (including the aero mount) is very clean and unobtrusive, unlike the original. The weight is 62g vs. the original's 104g (both measured).
DISPLAY: Not quite as clear as the original in direct sunlight (depending on angle of the light, the dark pixels have more of a shadow around them), but still good in all conditions. Some navigation messages that are split across 3 lines are too small to read, though.
Overall, I'm very happy with it. This is a full-featured, well designed computer in a light, good-looking package. Usage, maps, and navigation are - like in the original ELMNT - very well done, and setup couldn't be any easier.
Wahoo just gave Garmin a run for their money.
2. cody : 2 out of 5 stars
I have had my Bolt almost 2 months coming from the Garmin line. The Good: Set up is amazing with the app. The screen is great, the zoom feature is nice once you get used to it Buttons are better placed The Bad: Features don't work, most of my 2 months have been spent with support. Live track has not worked once, the best it has done is sent the ride when i finished...doesn't give the wife any confidence in my safety there. The design is not great, before every ride you must open the app, if you forget to then your phone is not paired and you will not get any auto upload, notifications, or live track. You cannot connect to bluetooth in the normal fashion with garmin, fitbit, or any other device. Crazy! Text and call notifications have been spotty. Had a ticket with support for this too. I have a ride that could not be uploaded from the bolt to their server so it is stuck (2 weeks with support on this issue). That comes to support. They really are not good, not listening to the issue, recommending things i just tried, bad directions, not good reply time, and just not giving me any confidence in the computer or company.
3. mrusshall : 5 out of 5 stars
Superior in every regard to Garmin 520: 1) screen easier to read and more usefully customizable, 2) smoother uploading to Strava, 3) reliably pairs with Stages PM in all locations and records data with no drops, 4) great phone-based interface for customizing pages and data fields. Areas for future improvement: 1) as many reviewers note, the 4th data field appears on a line alone and, thus, seems easier to read. ironically, this actually means you want your second most important metric in this location -- but only if you display four fields. 2) the LEDs are cool, but not visible in bright light outdoors. therefore, you cannot rely on them for critical info during many rides. when you can see them, they are useful.
4. rsteven518 : 1 out of 5 starts
I just received my second replacement Bolt. The first unit lasted 20 miles into the first ride and when I hit the "pause ride" button the unit's screen went blank ... back light was on and although still powered up no amount of "holding power button in while connected to power" would restore the scree. After sending this one back I received a replacement and this one lasted 3 rides before doing the same thing. Clearly there is some defect that needs to be addressed. Wahoo will "apologize fo the inconvenience" and send a new unit but only after they get the dead one back. So, 2 weeks without a bike computer in summer. I had high hopes for this but 2 dead units from the manufacturer is not good. I'm not sure what to do now ... very unhappy customer.
5. cody : 2 out of 5 stars
I have had my Bolt almost 2 months coming from the Garmin line. The Good: Set up is amazing with the app. The screen is great, the zoom feature is nice once you get used to it Buttons are better placed The Bad: Features don't work, most of my 2 months have been spent with support. Live track has not worked once, the best it has done is sent the ride when i finished...doesn't give the wife any confidence in my safety there. The design is not great, before every ride you must open the app, if you forget to then your phone is not paired and you will not get any auto upload, notifications, or live track. You cannot connect to bluetooth in the normal fashion with garmin, fitbit, or any other device. Crazy! Text and call notifications have been spotty. Had a ticket with support for this too. I have a ride that could not be uploaded from the bolt to their server so it is stuck (2 weeks with support on this issue). That comes to support. They really are not good, not listening to the issue, recommending things i just tried, bad directions, not good reply time, and just not giving me any confidence in the computer or company.
6. MarkShropshire : 5 out of 5 stars
"Spent hours watching reviews of this vs the Garmin 520 and 820, ended up playing with both that members of my club have. Went for this as I could use it with gloves on. The Garmin's touch screen didn't like my gloved finger like the Wahoo did.
