Wahoo elemnt or elemnt bolt?

jpower

Other then the obvious size difference is there any particular reason to choose one over the other?

vinnymarsden

Just got the bolt..it looks 10000% more cycling specific..the bigger elemnt looked genuinely like it was a car sat nav!!!

dstev55

Quite liking the look of the Elemnt Bolt. It seems years ahead of the Garmin Edge's in terms of connectivity and innovation. Might have to give it a go when it becomes available again.

sniper68

I ordered a bolt direct from Wahoofitness.com on 4/4 and despatch was quoted as 8/4 order is showing processing and Wahoo customer services are not answering emails and texts live chat and telephone numbers not answering despite me ringing at the stated times.Currently showing 14/4 on Wahoo and early May on some online retailers.It might be a brilliant unit but so far I'm unimpressed with them!
The Elemnt is available everywhere but I wanted a unit a similar size to my current unit(Garmin edge 820).

fat daddy

Elemnt has bigger screen with obvious advantages - led's to indicate turnings, heart rate zone, ahead/behind segment times etc - longer battery life

Bolt- looks nicer


Get the bolt

dstev55

fat daddy wrote:

Elemnt has bigger screen with obvious advantages - led's to indicate turnings, heart rate zone, ahead/behind segment times etc - longer battery life

Bolt- looks nicer


Get the bolt

The Bolt still has LEDs, they just run along the top and there aren't quite as many.

cgfw201

I'm switching from a 520 to a Bolt once they are back in stock. The 520 is fine until it comes to putting routes/maps on the device, at which point it's like living in 1996 again in terms of IT.

meanredspider

I'm truly heartened to read about the Bolt. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of Garmin's stranglehold of the cycling GPS market or will at least force them to up their game from the shoddy mess their products often are at launch. Given the scale of the market and the number of companies trying to muscle in on the wearable sports tracker market, I'm honestly surprised it has taken so long. I'm tempted to buy a Bolt simply to support and applaud this initiative.

vinnymarsden

ibbo68 wrote:

I ordered a bolt direct from Wahoofitness.com on 4/4 and despatch was quoted as 8/4 order is showing processing and Wahoo customer services are not answering emails and texts live chat and telephone numbers not answering despite me ringing at the stated times.Currently showing 14/4 on Wahoo and early May on some online retailers.It might be a brilliant unit but so far I'm unimpressed with them!
The Elemnt is available everywhere but I wanted a unit a similar size to my current unit(Garmin edge 820).

I feel for you Ibbo...
I did the same...ordered from them, and despite their alleged brilliant customer service re the Kickr etc, their CS re the order was woeful!
You order direct from the manufacturer thinking you will get 1st dibs..think again!
I saw several ppl out riding with a Bolt, whilst I waited for them to send mine, eventually I just emailed them a cancellation, quoting their useless delivery failures as my reason...then got one next day delivery from Wiggle , using my platinum discount for £25 cheaper!!
I think the popularity of the unit has caught them with their pants down, however, that's no excuse for the actual company sales facility to be so poor.
On the plus side, it really is a simple, very intuitive unit to use, the mobile set up/settings is a breath of fresh air compared to all the screen fiddling/digging around in the Garmin units.
I am impressed by the Bolt, but hope the Customer Care is better than the sales side of things!!!

jpower

Heart says bolt for me, other then stats the satnav is important to me hence why head is saying get bigger screen but don't like the look obviously

The side LED's also nice idea although I guess I can get that from data screen.

noodleman

I've got an elemnt and like the look of the bolt. But other than the Looks I'd still prefer the elemnt. It runs on the same system as the bolt, so any future updates will likely be for both units. The two rows of led's plus the bigger screen size with more data fields make it a better choice for most cyclists.
I am considering a bolt because for my TT bike the screen size isn't really an issue as I won't use the maps much, and with the platinum discount on wiggle at the moment it's only 166 quid which is a bargain.

dstev55

noodleman wrote:

I've got an elemnt and like the look of the bolt. But other than the Looks I'd still prefer the elemnt. It runs on the same system as the bolt, so any future updates will likely be for both units. The two rows of led's plus the bigger screen size with more data fields make it a better choice for most cyclists.
I am considering a bolt because for my TT bike the screen size isn't really an issue as I won't use the maps much, and with the platinum discount on wiggle at the moment it's only 166 quid which is a bargain.

But the discount is purely academic as it's currently out of stock and probably won't be in stock until after the increased discount period has finished.

noodleman

My mistake. Thought you could order and wait for stock to arrive but seems not.

dstev55

noodleman wrote:

My mistake. Thought you could order and wait for stock to arrive but seems not.

I know it's a shame.

JCroxton

Sorry for the blatant sales post. But for those wanting the Bolt at the current price, but not able to find stock, we have 13 Elemnt Bolts available for immediate dispatch at Bike Shed. http://www.bikesheduk.com/wahoo-elemnt- ... e-computer

cgfw201

JCroxton wrote:

Sorry for the blatant sales post. But for those wanting the Bolt at the current price, but not able to find stock, we have 13 Elemnt Bolts available for immediate dispatch at Bike Shed. http://www.bikesheduk.com/wahoo-elemnt- ... e-computer

Products marked with *** are not available in the desired quantity or not in stock!

