KH0456

You will need your phone on for both GPS and tracking. With the phone off it will store your ride with the basic info.... speed, distance etc and can be uploaded. But the tracking wont show up. There isn't a temp or altimeter if thats what your asking.

supercharger

You have answered my questions. Thanks.

raqball

My Mini came today. Was a breeze to get set up and I have one minor bummer. I was hoping there would be a temperature data field but there is not.

It's small, easily readable in direct sun and it paired up quickly with the included speed sensor.

Won't ride with it until next week as it's for my extra bike that I am waiting on delivery.

KH0456

Have you added any additional fields or pages? I'm having an issue that may be a problem for you as well. If you scroll up a couple posts from here you'll see what I just added. Tech support is working on it with the developers.

raqball

I did see your post and have not had the chance to test it yet. I did send them a feature request to add a temperature data field. I assume it would need to pull the temp from an app on the phone or utilize local weather data somehow.

They already responded saying they will forward it up the chain for consideration.

KH0456

Well, I just heard back. Basically I'm told its in the developers hands and to just use the pages as is without trying to delete something. I asked if there was a fix on the horizon... nothing yet. so, while they have a 60 day return, I'm not sure I'll be waiting that long. I'll give it a week or so, but while I knew exactly what I was getting (no GPS except tethered to the phone and all the other things... etc) I did want it for two main things. Customized pages and to be able to upload my rides.
I cant believe no one else found this or they haven't said anything but Wahoo sounded thrilled that I brought it up to their attention. Did no one in house function test the MINI before letting it out the door?

Dunno.... I really like the little unit and it does work well except for that.

raqball

I am sure they will sort it out. I don't change data fields and once they are set, I am pretty much done tinkering with them. I do see where that would be an issue for some though.

John_V 

I have had excellent support from Wahoo in the past. When I got my RFLKT, shortly after they became available, they had some serious issues with batteries going dead after a few weeks of use. The battery that came in the unit only lasted 5 days and a new one lasted two weeks. Apparently I wasn't the only one with this issue and very shortly after it was reported, a new firmware was released that addressed the issue. While they didn't get it right on the first firmware release, they got on the following one.

KH0456

Without a doubt I've had first rate support from them. They respond to my questions (I've had a few) within several minutes of me submitting it. I've been doing it through email instead of waiting for a call back. I do think they are on this issue and will come up with a fix soon enough. Actually they aren't sure if the problem is with the MINI itself or their APP. Honestly if I had to money on it, I think its the APP thats doing it. Its the same APP they wrote when the Element and Bolt came out except its been updated. I think they need to update the APP to be more compatible with the MINI. Just my own .02 cents for what its worth...

ksryder

Same. Ended up returning my RFLKT, but was impressed by their customer service. Also, I've had good luck with their sensors.

Even though I didn't like the RFLKT, their responsive customer service combined with overall positive user reviews of the ELEMNT helped tip the scales in favor of purchasing the BOLT. I've had it for about a month and it's been bulletproof.

weiwentg

Now, that's interesting to hear about your battery experience with the RFLKT. Your SE has BT 4.2 for sure. I'm not sure what standard the RFLKT+'s hardware is capable of; it has got to be BT 4.0 at least. I believe 4.0 is likely to be less efficient than 4.2, but I'm not sure how much, and it may also depend on how much the developer optimizes the connection settings.

I can relate this about the Mini. I've been pairing it with an iPhone 5, which has BT 4.0. I know it's an older phone, but I also know that I changed the battery 2 months ago for an OEM-spec battery, and it does report that the capacity is essentially the same as the design capacity of 1,440 mAh. (Battery reported 1,437 mAh capacity at last test, 10 charge cycles.)

On an hour and a half ride, it burned about 28% of a full battery. Not acceptable. Furthermore, the Mini appears to have retained the GPS track from only the last leg of the ride, about 3 miles worth - that's what I see on the app, and that's what got uploaded to Strava. So, it's not clear to me how long the phone was actually paired. Let's say it was paired all the way - still not going to get me through a century ride. I do have some apps in the background with location always enabled, but those burn very little battery (the 2 apps that have that permission are IFTTT and Nest, and I confirmed on my battery screen that the drain was by far attributable to the Wahoo app). Everything else is location off or when using only.

Oh, and despite authorizing auto-upload, no rides were auto-uploaded to Strava. The ride above was uploaded manually. Also, the unit has dropped my speed sensor once mid ride, and it failed to increment total distance despite having both speed and cadence sensors reporting data on two occasions (could be failed to pair phone in those cases, but my total distance was incrementing on the ride where the app lost most of the GPS track).

Separately, as I posted on another thread, the cadence sensor burned a near fresh CR2032 battery within 2 days. Specifically, I replaced the sensor battery on day 1 with one I know is near full charge (used a few days on another fancy schmancy tech device that's not ready for prime time). I ride for 2 days. The Mini fails to report cadence info. The Wahoo utility app can't detect my cadence sensor even if I spin the crank. I change the battery for one that is fresh from the package. The blue light comes on. That said, I am not inclined to find out how long this battery lasts - that unit is going back to the store I bought it from. The Mini is likely to follow very soon, although I have to return that to Wahoo directly.

One other poster suggested that the Mini is a great computer if you mostly don't need GPS but you only want it for some rides. I totally agree! Except, of the rides I'll want GPS on, many will be long rides. If the Mini burnt this much battery in an hour and a half, then I'm not going to get through a century. I could totally use it for intervals - if I could be confident it would retain the GPS track.