Generally though the setup is simple through the companion app. Navigation is better if you plan routes with RideWithGPS as you get cue cards. Routes planned with Wahoo or Strava give you breadcrumb style navigation."
7. RealGarminUser : 3 out of 5 stars
"Bought this to replace a damaged 2-yr old Garmin Edge 520 based on the generally excellent reviews. Overall I found it somewhat disappointing and the more I use it the more frustrating it becomes. Lots of minor niggles but brings home how good Garmin devices are in terms of flexibility and user interface.
As many have said it is very easy to setup and pair sensors etc, easier than the Garmin, and it did not take long to get up and running on the bike. Battery life is indeed excellent (noticeably better than the Edge 520 - one particular weakness of the Garmin) and the customisable LEDs are nice (although after a few rides I grew tired of them and ended up turning them off)...
After a few rides the limitations of the Bolt user interface start to become apparent - at least in comparison to the Garmin 520 - and became enough of an irritation that I've decided to sell the Bolt and return to a (new) Edge 520 for the meantime.
I'd summarise the limitations of the Bolt (compared to the Garmin) as follows:
> Backlight is either ON or OFF, with no brightness level adjustment. If you ride a lot in the hours of darkness this becomes a real distraction (on the Garmin 520 you can set backlight to always-on but set to a very low level eg 10%, perfect for riding in the dark). If you commute morning and evening in the hours of darkness you will appreciate how useful this is. This is made worse by the fact that there is no option for day/night display mode (white text on dark background) which the Garmin offers..
> Although the Bolt allows for customisation of the data fields via the phone app, this is a bit clunky and the app itself does not actually show how the layout will look on the Bolt - it's a bit hit and miss trying to work out which fields will appear where and what the font size will be. On the Garmin you can configure multiple pages with custom fields and ensure that if you have duplicated fields then they remain in the same place on each page - makes for much easier reading of each screen at a quick glance because you soon become accustomed to where the same fields are located. On the Bolt there are only a small number of customisable screens and it's impossible to have a combination of fields on different pages where some are the same and others are different with the same font sizes on each screen.
> The font sizes on the Bolt are strangely small given the screen size allocated to each data field - data fields are wide and shallow, and rather than display the data on the left of the field and the units on the right, the Bolt displays the units above in a tiny font and the data below in a slightly larger font. The net result is lots of blank screen and small fonts making the device almost impossible to read at a glance especially when riding at speed. The only solution is to zoom in to display less fields but then you lose sight of other data and still end up taking your eyes off the road for longer than neccessary
> Scrolling between the limited number of pages is via a single button (unlike the Garmin where the UP / DOWN buttons scroll up/down around the pages in order. On the Bolt you have to go around the loop every time to find the page you want and hope you don't miss the page you're after and have to go around again.. This soon becomes annoying, and you have to keep your eyes on the unit all the time so you know when to stop pressing the button.. With the Garmin it's really easy (for instance) to switch back and forth between 2 pages (eg when climbing, it's handy to be able to switch between 'normal riding' page and 'climbing stats' page with a single press of the relevant UP/DOWN button, without even having to look at the unit).
> The Bolt UP/DOWN buttons which are used to zoom in/out of each page (to display more or less data fields) are really stiff and hard to operate with gloves on. I've tried two different Bolts and this is the case. In addition, use of the zoom in/out buttons affects the various data pages differently (fonts and data fields don't resize in the same way between pages).
> The climbing/elevation page on the Bolt does not seem to work correctly - the entire lower half of the screen is given over to an elevation trace which remains pretty much flat regardless of recent elevation activity.
> Unlike the Garmin Edge series, on the Bolt it is not possible to calibrate 'start elevations' for set locations. This means that the Bolt decides for itself what the start elevation is depending on how well it can calibrate the barometric altimeter from the GPS signal. The result is many rides (from the same start location) give wildly varying elevation data during the ride because the start elevation was so far out at the start of the ride. This is a simple but essential feature for any GPS bike computer with an internal barometric altimeter and something Garmin implemented years ago.
