I'm going to be in the market for a new computer soon. I've decided to go with wahoo. My question though is which one? I am a recreational rider. I may venture into some of the training functions it has and if I do I would add a power meter. None of that is relevant at this time though. I like the size of the original as my eyesight is not what it once was. The reviews I've read say the bolt is a better unit. Now the roam has just been introduced and it seems to be the size of the original, so that's a plus. Any advice?

I bought my Bolt about 4 months ago, and went through the same decision of Elemnt vs. Bolt. They recently dropped the price of the Elemnt to $299, but even at that I would still buy the Bolt again-- but if your vision is doing what all of vision eventually does, it's up to you to decide if a bigger screen is worth $50 to you. Feature-wise they are nearly identical. For my use, the Bolt is the best computer out there. I would not consider the Roam, because the greyscale navigation features of the Bolt are perfectly suitable for any time I might need it. Color screen = battery killer.

Nope.

Go look at specs for Garmin and other devices using color screens, battery life is the same, usually 15 hrs. or so, as a B&W Bolt or Elemnt.

@ OP, there’s been some buzz that the recent iOS upgrade has maybe broken some of the Wahoo app functions. I’m certain Wahoo will fix (something Garmin sucks at), but just a heads up.

There is no color screen Garmin bar-mount that will get 15+ hours, on this planet or any other. The 1030
is so bad Garmin themselves make a double-sided mount with a cordless battery pack. Meanwhile, my Bolt gets a real world 15+ hours with 3 sensors connected, generally using 6-7% of battery per hour. From Garmin, factory performance specs are almost meaningless.

Beyond that, the OP asked which Wahoo to buy. Garmin discussion is basically OT in this thread.

Really ?, come ride with me. My 1000 battery usage is 7% per hour typically, unless I’m navigating a really long day. It’s 3 years old. That’s near enough to 15 hrs and is no different than a Bolt I owned and is about the same as the 810 I used for 2 years. Pretty sure my buddies Edge Explore is about the same. These units were generally rated at around 15 hrs, but the more crap you have turned on and connected, the less battery life. Color screen never made a difference.

ahh no. If I don't run a scrolling 4 screen full of data and turn elevation profile off I can get 15 hours out of my 520....with everything turned on like normal I average about 7ish hours. but that is full screen brightness too so I could get more if I turned that off. I don't use navigation so I am sure that would effect it but your statement false, sorry.

The back up battery you mentioned is been rated to put the 1030 in the 22+ hour plus range, with a max of 24 hours.

My Edge 520 when brand new was good for about 12 hours, backlight set to 50% and a 30 second timer. Three years and a probably 180 charge cycles later, it can just manage 5-6 hours with the backlight off. I guess it would be cool if I could get a Garmin that came equipped with a magical battery, but mine have always had to follow the rules that apply to lithium batteries. I might still be getting ~12 hours per charge if I never used it, but I did.

Again, this thread is about Wahoos. Wahoo beats Garmin in more categories than just battery use. If this were a thread about giving up everything for battery life, it would be about Brytons. My wife's Rider 530 gets around 40 hours per charge.

I have about 22,000 miles on my Elemnt. It works great for how I use it. I also use a PowerPod for power measurement.

How many data fields do you want at a larger size? The larger units can display the same # of fields at a larger text size.

Yea...Garmin's run-time numbers are completely made up.

Unlike you...I never got even 10 hours out of my E1K. Only way to get close was to start turning off all the headline features....like bluetooth phone pairing (that only sort of worked), or auto brightness, or the digitizer, disable GLONASS

The ROAM has a claimed battery life of 17 hours.

Haven't heard any real world experience with it, but that's what they claim.

But it is more expensive, and how often will you be on the bike 17 hours? I've done that once.

[QUOTE=Marcus_Ti;20993361]How many data fields do you want at a larger size? The larger units can display the same # of fields at a larger text size.

I think at this time the info I would like to display on page 1 would be speed and cadence for sure. Not sure possibly avg speed also. Not sure what other field I want to see yet.

Yeah any of the computers have way more run time than I need. My long rides are usually only up to around 3 hours at this point. I figure most computers I could get by charging once to twice a week. I'm cool with that. Normally during the work week I try to ride about an hour before the gym atleast 3 to 4 days a week. I then do my long ride on Saturdays with friends. My ride schedule is not as intense as others. I'm riding for fun and to get in better cardio condition. I'm still relatively new so I do what I can.