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Old 08-09-17, 11:29 PM
  #13  
HobbesOnTour
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Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: NB, NL
Posts: 265

Bikes: 90's Trek 800 Sport, setup for Fully Loaded Touring

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Originally Posted by DropBarFan
Which model Wahoo Elemnt? Fitness version is only ~$100 but Bolt is ~$250. Not being able to download detailed maps seems like a big drawback. OTOH reviews say Elemnt does pretty well with pre-programmed turn-by-turn routing. My old Garmin eTrex was bad with that & folks say Garmin Touring isn't much better.


Dyno recharging is a nice advantage; AA batteries would be much more flexible for tourists but I guess that's gone. OTOH some newer phones have improved battery life & one can toggle GPS so it's only used for the complicated route sections. One can use 2 phones, main one + cheap used one for handlebar mount. Off chance it breaks there's still a backup & one can replace it relatively cheaply.
Mine is the..... Wahoo Elemnt.
I'm in Europe and the Bolt is the newer streamlined version of the Elemnt - same software though. A tad more expensive than the Bolt, but the screen is bigger. I travel fully loaded - the most aerodynamic bike computer won't have too much impact . The Elemnt was available from Amazon, not the Bolt. Amazon have a great returns policy so I tried it out.

As for the detailed maps..... If I need them, I'll use my phone, but for Navigation, I don't need anything more than a breadcrumb trail. Even in a city it's enough.... for me.

I tried the Garmin touring. Disaster. Detailed maps, yes. But very difficult to read at a glance. Incredibly slow at turn by turn. A real disaster in a city. And crashed. Often.

The only advantage of the Touring over the Elemnt is the fact that when you go off course, Garmin lets you zoom out and see exactly where you are. You can't do that on the Elemnt (at the moment).

I hear you on the batteries. But there is nothing new that uses AA batteries. That's another thing with the Garmin - it acts strangely running off a dynamo. A big factor when the battery life is much less in pratice than advertised.

Here's a detailed user review of the Elemnt
https://mashing53.cyclyc.com/wahoo-navi ... or-failed/

As regards the phone as a gps navigator, for me, I wanted something in case of emergency navigation. I have been using a tablet with OSMand, but it was just too awkward. When I needed to use it, it was invariably wet, nightime, rough ground, a city or all of the above. I don't want a phone sticking out of my handlebars in those circumstances. I'd prefer something designed for the job. The Elemnt is very unobtrusive. Mainly I'll be using it just for tracking.

Frank
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