Wahoo elemnt or elemnt bolt?

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Would the Bolt work ok with my Bluetooth Polar H7 and Lidl (Wahoo) cadence sensor?

Could I also connect my Bluetooth earbuds at the same time?

CRC have the Bolt in stock, thinking of using my BC discount...

cgfw201

Websta24 wrote:

Is there a way of changing the settings for the "take me to" routing? Out on a club run yesterday and had to get back early so went off the front. Synced the route from phone to bolt instantly but then It tried to send me down bridleways and footpaths! Ended up pretty much having to cycle down a rather quick A road.

I couldn't find any settings but maybe I've missed something. I've contacted Wahoo and await their response!

Would be good to know what they say. The routing it uses on the 'Search for Location' can be a bit of a lottery.

Websta24

Yes, it will work with the polar h7 and the cadence sensor.

I would have thought you would connect the headphones to your phone or other music player rather than the bolt. It can display messages from your phone etc but im not sure about music.

If your platinum on Wiggle it works out at £175

Websta24

cgfw201 wrote:

Websta24 wrote:

Is there a way of changing the settings for the "take me to" routing? Out on a club run yesterday and had to get back early so went off the front. Synced the route from phone to bolt instantly but then It tried to send me down bridleways and footpaths! Ended up pretty much having to cycle down a rather quick A road.

I couldn't find any settings but maybe I've missed something. I've contacted Wahoo and await their response!

Would be good to know what they say. The routing it uses on the 'Search for Location' can be a bit of a lottery.

This was the Wahoo response...

"Hello Tom,

I'm sorry you had some troubles. The ELEMNT computers will try to pick bike friendly routes when possible. Although this isn't always perfect and we're working to improve this as much as we can. You can't change the direction of the route selected, but this is an option that we plan to change in a future update.

Thank you,
Greg"

Palladium

Websta24 wrote:

cgfw201 wrote:

Websta24 wrote:

Is there a way of changing the settings for the "take me to" routing? Out on a club run yesterday and had to get back early so went off the front. Synced the route from phone to bolt instantly but then It tried to send me down bridleways and footpaths! Ended up pretty much having to cycle down a rather quick A road.

I couldn't find any settings but maybe I've missed something. I've contacted Wahoo and await their response!

Would be good to know what they say. The routing it uses on the 'Search for Location' can be a bit of a lottery.

This was the Wahoo response...

"Hello Tom,

I'm sorry you had some troubles. The ELEMNT computers will try to pick bike friendly routes when possible. Although this isn't always perfect and we're working to improve this as much as we can. You can't change the direction of the route selected, but this is an option that we plan to change in a future update.

Thank you,
Greg"

Might want to take a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27w0yJ0M4A0

One of the negatives he talks about is that the bolt will take you down some weird paths, and that google maps will be much better.

meanredspider

I've gotta say that letting a little box with so little capability plan your route is brave. Even my Garmin car Sat Nav takes me places that my Fiat 500 found tight. But cycling is so much more difficult. I've learned not to let my Edge 1000 not do any planning unless I'm desperate.

Websta24

meanredspider wrote:

I've gotta say that letting a little box with so little capability plan your route is brave. Even my Garmin car Sat Nav takes me places that my Fiat 500 found tight. But cycling is so much more difficult. I've learned not to let my Edge 1000 not do any planning unless I'm desperate.

I do agree, but i was in a situation where it was required. Surely they could just limit the route selection to B-Roads... i cant imagine you would go too far wrong with that.

It would be much so much easier if you could manually adjust the route on the app, but you cant!

fat daddy

meanredspider wrote:

I've gotta say that letting a little box with so little capability plan your route is brave.

well its not the elemnt that does the planning .... you open the app on the phone, tell it to route, then sync the elemnt which just follows the route the phone made.

considering how well google maps can route, it shouldn't be too hard for Wahoo to allow you to choose road type, or change the route 1st etc

meesterbond

fat daddy wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I've gotta say that letting a little box with so little capability plan your route is brave.

well its not the elemnt that does the planning .... you open the app on the phone, tell it to route, then sync the elemnt which just follows the route the phone made.

considering how well google maps can route, it shouldn't be too hard for Wahoo to allow you to choose road type, or change the route 1st etc

Have you tried the Google Maps Bike routes! I find they tend to be a little more mountain than road bike, trying to navigate my way round a ploughed field on 23mm tires wasn't much fun.

Anyway, after my 520 died on me yet again yesterday I've bitten the bullet and ordered a Bolt to replace it... the expensive thing will be changing all the mounts!

meanredspider

Yes - and Google gets to draw on a massive amount of data - including live tracking of traffic. Wahoo can't hope to replicate anything close to that. Garmin Connect routes were pretty poor if you let the software route you. In NL I doubt I did a single ride that the software had routed that I ended up following 100%.

cgfw201

meanredspider wrote:

Yes - and Google gets to draw on a massive amount of data - including live tracking of traffic. Wahoo can't hope to replicate anything close to that. Garmin Connect routes were pretty poor if you let the software route you. In NL I doubt I did a single ride that the software had routed that I ended up following 100%.