JCroxton

cgfw201 wrote:

Products marked with *** are not available in the desired quantity or not in stock!

Try again now.. Not sure what caused that, they're definitely available.

cgfw201

JCroxton wrote:

cgfw201 wrote:

Products marked with *** are not available in the desired quantity or not in stock!

Try again now.. Not sure what caused that, they're definitely available.

Cheers. If anyone wants a Garmin 520 in excellent nick there's now one available here... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/-/262932356656?...

StillGoing

Elemnt for me. The Bolt looks nice, but the screen is way too small for my long sightedness to read. I came from a Garmin 820 with a similar size screen and had to get rid for that reason among many.

The Elemnt has been a revelation and wished I'd jumped ship from Garmin when it first came out. Pairing and set up is an absolute doddle compared to Garmin. Downsides at present are the lack of colour on the map screen, but the black and white data screens are easy to read even in bright sunlight. The turn by turn audible alerts are too quiet and Livetrack is a dot on a map showing your location rather than a moving trace with stats. Wahoo I understand are working on modifying this though.

The shape and size of the Elemnt doesn't bother me. It's a cycle computer and not a work of art. The drag coefficient of it is going to be negligible.

fat daddy

yeah I was annoyed at the looks of the elemnt, until I actually bought one ... once its on the bike it looks fine and others that I have seen you just don't notice it. .... in pictures it looks massive and blocky but in real life it just looks like a bike GPS

the one and only thing I would change on the ement is as above colour on the map screen, its a pain to follow a bunch of black lines .... I would keep the rest of it black and white though, its by far the easiest to read screen I have ever had on a cycle computer

noodleman

Not really sure what advantage colour would bring to the mapping. I've never had a problem with following the black and white arrows. In fact I find it much easier to see than the colour screen of my edge 800.

cgfw201

noodleman wrote:

Not really sure what advantage colour would bring to the mapping. I've never had a problem with following the black and white arrows. In fact I find it much easier to see than the colour screen of my edge 800.

yeh i dont like the lines on the 520, so many different colours on the map for different sized roads/paths, it's hard to work out which one is the route to follow and which one is another path.

wongataa

cgfw201 wrote:

noodleman wrote:

Not really sure what advantage colour would bring to the mapping. I've never had a problem with following the black and white arrows. In fact I find it much easier to see than the colour screen of my edge 800.

yeh i dont like the lines on the 520, so many different colours on the map for different sized roads/paths, it's hard to work out which one is the route to follow and which one is another path.

If you customise the maps so you only have the details you need and a good colour scheme then that is a non issue.

StillGoing

noodleman wrote:

Not really sure what advantage colour would bring to the mapping. I've never had a problem with following the black and white arrows. In fact I find it much easier to see than the colour screen of my edge 800.

Simply being able to tell a B road from a river etc. Not always clear around here.

markhewitt1978

fat daddy wrote:

yeah I was annoyed at the looks of the elemnt, until I actually bought one ... once its on the bike it looks fine and others that I have seen you just don't notice it. .... in pictures it looks massive and blocky but in real life it just looks like a bike GPS

the one and only thing I would change on the ement is as above colour on the map screen, its a pain to follow a bunch of black lines .... I would keep the rest of it black and white though, its by far the easiest to read screen I have ever had on a cycle computer

Same here, I was put off by the ELEMNT's looks, but you don't notice that when it's on the bike, you just see the screen, which is very good.

sniper68

I've just had an email from support stating my Bolt will be despatched on Friday.
The day after I ordered the despatch date was changed from 8th April to 14th April so they could argue that although it clearly stated 8th April when I paid the page was just updating.
If it is despatched on the 14th all will be well because online retailers are showing 2-4 weeks now!

jpower

Yikes I made a right boo boo, somehow I thought I read the element was £199 and bolt £249, obviously its the other way around. Now I'm starting to side with the bolt. Have gold discount at wiggle making it 179 but as mentioned above no stock and the extra discount ends probably before any stock appears.

jpower

Prob silly question I have 2 bikes kitted with garmin GSC-10 sensors for speed and cadence, I assume being ant+ the wahoo would take these sensor readings?

sniper68

jpower wrote:

Prob silly question I have 2 bikes kitted with garmin GSC-10 sensors for speed and cadence, I assume being ant+ the wahoo would take these sensor readings?

I know it works with the new style speed/cadence sensors so I'd presume it will work with the GSC-10 also.

StillGoing

jpower wrote:

Prob silly question I have 2 bikes kitted with garmin GSC-10 sensors for speed and cadence, I assume being ant+ the wahoo would take these sensor readings?

Wahoo Element and Bolt work with both ANT+ and Bluetooth sensors.

stevie63

I use a gsc-10 with the elemnt and it works flawlessly.