Elemnt Bolt v Elemnt Bolt V2 GPS

carbonrox
carbonrox Posts: 8
in Road buying advice
Evening all. Couple of queries re these two units.
I have the monochrome Elemnt Bolt and find the navigation clunky. Is the Bolt V2 any better? Nav is important for me as rather good at getting lost!
Also, will the Bolt V2 fit on the same out front arm as the Bolt?
Thanks for any opinions.

Comments

  • davebradswmb
    davebradswmb Posts: 541
    Have you synced your Elemnt account to a Ride with GPS or Komoot account? If not, do this and import GPS files into one of these apps and your navigation experience will be a lot better.
  • plymouthsteve
    plymouthsteve Posts: 140
    Had Mk1 and now have mk2.
    Climb features are really good and I find mapping fine although that's not high on my list.
    Mount is the same.
    Only downside which really could be me is that the font has changed and I can't see it as clearly.
  • ibr17xvii
    ibr17xvii Posts: 1,065
    davebradswmb said:

    Have you synced your Elemnt account to a Ride with GPS or Komoot account? If not, do this and import GPS files into one of these apps and your navigation experience will be a lot better.


    How is it any better than Strava?

    I've had both the v1 & v2 and for my money mapping is pretty poor on both of them but I don't really use it that much so not really that important to me.
  • ibr17xvii
    ibr17xvii Posts: 1,065
    plymouthsteve said:

    Had Mk1 and now have mk2.
    Climb features are really good and I find mapping fine although that's not high on my list.
    Mount is the same.
    Only downside which really could be me is that the font has changed and I can't see it as clearly.


    My eyesight is awful so I got a v2 Roam & it made quite a big difference to me even though the screen is only marginally bigger.
  • davebradswmb
    davebradswmb Posts: 541
    ibr17xvii said:

    davebradswmb said:

    Have you synced your Elemnt account to a Ride with GPS or Komoot account? If not, do this and import GPS files into one of these apps and your navigation experience will be a lot better.


    How is it any better than Strava?

    I've had both the v1 & v2 and for my money mapping is pretty poor on both of them but I don't really use it that much so not really that important to me.
    You get turn-by-turn cues, I don't think you get that with Strava, but I haven't used Strava for mapping for years so I could be out of date. I find mapping on the Elemnt Bolt to be at least equal to equivalent Garmin offerings.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    What are you guys using to plot your routes if it isn't strava? On the bolt
    _
  • feelgoodlost
    feelgoodlost Posts: 335
    rick_chasey said:

    What are you guys using to plot your routes if it isn't strava? On the bolt

    RideWithGPS. Far more user-friendly than Strava mapping.
    https://www.strava.com/athletes/442763
  • ibr17xvii
    ibr17xvii Posts: 1,065
    davebradswmb said:

    ibr17xvii said:

    davebradswmb said:

    Have you synced your Elemnt account to a Ride with GPS or Komoot account? If not, do this and import GPS files into one of these apps and your navigation experience will be a lot better.


    How is it any better than Strava?

    I've had both the v1 & v2 and for my money mapping is pretty poor on both of them but I don't really use it that much so not really that important to me.
    You get turn-by-turn cues, I don't think you get that with Strava, but I haven't used Strava for mapping for years so I could be out of date. I find mapping on the Elemnt Bolt to be at least equal to equivalent Garmin offerings.

    You do get TBT on Strava now.

    Think you may have to be a subscriber now though.
  • davebradswmb
    davebradswmb Posts: 541
    rick_chasey said:

    What are you guys using to plot your routes if it isn't strava? On the bolt

    Ride with GPS as I found the route planning the most user-friendly when I was trying them a few years ago. RWGPS recently added cues to imported routes, something that you had to achieve by manually tracing the route in the past.

    I used to use Komoot for importing GPS files because it added cues, and paid for their World maps, but with the update to RWGPS I have dropped it altogether. I never got on with Komoot's route planning, though this is from testing over 5 years ago so things may have improved.
  • wobblebob
    wobblebob Posts: 73
    carbonrox said:

    Evening all. Couple of queries re these two units.
    I have the monochrome Elemnt Bolt and find the navigation clunky. Is the Bolt V2 any better? Nav is important for me as rather good at getting lost!
    Also, will the Bolt V2 fit on the same out front arm as the Bolt?
    Thanks for any opinions.

    The V2 has better navigation as it actually stores the maps on the device and can reroute you if you go wrong or allow you to change the route to a poi for example. The v1 isn't actually a map as such, it's an image of a map with your GPS position overlayed so there is no intelligence there.

    The V2 unit will fit om the V1 aero mount with a small gap on the curved aero edge, but not vice versa
  • wobblebob
    wobblebob Posts: 73
    rick_chasey said:

    What are you guys using to plot your routes if it isn't strava? On the bolt

    Another ridewithGPS user here. Syncs flawlessly with the bolt. The website is free to use for basic route planning but charges for more advanced features such as heat map and estimated ride time. Unfortunately you also have to be a paid membership to save planned routes using the app
  • feelgoodlost
    feelgoodlost Posts: 335
    wobblebob said:

    carbonrox said:

    Evening all. Couple of queries re these two units.
    I have the monochrome Elemnt Bolt and find the navigation clunky. Is the Bolt V2 any better? Nav is important for me as rather good at getting lost!
    Also, will the Bolt V2 fit on the same out front arm as the Bolt?
    Thanks for any opinions.

    The V2 has better navigation as it actually stores the maps on the device and can reroute you if you go wrong or allow you to change the route to a poi for example. The v1 isn't actually a map as such, it's an image of a map with your GPS position overlayed so there is no intelligence there.

    The V2 unit will fit om the V1 aero mount with a small gap on the curved aero edge, but not vice versa
    Coming from the V1 and upgrading to the V2 I can say that the rerouting feature has come in handy loads of times. Especially on rides where I'm not overly familiar with the area. The mapping on the V2 is far far better.

    I upgraded when Wahoo offered me a discount due to my V1 being faulty. I wouldn't say its worth the upgrade if you have a perfectly fine V1 but then if maps are a big deal to you...
    https://www.strava.com/athletes/442763
  • hpaul
    hpaul Posts: 114
    I've only used a few times(v1), but I find the bread crumb routing better. I went to the bother quite a few years ago of uploading via komoot for tbt. I found if you had a few roads very close by it got confusing. No such issue with bread crumb version because you can see the actual roads.
  • pippi_langsamer-2
    pippi_langsamer-2 Posts: 1,470
    I used to have a v1 Bolt, and found it navigated fine, even though the breadcrumb is basic and can be harder to see. I upgraded to v2 Roam earlier this year, which is obviously better in almost all aspects.

    One of my reasons for upgrading was the increased accuracy of the GPS under things like canopy/ tree cover for MTB, which I found the old v1 Bolt struggled with a bit.

    As already mentioned also, the v1 Bolt won't re-route you if you miss a turn, which the v2 Bolt/ Roam do.

    Komoot route planning for me- works seamlessly with Wahoo units.
  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,120
    Has anyone used the Bolt for a big ride through the unknown eg long-distance, E2E, etc? The 'map' on Garmin appeals, mainly due to finding out where the heck you are!
    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • davebradswmb
    davebradswmb Posts: 541
    Not that long, just 200 km audaxes etc. Just relying on the Bolt from the organiser's GPX file but find it very useable. If I need to know where I am I get my phone out and look at RWGPS on that so I can see my route alongside whatever it is I am looking for.

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