> On the Bolt when the unit auto-pauses most of the screen is covered by a "Ride Paused" message which does not disappear until you start moving again. This is particularly annoying if you want to check your current ride stats at a stop. On the Garmin 520 auto-pause is indicated by a red border around the current displayed page while all the data fields remain visible
> On the Garmin it is possible to customize a complete page to display all current ride totals (time, speed averages, climbing, average HR etc). On the Bolt the lack of customisable pages means the only time you can check those stats is when you stop and complete the ride, at which stage the Bolt displays a great ride summary. It's a real shame this ride summary could not be accessed mid-ride somehow on the Bolt.
Overall the Bolt is a great package and does some things really well however until the software is significantly improved to catch up with the Garmin interface I wouldn't want to go back to it. It needs more customisable data pages, better use of the display area (better use of larger fonts) and a rethink of the user interface interaction with the buttons. It's a shame because the battery life alone is almost reason enough to ditch the Garmin..."
8. ScottScale70 : 5 out of 5 stars
"I've been using a Garmin Edge 200 for about 6 years. It's a great little GPS unit which has clocked up nearly 10,000 miles but I started to crave a few additional features so it was time for an upgrade. I ride MTB and road but mainly road these days - around 3k miles per year.
Specifically I wanted full map navigation, live Strava segments, sensor connectivity and phone integration.
The obvious upgrade was the Garmin 520 but less than perfect reviews of the touchscreen in-particular put me off and I've never been a huge fan of the Garmin Connect app or web site.
Enter the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt which has been getting rave reviews across the board. It should be noted that the Bolt is the smaller version of the Elemnt which has been out for over a year. They share the same software and features.
The Bolt pretty much the same size as the Edge 200 but has a larger and higher resolution screen. It still fits between the tri-bars on my road bike quite comfortably, which was an essential.
A big difference with the Elemnt and Elemnt Bolt compared to other computers is that the majority of the setup is done within a Smartphone app. This saves fiddling about on the computer itself with their small buttons. The pages of information are all completely customisable and it's all done using the smartphone app (iOS in my case). It works beautifully. There are some settings you can change on the device itself - backlight, sensors etc, but you need the app for most things. Bear it in mind if you don't have a smartphone!! Once setup you don't NEED your phone with you, or connected - its not essential. The unit will happily record a ride or follow a route etc without any other connection.
A note here that to me, having physical buttons on the Bolt is far easier than trying to interact with a touchscreen, especially when its raining and with gloves etc.
A nice feature is that you can 'zoom' a page. You can setup up to 8 metrics (plus speed) on any screen and then 'zoom' to various levels which essentially drops metrics off the bottom of the screen and makes the rest bigger. So you can very easily switch between a complex screen and a very minimalist one. Additionally you could create dedicated pages for this - one with lots of metrics and another very simple one. It's a very flexible system.
There is also a dedicated climbing page showing a very useful elevation profile (i'm beginning to love this page), the full map navigation screen and a Strava segments screen showing the upcoming segments.
The Bolt features full map based turn by turn navigation. You setup a route using ridewithgps or Komoot (both very good sites) and the Bolt will automatically sync with those sites and display them on the device. The screen is only black and white but the maps work well and importantly the device responds quickly. If you're not on the map navigation page itself, the bolt will still prompt you with mini directions on other pages. In my case during open roads i'm just on my preferred info page and have it flash up little direction prompts. If I get into a town or village and need a better idea, I switch to the map page proper. The map page contains a 'worm' showing the route along the road and textual directions.
What the navigation mode WON'T do (yet) is re-calculate a route if you go off course. You are pretty much left to your own devices to get back on course. I very much suspect they'll release this in a later firmware....we'll see. What you CAN do, is change your route on the fly by selecting a whole new one or you can use the app to create a new route and upload that. So its reasonably flexible.
Note here: If the Bolt is in range of your WiFi network it will Sync directly over WiFi. If not, it will attempt to sync via the SmartPhone app over Bluetooth.