Doesn't Wahoo use Google Maps anyway? Certainly claims to within the app...

meanredspider

cgfw201 wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Yes - and Google gets to draw on a massive amount of data - including live tracking of traffic. Wahoo can't hope to replicate anything close to that. Garmin Connect routes were pretty poor if you let the software route you. In NL I doubt I did a single ride that the software had routed that I ended up following 100%.

Doesn't Wahoo use Google Maps anyway? Certainly claims to within the app...

Fair enough - that's probably as good as you are going to get (assuming "Powered by Google" means you get all the bells and whistles Google has to offer). I'm always impressed by how accurate Google's traffic data is for our trips across Cambridge in the rush hour.

Websta24

It just needs the ability to edit it slightly. Most of the route i used was pretty good but there was two or three times when the fastest way was across a field! If you could simply edit this by dragging the point to a road then it would be solved!

surfercyclist

I have a Bolt and I reckon it's brilliant. Does all I want, connects my speed/cadence/HRM/Di2 perfectly. Most of the time I ride locally so I know the routes but I have used it to do a turn by turn navigation and it was fine. If you go wrong it beeps and the LEDs flash red to let you know. I purposely did this and you can either turn back and get back on route or continue and just rejoin it when convenient. I did this by zooming out on the map to see where the "correct" route was and hence rejoined it. Note it won't give you directions back to your route so you have to follow map.

Early days but so far very impressed and for the money it's a steal. I should say this is the first cycle GPS I've had so can't compare but I have heard of a lot of issues with Garmins and their unreliability and failing during rides etc.

Palladium

meesterbond wrote:

Have you tried the Google Maps Bike routes! I find they tend to be a little more mountain than road bike, trying to navigate my way round a ploughed field on 23mm tires wasn't much fun.

Plus f*cking one!

Cycled to paris 4 weeks ago, somone got a buckled wheel so we had to go to the nearest town to get a new wheel.

Long story short, google maps first directed us onto the motorway, then redirected us through some very rough patches, we were travelling about 4/5kph haha. Then at the end of the road there was a forest of stinging nettles to chop through :roll: We all got some sticks and started beating out a path for ourselves. Certainly not what we were expecting when we signed up to Oxford2Paris

--

On topic: Bolt arrived, this thing is magical, undoubtedly the best £270 I've ever spent on bike gear, but you won't have an enjoyable experience if you don't own a smartphone!

bendertherobot

Bought the Bolt this week. Very impressed so far.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

The Wiggle extra discount to "gold" for me has put me in a horrid dilemma, do I stick with using my Nexus 7 2013 tablet or spend out on a Wahoo? The £50 cashback on the Elemnt (and bundle) has made this more of a dilemma!

germcevoy

NitrousOxide wrote:

The Wiggle extra discount to "gold" for me has put me in a horrid dilemma, do I stick with using my Nexus 7 2013 tablet or spend out on a Wahoo? The £50 cashback on the Elemnt (and bundle) has made this more of a dilemma!

You use a nexus 7 on the bike?

cgfw201

NitrousOxide wrote:

The Wiggle extra discount to "gold" for me has put me in a horrid dilemma, do I stick with using my Nexus 7 2013 tablet or spend out on a Wahoo? The £50 cashback on the Elemnt (and bundle) has made this more of a dilemma!

Christ! Get a Wahoo.

bendertherobot

I pondered over the cashback. Elemnt bundle was £244 so that would be £194. Bolt cost me £164 (platinum).

WOULD have got the Bolt bundle, but out of stock.

So, all in all, had the Bolt bundle been in stock and same price as the Elemnt bundle then I'd have got the Bolt cos it's a bit better looking IMO.

Used it today. It's almost entirely perfect. Don't like the quality of the plastic case and there were one or two higher than expected speeds under some trees. But, superb.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Germcevoy wrote:

NitrousOxide wrote:

The Wiggle extra discount to "gold" for me has put me in a horrid dilemma, do I stick with using my Nexus 7 2013 tablet or spend out on a Wahoo? The £50 cashback on the Elemnt (and bundle) has made this more of a dilemma!

You use a nexus 7 on the bike?

Yes, rear jersey pocket (or for commuting in the hi-vis gillet), been great since last September (more so this year, having had it since Xmas 2015 and only discovering it could do Strava after ~8 months).

It might be weighty, but most of the time, it does a great job of recording my rides. The main interest right now for me in buying the Elemnt would be for plotting a route and having signals for when to turn, last week I tried to improvise a new way home from Old Winchester Hill and ended up in Fareham and a consequent "fun" ride back along the A27 to Bitterne! :shock:

Now Google maps does directions and its version of Strava Beacon, my sensible head says just stick with the tablet for now.