I was hoping that the Mini's battery drain on my iPhone would be roughly what you experience with your iPhone SE + RFLKT. Surely that isn't too much to ask for in 2017. But it looks to me like the Mini isn't ready for prime time, unless I am doing something wrong that I don't know about - for example, is my steel frameset reflecting the ANT+/BT waves in such a way that makes it that much harder to maintain consistent connection? Did I mis-apply some setting somewhere? Is my iPhone 5, released in 2013, totally obsolete and I'm in denial?

KH0456

I have great news to report! The issue of the pages being deleted if edited has been fixed! Wahoo tech support reached out to me saying they released a new firmware update which mine automatically picked up from the app. Now I can edit delete or add to and the pages stay intact. Wonderful! If you have a MINI make sure you get the update.

WT21

It was just released 8/1/17 so there are likely to be some hiccups

I ordered one earlier today

KH0456

Hello, I wanted to ask if you had "Background App Refresh" turned on for the Wahoo app? Your senerio above about it only recording part of the GPS track sounds like when I had it off on my iPhone. If it's off, it will only record the part when the phone was awake. As soon as the screen turns off, the gps turns off. I turned on background app refresh and i have no problem at all with it recording and uploading to Strava and ride with gps.
That being said, with the app refresh turned on all the time does use battery so I typically turn it off except when riding.

KH0456

See my post just above yours. That problem has been fixed. As of now I have no issues and I love the little thing!

RedBullFiXX

Having the same issue here
plus, it doesn't seem to play well with Apple watch, too many BT devices ?

KH0456

I posted above that they fixed it today by issuing a firmware update. If you have the Wahoo app on your phone and pair it to the mini, it should automatically download and install the update. Now I can change the screens in any way I want and they stay.
Sorry, I don't know anything about the watch. If you email wahoo tech support, they may be able to tell you if it will work or not. They don't list the watch as a device to use with the mini on their web site but that may just mean it hasn't been tested yet.

raqball

I have not received any update on my unit. Can you tell me what the version of your firmware is?

Thanks.

John_V 

I had an iPhone 5c prior to getting my SE. The battery life wasn't as good as the SE but I never ran out of battery power during a normal ride and would only use a charger on rides of 80 miles or more. Since the Mini really doesn't need your phone in order to work, you can actually use any cycling app that supports BTLE sensors. The only thing is that you won't get text and phone call notifications on your Mini's screen. If supported, you can also use the 3rd party cycling app to send your ride data to Strava and/or any other social media site the app supports.

If the ride results from this forum are favorable about the Mini, I was actually thinking of using it with Cyclemeter, since I have several years worth of rides stored in a local database. I would only use the Wahoo app to setup and modify pages and data fields or to update the firmware. I don't respond to text messages or phone calls (except from my wife) when I'm riding so those notifiacations are of no importance to me. Cyclemeter does all the other stuff that the Wahoo app does, and much more, so I don't see the need to use the Wahoo app for everyday rides. Of course, your situation will most likely be very different from mine.

weiwentg

Hey there,

Good point! I did have background app refresh off. I also enabled location services only when using the app.

For background refresh, my understanding of the general concept of background refresh was that the app only refreshes when there's a wi-fi connection available. For the most part, this won't be relevant while I'm riding, so I turned it off by default. Sometimes I stop for coffee, and I'm relying on the auto-pause feature for the computer. I don't really want my phone burning juice by refreshing in the background while I'm still riding. Further, I don't know what the app is doing when I'm not riding - I can assume that the developers specified that it shouldn't try to refresh if it knows it's not out on a ride, but do I know for sure that they thought of this? Maybe I'm too distrustful, but I just turned it off.

What I thought was happening was that if you've got a ride started, then even with the screen off, the phone should consider the app to be active, and enable it to use GPS. I've done several rides with background refresh off and location only while using, and I have had them recorded.

As to location, again, I wanted to be absolutely sure that the app wasn't burning my phone battery while I wasn't riding, so I enabled it only when using the app. Wahoo's rubric in the phone settings says that in that case, location is only enabled when the app is open and on the ride tab. Maybe that was the problem, or maybe it was the combination of the two? That said, if it is, then how is it that multiple other short rides did get recorded without issue?

WT21

Hmmmm...price aside, what's the benefit of the mini over the Bolt? Or is it just the price (and maybe a few grams of weight)?

KH0456

Actually the Background app refresh lets the app stay running with wifi or cellular which is why it needs to stay on while riding if you want the app to track your route. I have mine set the same as yours... only use location while using the app. I also turn off background refresh when I'm not riding to preserve battery during the day. Thats not an Elemnt thing.... that an Iphone thing. Until I started using the Wahoo app, I never turned on the refresh.

raqball

Not many.

1. Price
2. Replaceable battery that does not need to be charged every 10 hours or so of use

That's it really. The Bolt is the better option for most unless they want a simple computer to track rides that has a battery that will last about a year according to Wahoo. My guess is I'll get 3 or 4 months per battery but I ride 2 1/2 - 3 hours a day, 4 or 5 days a week.

Taking mine out for it's 1st ride today and will report back. I am doing a 36-mile course that I do often and I'll keep track of phone battery drain, how the included speed sensor handles auto pause at a stop, and I'll look at the GPS track after I get back.

WT21

Thanks. I ordered a mini due for Monday, but the more I research the Bolt, the more I think I might have a lot of fun with that, and it could do more than just record my ride, but expand my ability to go further afield. Good thread.

KH0456

There is no true benefit over the bolt if you take price away. The mini is a nice little unit that will work well for a lot of people (myself included) for what it does. The Bolt has GPS built in and does other navigation things that I didn't need so price was a deciding factor.
To me the Mini was big upgrade from the little regular speedometer type device I had. I can keep track on my rides now and customize the screens how I like. To others, it may seem like a step down.... but thats why there are options!