Recommended cycling computers

Col36

Can anyone recommend a decent cycling computer for Navigation, Stats and Recording rides.

I currently have a Garmin Edge 810 and I'm extremely disappointed.

Previously I use IpBike app on my phone with was very easy to use but difficult to see in sunshine.

I've used the Garmin half a dozen times and it fails to record, stops reporting speed and dies about an hour into the ride even though it is fully charged.

The interface is very clunky and on the times you do manage to record a ride it is very easy to lose the ride details.

Jayme

I've been happy with my lezyne micro gps so far. You can pre-load routes, use the navigation feature on the app (which links with the computer), and it gives you notifications from emails/texts/phone, etc. Records stats, you can use with a HRM, speed/cadence sensor and power meter if you wish. They're decently priced. The micro is tiny, but they also have a a Lezyne Super GPS which is bigger.

cgfw201

Wahoo is the default answer to this question.

I too had a Garmin, and am very glad to have upgraded to the Elemnt Bolt.

schlepcycling

cgfw201 wrote:

Wahoo is the default answer to this question.

I too had a Garmin, and am very glad to have upgraded to the Elemnt Bolt.

+1

craker

Have you tried contacting Garmin? That's not a cheap computer and from your description it's just broken.

lakesluddite

craker wrote:

Have you tried contacting Garmin? That's not a cheap computer and from your description it's just broken.

This. There's no way you should be running out of juice after just an hour - unless it's second hand and has been used to death. Plus the other issues suggest it's either faulty (or user error!)

lostboysaint

Garmin 800 still going strong here. Done thousands of road and trail miles and completely bomb-proof.

not-another-hillǃ

+1 for the Garmin 800...also done thousands of miles with no issues. Friends who have "upgraded" to 810s or 820s have had no end of problems whilst mine still holds great charge and never crashes...

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Lezyne Super GPS, bargain for ~£100, much improved functionality via firmware updates since last summer.

triggersbroom

+ 1 for the Wahoo units. I've got an Elemnt, Tickr, Speed sensor and Stages Gen2 PM. All play lovely together, connect first time, every time and are intuitive to use. The cynical side of me wonders what the down side is going to manifest itself as.

However....so far, so excellent. Hope that helps.

spatt77

+1 for the Wahoo element bolt! Had 2 Garmin 510`s , both dodgy and I found Garmin`s customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

StillGoing

Another lifelong Garmin user from the 705 (great but outdated), 810 (great until the 520 came out and they changed the firmware to cater for it screwing up the 810 & 1000) and 820 (complete rubbish from the off), but finally saw the light and moved to the Wahoo Elemnt.

Mpercy

I started out a couple of years ago with a Garmin 1000.
However, I didn't like using it. You never knew if it would register a screen press or not. Sometimes after 40 miles or so, the turn-by-turn directions would just give up and not alert you anymore. Having to prepare track files and sync them over a USB cable, seemed oldfashioned back then, particularly as the device had wifi and bluetooth. The battery life was woeful. It seemed the only way to reach Garmins published battery life was to turn all the features of the device off.

When the 820 came out, I jumped on that, thinking that they would have solved the problems. Wrong I was. The screen was even less responsive. Calculating routes took minutes upon minutes. I don't recall much progress with wirelessly syncing track files. But, it was smaller, which was nice.

Later on, I then tried a Element Bolt. The internet integration to remove most of the barriers of syncing routes and publishing analytics. The screen is readable, with immediate, predictable responses to button presses.
It doesn't, however, have the breadth of features that the garmin has - ghost riders, ant+ light control etc, and does has a dependency on a mobile phone for much configuration. However, for weekend bikers such as myself whom want to have a device to manage/follow routes and record sessions then I think its excellent, particularly for its price as the cheapest of the three.

ricardito62

Another happy Wahoo Elemnt Bolt user.

I just use it for navigation and ride logging, and would recommend it for these uses without hesitation.

UpHillDownDale

Another one here for the Bolt. Super easy to use.

Pot Odds

Personally for what you've described i would only be looking at Garmin or Wahoo.