Strava segments was the next requirement on my list. Again, the Bolt does this perfectly. You simply 'star' your favourite segments in Strava (using the app or website) and they get automatically sync'd over to the Bolt. The next time you're on a ride and you get near one, the device will automatically change to a Strava screen showing the segment, your PB, the KOM PB and a projected time and how many seconds you are off the PB. It's a great system and works well.
Thirdly, I wanted sensor connectivity, specifically cadence, speed and heart rate. I'm using a Geonaute HRM and Decathlon speed and cadence sensor and they all work perfectly. In this respect the Bolt has a big advantage over the Garmin in that it supports all Bluetooth devices as well as ANT+
Lastly I really like the ability to have phone connectivity with SMS, calls and Emails displayed on the screen. It works very well and saves having to grab your mobile from your jersey pocket to see if its an important call or text.
In terms of battery life; After a 4.5 hour ride, the battery had dropped to 66%, thats maintaining a bluetooth connection to my iPhone SE (which itself dropped to 85%) and using turn by turn navigation the whole time. This means that the 14hr quoted time is absolutely spot on and should be more than enough for any single ride even with the backlight on I expect. It's also worth noting that the Bolt can be used with its charging lead plugged in, so if you couldn't get back to base to charge you could always use a small USB battery pack.
Overall, a very well thought out bike computer with everything you need and importantly ongoing support from Wahoo who are listening to their customers and continually updating Firmware with new features."
9. TokyoDude : 3 out of 5 stars
"Pros:
1) I love that I can set it up using my smartphone. Far easier than Garmin.
1.1) Very easy to set up your pages and data fields just like you like them. I can do this on the fly if I want to. With Garmin, the process was so difficult, I didn't use half the data I would have liked because it was just too much of a hassle to change even one data field.
2) Battery lasted far longer than Garmin 520. Allows me to confidently have a full day ride w/o bringing a charger along. My 520 lasted for 6 to 8 hours, so rides longer than that required me to have a backup charger available.
3) The zoom in and out buttons make it much easier to zoom in or out on a map or page. I love that. Garmin's system of pushing buttons through a series of menus just to zoom in or out was very frustrating.
4) I ride in Japan where there are lots of little twists and turns. I didn't have any problem following my routes by using this screen. I prefered my 520's color screen, but this screen works for me too.
5) I loved the fact that the unit came loaded with all the maps I need, and I could just delete the ones I didn't need. Much better than going to Open Street Maps, downloading files, deleting files from the Garmin & then uploading.
Cons:
1) BIG CON: After 3 months of use, I pressed the center button to pause my ride and the screen fried. This, just before the weekend & holiday. Wahoo help desk closed till Monday. Not good.
2) Phone battery drains really fast if you keep it connected to the Bolt while riding so I don't connect them any more.
3) I didn't have difficulty with the sensors dropping like so many others have. But, given the number of people having this problem, it is something that Wahoo should have gotten fixed by now.
4) The software seems glitchy. I had trouble deleting unwanted routes from the unit, then later, it worked. Maybe it was 'operator headspace error,' but I note that others also have issues with various glitches. As with Garmin, each update corrects some things but brings a whole new series of issues.
5) The small blue plastic cover that keeps water out of the power connection would not stay in place. Had to use a piece of electrical tape to keep it from coming out of the port. It is a minor issue, but would be important if I ever got caught in the rain and water could get into the port because the cover doesn't stay put.
6) Lower quality materials? The Garmin was made from pretty solid plastic and felt like it was high quality. The Bolt is made of a plastic similar to that of a toy gun. It may be just as good, but it didn't have that feel of quality that I expected.
Bottom line: I gave the Bolt a try and it wins, hands down, over the Garmin in ease of set up and use. I like the map on the Garmin slightly better but had not trouble reading nav routes on my Bolt. As for glitchy software, reliability and customer service, neither Garmin nor Wahoo are winning my heart right now. I'd say it's a toss-up on that score. Now, that my Bolt's screen has fried after only 3 months of normal use, I'd have to say that Garmin still comes out ahead in build quality. I used Garmins for 10 years and never had a hardware problem.
