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Wahoo Elemnt Bolt vs Garmin 520


Razors Edge

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I received my new Bolt in the mail, set it up with the basics, and took it for a spin.

I'm coming from a long line of Garmins - the 305, 500, and most recent 520.  Each of those have been pretty great computers except that they all eventually go belly up after 3 years or so.  That's roughly 300 rides (3 yrs x 100) so about $1 a ride which is both reasonable as well as extravagant, eh?

Anyway, the Garmin has stopped properly reporting the grade %, and that really is annoying because it makes no sense from a simple software calculation perspective.  I figured, rather than going with another 520 - the new 530 gets HORRIBLE reviews - or going with Garmin's bigger (more expensive) or smaller (less functions) computers, I thought I would give the Wahoo a shot. 

So, it came in the mail Tuesday, so on Tues night, I opened it up.  I downloaded the iPhone app, powered everything up, and ran through the set-up.  I also had my Garmin HR strap nearby, so I paired that one up.  The app was pretty easy and let me choose various data fields to display, but honestly, without knowing how it would all "look" during my ride, it was just a WAG of what I wanted.  I essentially tried to mimic the 520's look I had used for years - time, speed, HR, distance, cadence, grade, gear selection, & 3sec power - and to set up the secondary screens as well.  Fields were slightly different in name & organization, so that led to some small issues.  Also, I couldn't find the Di2 battery level option (nice to check periodically). 

On Wednesday, I headed down to finish my set-up and head out for a ride.  I needed to pair the powermeter and the Di2 for the Tarmac (I'll do the Roubaix later), and that worked easily (although the Wahoo saw both the powermeter's ANT and Bluetooth connections, so I just picked one of those).   Of course, once I added those sensors, my MAIN SCREEN configuration CHANGED :(  I had to reorganize it again back to how it was. A couple minutes of work, but probably good since it was just further reinforcement on how to use the app. 

Out on the ride, I got some real world experience.  I realized ALL Strava starred segments would pop up as I approached them with a "3,2,1 GO!" sort of thing that then jumped to the segment page.  Most of my starred segments are not there as "competition" zones, but more as reference points, so I have to sort out how to just keep the very few I like as KOM options in the list, and get rid of the others.  I also noticed that the lights along the top (I have set for HR zones) are tough to see in bright light. Probably useless for many of my rides. Also, the Bolt allows you to zoom in or out on a page, so, if there are eight fields displayed (fully zoomed out), when you zoom in, there might only be the top 6, and then top 4.  I went with one level of zoom, since it matched the 520's font size better, but it means I may have to rearrange my choices for fields displayed.

Overall, the Wahoo has been pretty easy to use. I still have a bit of tweaking to things to work on, and I have a few outstanding questions such as how to get that Di2 battery level and if I can auto-pause at a speed over 0mph but below a threshold I choose (like 3.5 mph that I use on the 520).  Also, a little interaction with the KOM live segments, the live tracking, and the mapping stuff will be interesting to explore.

On the NEGATIVE side, the Wahoo uses a SIMILAR, but rotated 90o mounting piece similar to the Garmin.  The supplied "aero" mount for the Wahoo is a CHEAP piece of plastic, so I was hoping to just use my existing K-Edge Garmin mount.  I did some googling, and it looks like a $6 "replacement" insert might work, so I will give that a try when I get it in the mail tomorrow.  That's better than buying a new K-Edge for the Bolt, but sort of BS that these folks can't just use the same damn mounting pieces.  No other glaring negatives - yet - but a lot depends on if I can get this to where it functions how I like it :D

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