The 810 is old generation now and was the only Garmin GPS i had issues with right from the start. It might be worth following up on your problems if the 810 is a recent purchase (from new) as the battery life alone should be better than you are achieving.

I've riden with pretty much all of the mainstream cycle GPS (apart from the new Hammerhead Karoo) and reckon that the Garmin Edge 820 or Wahoo Elemnt Bolt hit the sweetspot for price (£200 - £250) without compromising on features.

The screens are a little smaller than the 810 (which was actually a really good size) but this isn't an issue as I'm a fan of their compact form factor. If a large screen is what you are after then you have options with the Garmin Edge 1000 and 1030 (more expensive) or the Wahoo Elemnt.

As mentioned above the touch screen on the edge 820 can be a little fussy (its not as responsive as a modern mobile phone) but I've never found it annoying. The 820 has been my go to cycle computer for the last 2 years but I would happily concede that having now been hands on with the Wahoo Bolt there really is little to split them as they are both extremely capable for what you have described.

I have completed numerous sportives navigated by the 820 as well as a coast to coast ride last year. For me the key has always been in taking the time to map out my route on an online tool such as garmin connect or ride with gps so I am 100% confident where it is taking me. With the coast to coast i even used google street whilst mapping to ensure we were on usable but not too busy roads - well worth the effort if you are planning a big ride and don't want to find you are on a main road or horsecart track.

If you haven't already discovered it then check out DC Rainmakers website for reviews of all the leading fitness gear including cycle GPS - just make sure you have plenty of time as his reviews are extremely thorough.

For a quicker comparison of the 820 / Bolt in action check out youtube: https://youtu.be/R1DxvR2J7YQ

lostboysaint

Always the same threads that bring out the single figure posters. I wonder what their motivation could be?

backo

used Garmins for countless years before switching to Wahoo Element bolt....would never go back.....hope they start bringing out running/tri watches soon

Col36

Thank you for all your feedback.

The Garmin 810 was brand new. Maybe a got a faulty unit. I'll going to get the battery replaced and maybe upgrade the firmware.

I'm am very tempted by the Wahoo Element, it is well prices compared to the garmin. It seems very simple to use and I like the idea of setting up through a phone, as this will have a much better interface (Something I think Garmin should look at).

One of the deficits of the Wahoo Element is lack of route planning capability on the road. E.g. if go off course, want to visit a cafe or want to cut your ride short the Wahoo Element will not help you. Although, I suspect there must be a phone app to help with that. Have others found this?

"Lezyne Super GPS" seems to have less information about it so I'm not sure if it is what I'm looking for.

straas

I'm rubbish at directions, I continually get lost.

Used to have a garmin 705 and was always missing turns - got the wahoo elmnt bolt and it's been great, I've only made one wrong turn so far.

I also use it for the daily commute and it seems pretty solid.

The only negatives I'd have:

Sometimes it takes over a minute to get gps signal when I leave work (though I work in the centre of manchester so it's pretty built up)

sometimes it lags a bit between me stopping and the unit pausing (again think it's an issue in more built up areas)

I've never tried the 'on the go' routing, I think it uses google maps routes though?

singleton

I've got a Garmin 520 and am very pleased with it.
However, if and when I replace it, I don't want a touch screen unit - so that may narrow down my choice somewhat.

Poppa Wheelie

Col36 wrote:

One of the deficits of the Wahoo Element is lack of route planning capability on the road. E.g. if go off course, want to visit a cafe or want to cut your ride short the Wahoo Element will not help you. Although, I suspect there must be a phone app to help with that. Have others found this?

The stand out feature of the Wahoo is that you can whip out your phone mid-ride, find a point on the planet using a version of Google maps and it will navigate you there. Technically, you could navigate 'somewhere else' by prodding the touch screen on the Garmin 800 but in reality it was almost impossible to get that feature to work even remotely as well as the Wahoo.