Frankly, I'm frustrated with the glitchy software of both Garmin and Wahoo but now that I'm faced with having to replace my Bolt after only 3 months of use, I'll be replacing it with a Garmin. Glitchy software can be fixed or worked around. Broken hardware (after 3 months) is a deal killer... especially since the cost of the 520 and Bolt are similar."
10. Jimmer : 5 out of 5 stars
"Took a punt on this device because Garmin Edge 1000 (costing more than double that of the Elemnt Bolt) had let me down on too many occasions. I have been very pleased with the results of the Elemnt Bolt.
The device is small and only has a monochrome screen - but I haven't had any problems following the maps even through towns where the maps are more detailed. The screen has very good contrast in daylight (I haven't tried it backlit at night yet, but it looks good indoors). The route is represented by a chevroned line over the map which is clear and easy to follow. I recommend enabling 'always rotate map' instead of the default 'North up' to make routing easier to follow. I have used turn-by-turn routing, initiated through the Elelmnt app, and this worked very well to route me back to base when I'd taken a wrong turn. The turn-by-turn routing beeps to indicate an impending turn, gives on-screen instructions, and LED lights flash to indicate direction of turn (I assume that this will be good for night riding without having to activate the backlight - but haven't tried it yet).
The battery life is good - I estimate that I get at least 12 hours of navigation between charges (daytime riding without backlight).
The great thing about this device is its connectivity. It connects perfectly to my iPhone 6 using the Wahoo app, and it detects all of my existing Garmin sensors (speed, cadence and heart-rate). A bonus is that it displays the battery status of all the sensors. Configuring the device is really easy through the Elemnt app on my iPhone (wifi, Strava account, sensors, map and information fields etc).
I do all of my routing in Strava (usually via Strava website on my iPad), and the routes sync to the device over wifi or can be pushed via the Element app. This makes it easier to share routes with friends when out on rides or when away on cycling holidays with no laptop (so long as they also have Strava connected devices). Sharing and syncing routes has been a real headache with Garmin devices. You can also use the Elemnt app on a smartphone to quickly create, find and load routes, which is helpful if you are out on a ride and only have a phone with you.
I have used the device in very heavy rain, and it has survived with no problems.
Had one annoying time where it kept hassling me with a pop-up message about pairing failed with my phone, but this only happened once, and it went away after I opened and detected the Elemnt app -- but it does work as a stand-alone device without the iPhone's bluetooth enabled. Maybe this was fixed in a subsequent auto-update.
It's a fantastic device for its price: very functional and easy to configure. I've realised that I don't miss the large colour screen or touch-screen functionality of my Garmin Edge 1000 at all. Reliability and connectivity are far more important for me. I would definitely recommend."
11. Maarten : 8.4 out of 10 stars
Sinds enkele weken heb ik de Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt, op advies van een fietsmaatje die de grotere versie heeft en na het lezen van vele reviews op het internet.
Ik heb bewust voor de Bolt gekozen, omdat ik niet met een soort iPad op mijn stuur wil fietsen. Daarbij is hij goedkoper dan zijn grotere broer, terwijl hij dezelfde functionaliteiten heeft.
Het monteren van de Wahoo met de houder was een fluitje van een cent. Die houder schijnt overigens aerodynamisch van hoge kwaliteit te zijn, maar op mijn niveau maakt dat niet veel uit.
Ik heb enkele ritten met de Wahoo gemaakt en ik ben er zeer tevreden mee. Hij vindt sattelietverbindingen razendsnel en is zo goed als direct klaar voor gebruik. Het is niet nodig de Wahoo als navigatiesysteem te gebruiken. Evenmin is het nodig een smartphone mee te nemen. Hij werkt op zichzelf.
Na de rit synchroniseert de Wahoo razendsnel met mijn iPhone met de app van Wahoo en ook met Strava.
De bediening werkt simpel en intuïtief, waarbij is gecharmeerd ben van het zwart-witscherm dat geen touchscreen is. Bediening met knoppen werkt m.i. beter op de fiets; je hebt geen last van een traag reagerend scherm a.g.v. regen of zweterige vingers.