I probably have less disposable income than most adults on this forum, treating myself to the Cube recently ate up precious savings, as much as I'd love a fancy GPS gadget spending ~£200 on one is a massive outlay for me.

germcevoy

NitrousOxide wrote:

Germcevoy wrote:

NitrousOxide wrote:

The Wiggle extra discount to "gold" for me has put me in a horrid dilemma, do I stick with using my Nexus 7 2013 tablet or spend out on a Wahoo? The £50 cashback on the Elemnt (and bundle) has made this more of a dilemma!

You use a nexus 7 on the bike?

Yes, rear jersey pocket (or for commuting in the hi-vis gillet), been great since last September (more so this year, having had it since Xmas 2015 and only discovering it could do Strava after ~8 months).

It might be weighty, but most of the time, it does a great job of recording my rides. The main interest right now for me in buying the Elemnt would be for plotting a route and having signals for when to turn, last week I tried to improvise a new way home from Old Winchester Hill and ended up in Fareham and a consequent "fun" ride back along the A27 to Bitterne! :shock:

Now Google maps does directions and its version of Strava Beacon, my sensible head says just stick with the tablet for now.

I probably have less disposable income than most adults on this forum, treating myself to the Cube recently ate up precious savings, as much as I'd love a fancy GPS gadget spending ~£200 on one is a massive outlay for me.

I couldn't imagine riding round with that thing in my pocket. Fair play. Never considered just a cheap android phone for more convenience?

paul64

All, I haven't explored the lap and training functions of my Bolt yet, I've ridden a handful of times since receiving. Is there a way I can set it to show me 3 phases afterwards rather than overall averages? I want to be able to deliberately ride a 5 mile warm up at lower intensity, x miles of proper riding then final 2 miles slower cooldown at the end and then look at my mid section stats.

jpower

paul64 wrote:

All, I haven't explored the lap and training functions of my Bolt yet, I've ridden a handful of times since receiving. Is there a way I can set it to show me 3 phases afterwards rather than overall averages? I want to be able to deliberately ride a 5 mile warm up at lower intensity, x miles of proper riding then final 2 miles slower cooldown at the end and then look at my mid section stats.

So lap will do this for you, after your warm-up hit lap, then again when you hit cool down. I see in the wahoo app you can select the lap and see your stats, I also see the same info in Strava if you click on laps link on the left you will see stats by sections. The overall is a combo of everything.

turbotommy

Anyone using the element / bolt with etap?

Seems the two options to display which gear you're in is either a sliding scale of gears or the gears numbered 1-11 and 1-2 at the front. I'd like either ratios or specific to the gear I m in e.g 52-17. Is that possible? It is with garmin.

paul64

Jpower many thanks

crossed

bendertherobot wrote:

Used it today. It's almost entirely perfect. Don't like the quality of the plastic case and there were one or two higher than expected speeds under some trees. But, superb.

I've noticed that with my Bolt a few times lately, either vary fast or very slow speed readings under tree cover. It only seems to be a recent thing though.
I could use the speed sensor as well for better accuracy but I regularly change wheels and couldn't be bothered with swapping sensors as well so I'll just put up with it I think.

bendertherobot

Crossed wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Used it today. It's almost entirely perfect. Don't like the quality of the plastic case and there were one or two higher than expected speeds under some trees. But, superb.

I've noticed that with my Bolt a few times lately, either vary fast or very slow speed readings under tree cover. It only seems to be a recent thing though.
I could use the speed sensor as well for better accuracy but I regularly change wheels and couldn't be bothered with swapping sensors as well so I'll just put up with it I think.

It feels like it's its way of catching up. Rather than ignoring it and figuring it out later. Doesn't seem to affect the average MPH etc. Very short period of time. It's happened to me 3 times, and, weirdly enough, all in the same place.

crossed

bendertherobot wrote:

Crossed wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Used it today. It's almost entirely perfect. Don't like the quality of the plastic case and there were one or two higher than expected speeds under some trees. But, superb.

I've noticed that with my Bolt a few times lately, either vary fast or very slow speed readings under tree cover. It only seems to be a recent thing though.
I could use the speed sensor as well for better accuracy but I regularly change wheels and couldn't be bothered with swapping sensors as well so I'll just put up with it I think.

It feels like it's its way of catching up. Rather than ignoring it and figuring it out later. Doesn't seem to affect the average MPH etc. Very short period of time. It's happened to me 3 times, and, weirdly enough, all in the same place.

When it's happened I've also noticed that it doesn't appear to register the abnormal speeds in the segment when it's uploaded to Strava and the segment times seem pretty accurate. Not much to worry about I think.

I did have an issue when I was away in the Alps where the elevation and gradient stopped registering on the Bolt. Coincidentally there was an update available the day after I noticed the fault and it fixed the issue. Apart from that it was faultless.
It was, however, a bit annoying when it only registered 1998ft climbing on a day where we'd rode Galibier and Alpe d'Huez

meanredspider

Slightly OT but the Hammerhead Karoo looks like it will be an alternative to the Garmin 1000 etc. It's great to see some plausible alternatives to the Evil Empire