Additionally there are many time when you will intentionally go off course because you've decided to make a detour or maybe a road you need to go down is closed but you can just turn left at the next street. The Wahoo will notify you immediately you go off course but will 'trust' you to know how to get back on track, IE. turn around or take the next street etc. I tried using my old Garmin 800 once in London and it just kept getting me lost as it kept trying to re-route me even though I was actually on the correct streets.

surfercyclist

Poppa Wheelie wrote:

Col36 wrote:

One of the deficits of the Wahoo Element is lack of route planning capability on the road. E.g. if go off course, want to visit a cafe or want to cut your ride short the Wahoo Element will not help you. Although, I suspect there must be a phone app to help with that. Have others found this?

The stand out feature of the Wahoo is that you can whip out your phone mid-ride, find a point on the planet using a version of Google maps and it will navigate you there. Technically, you could navigate 'somewhere else' by prodding the touch screen on the Garmin 800 but in reality it was almost impossible to get that feature to work even remotely as well as the Wahoo.

Additionally there are many time when you will intentionally go off course because you've decided to make a detour or maybe a road you need to go down is closed but you can just turn left at the next street. The Wahoo will notify you immediately you go off course but will 'trust' you to know how to get back on track, IE. turn around or take the next street etc. I tried using my old Garmin 800 once in London and it just kept getting me lost as it kept trying to re-route me even though I was actually on the correct streets.

This is true however you will of course need a mobile phone signal to do this. If you're riding near a town/city then no problem but some parts of the countryside the mobile coverage is poor. I love my Bolt and v happy with it but just wanted to point this (pretty obvious I know) point out.

Col36

Is there much difference between Wahoo Element and Wahoo Element Bolt?

They seem to be the same price. So leaning towards the Element. What do you think?

Poppa Wheelie

SurferCyclist wrote:

This is true however you will of course need a mobile phone signal to do this. If you're riding near a town/city then no problem but some parts of the countryside the mobile coverage is poor. I love my Bolt and v happy with it but just wanted to point this (pretty obvious I know) point out.

This is true but for the benefit of the OP or anyone else interested in the Wahoo, you do not need a phone signal to send pre-planned routes to the Wahoo as you can sync any newly planned routes with the head unit before you leave home. You can either select the routes directly using the Wahoo or select them using the phone app and bluetooth thus do not need a signal on the phone.

Poppa Wheelie

Col36 wrote:

Is there much difference between Wahoo Element and Wahoo Element Bolt?

They seem to be the same price. So leaning towards the Element. What do you think?

As far as I'm aware they are exactly the same bar size with one exception. The Elemnt has two rows of LEDs whereas the Bolt only has one row.

These LEDs can be customised to display your speed, power, heart rate plus Strava live segment pace.

The extra LEDs of the Elemnt show your turn-by-turn direction by scrolling from left ot right or right to left. Quite useful for a quick glance in a strange area but not a deal breaker.

StillGoing

Poppa Wheelie wrote:

Col36 wrote:

Is there much difference between Wahoo Element and Wahoo Element Bolt?

They seem to be the same price. So leaning towards the Element. What do you think?

As far as I'm aware they are exactly the same bar size with one exception. The Elemnt has two rows of LEDs whereas the Bolt only has one row.

These LEDs can be customised to display your speed, power, heart rate plus Strava live segment pace.

The extra LEDs of the Elemnt show your turn-by-turn direction by scrolling from left ot right or right to left. Quite useful for a quick glance in a strange area but not a deal breaker.

Being long sighted, the larger screen of the ELEMNT made it a simple choice for me. Easier to read the various data sections without need to wear any reading lens.

Jokerjets

I have the Lezyne macro gps. It’s good but if navigation is important to you I’d say the screen is too small

Col36

Can the Wahoo Element be used off road for mountain biking, for tracking bridleways?

cgfw201

Col36 wrote:

Can the Wahoo Element be used off road for mountain biking, for tracking bridleways?

Yep, use it often for this. Anything that's marked as a path/bridleway on an OSM map shows up. Inevitably there will be some smaller trails not marked, but can still follow the track easily enough.

twist83

backo wrote:

used Garmins for countless years before switching to Wahoo Element bolt....would never go back.....hope they start bringing out running/tri watches soon

Echo this!