Ik heb de Wahoo nu een keer gebruikt voor navigatie. De kaarten zijn top en up-to-date, maar ik moest wel wennen aan de navigatie zelf. Daar wreekt zich het feit dat een zwart-witscherm met een hoop wegen erop wat minder duidelijk is dan een kleurenscherm. Maar goed, ik realiseer me dat het ook een kwestie van gewenning is. Overigens laat de Wahoo enthousiast horen en zien wanneer je punt bereikt waarop je iets moet doen. In dit verband moet ik opmerken dat de LED's aan de bovenkant (die je ook kunt gebruiken om bijv. hartslagzones te laten weergeven) in de volle zon wat lastig afleesbaar zijn.
Het inladen van kaarten moet via de telefoon, waarbij kaarten van Strava geen turn-by-turnnavigatie hebben, maar die van bijv. Komoot en Ride by GPS wel. Het inladen gaat trouwens snel.
Voor het aanpassen van instellingen is de app op je telefoon vaak wel vereist. Ik vind dat prettig werken. Ik ben erg blij met de prachtige integratie van robuuste hardware en soepele software. Je kunt aan de slag met een indrukwekkend aantal data, waarvan ik er - eerlijk gezegd op mijn niveau - maar een klein deel gebruik.
Handig is ook dat je verschillende schermen kunt instellen (ook de voorgeprogrammeerde kun je aanpassen), zoals training, navigatie, klimmen etc., en daarop de gegevens van je keuze kunt laten weergeven.
Gegevens die je op de app aanpast, worden real time aangepast op de Bolt. Nadeel is wel dat voor het aanpassen schermen op de Bolt, het apparaat en je telefoon in elkaars nabijheid moeten zijn. Ik heb de helpdesk van Wahoo daarover een mail gestuurd en het ligt niet in de planning dit aan te passen, zodat je wijzingen op je telefoon kunt aanbrengen die naderhand op de Bolt worden doorgevoerd.
Tot slot: Wahoo komt sowieso vaak met updates van de software, waarbij nieuwe functionaliteiten worden toegevoegd. Recent nog de mogelijkheid nullen uit de cadans te filteren om te voorkomen dat het gemiddelde drastisch naar beneden gaat vanwege het stilhouden van je benen tijdens een afdaling.
Ik heb de Wahoo Bolt gekocht als vervanging van mijn Garmin Edge 820. Ik heb de Wahoo Bolt gekozen, omdat het design mij aansprak en ik las dat deze fietscomputer makkelijk te installeren is. Daarnaast zou de Bolt heel makkelijk in gebruik zijn.
Al deze punten zijn waar! Zodra je de Bolt uit de mooie verpakking haalt en aanzet moet je alleen de qr-code op het scherm scannen met jouw telefoon en je kan direct aan de slag. Via de Wahoo app op jouw telefoon kan je de Bolt helemaal instellen zoals jij wilt. De cadans en snelheidsmeter zijn ook heel makkelijk te plaatsen op de fiets. Ik was eerst even bang dat de cadans meter niet zou passen, maar gelukkig zijn er verschillende opties om 'm te installeren zodat ie op iedere fiets past, volgens mij. Alle meters (cadans, snelheid en hartslag) maken direct verbinding met de Bolt en zijn gelijk klaar voor gebruik.
Tijdens de eerste ritjes in de zon vond ik het scherm niet altijd even helder, maar daar ben je snel aan gewend. In de schemer en het donker is de display sowieso perfect af te lezen. Alles werkt verder zoals beloofd. Volgens mij worden alleen geen WhatsApp berichten weergegeven, maal alleen sms-jes als je dat wilt. De vraag is of je dit sowieso wilt tijdens een lekker fietsritje...
De navigatie heb ik nog niet uitgeprobeerd, maar volgens mij werkt dat vast ook prima. Net als de rest van deze top fietscomputer.
Wat mij betreft dus een aanrader. Mooi design, makkelijke installatie, handig in gebruik!
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
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