What new Bike Computer?

[jackstraw]

If you look around Fort Rock and most likely the trail Demoralizer, you'll find my Bolt. It's only been out there since Tuesday.

[evdog]

Like my Bolt v2 for the most part. Elevations seems fine? But I'm not really sure what to compare it to as I've seen plenty of trailforks trails based of GPS tracks that seem to have totally wrong elevation. Really like that it charges with USB-C as I'm trying to eliminate other cables from my life.

Only thing I don't like is the lack of Trailforks integration. You can easily upload a route to to the Bolt (can do it all on your phone), but it has no way to just show you all the trails. If you are visiting somewhere with a spaghetti trail map, it is not going to help you much.

So if you are visiting an unknown area, you can download a "popular loop" type route and follow that, but there's no way to get any beta from the computer at intersections. If you want to know what that trail to the left is, you gotta pull out your phone.

It also can struggle somewhat when you end up off route (which given some trailforks GPS data is not the best can actually still mean you are 100% still on the trail). It will try to route you back, but it only knows how to do that with trails that show up in its own map data which are mostly just fire roads, well established forest service trails, etc.

On the road it is great. Maps and routing work well. It can do stuff like Strava live segments if you are into that (I assume it works fine, but I don't have a Strava subscription so I have never tried).

In an ideal word, you'd be able to download a full trail network from Trailforks and at a fork you could look down and see that the left fork is a green trail while the right fork is blue...and see the names if you are zoomed in far enough like you can with roads and "established" trails.

Elevation profiles in Trailforks can be way off, mostly on trails that have a lot of incidental climb/descending. Where they are all up and then all down they are usually pretty accurate. Not sure why gain/loss can be so far off on other trails. I've used Trailforks to record rides along side my Garmin (Oregon 600) and the elevation numbers weren't too different. The Oregon consistently over-records distance by a mile or two on long rides. (When I upload the ride to mapping programs mileage always comes up less.)

I got an Edge 830 earlier this year. It's been pretty consistent with the Oregon except more accurate mileage. The Edge has been pretty good so far, though I'm still learning how to use it. It's not as intuitive for setup and navigation as the Oregon. It has the Trailforks integration though which is pretty nice. You can select routes on TF or use ones from Ride With GPS but I find it's pretty klunky to set up.

[singlesline]

Elevation profiles in Trailforks can be way off, mostly on trails that have a lot of incidental climb/descending. Where they are all up and then all down they are usually pretty accurate. Not sure why gain/loss can be so far off on other trails. I've used Trailforks to record rides along side my Garmin (Oregon 600) and the elevation numbers weren't too different. The Oregon consistently over-records distance by a mile or two on long rides. (When I upload the ride to mapping programs mileage always comes up less.)

The trailforks app itself is just going to record ridelogs with whatever level of accuracy your phone can deliver.

But the trails that actually show up on Trailforks weren't necessarily created that way. You can add them by uploading a GPX file from another device/app, you can import them from Strava, or you can even hand draw them on a map. Some of these can result in REALLY bad elevation info since they basically just infer elevation from pretty rough topo data.

I'm sure you've also noticed that every app has its own way of accounting for elevation (and other factors like start/stop, speed, etc.). If my Bolt sends its GPS data to Strava and then Trailforks syncs that same data from Strava, all 3 sources often show slightly different climb/descend, max speed, and moving time even though all 3 are looking at the same GPS data.

Here's some info from trailforks on what they currently do: https://www.trailforks.com/help/view/90/

[climberevan]

Lezyne computers (and others) have barometric altimeters, which are way more accurate than GPS for elevation. I don't think any phones have those. But on trails that go quickly up and down, nothing will be accurate. Think Gooseberry--constant small changes that barely register on the GPS but definitely do in the legs.

Some basemaps have trails (Lezyne shows most of them), but Garmin can actually link to Trailforks and show that data too, which is very cool. It even works on the watches.

My Lezyne head unit opens with a bike selection. Each bike has its own profile and screen configuration. Do other computers not have that? Seems pretty simple.

I end up using my phone a ton when in unfamiliar areas. Even with great maps on the head unit, the screen is just too small to navigate with.

[jackstraw]

If you look around Fort Rock and most likely the trail Demoralizer, you'll find my Bolt. It's only been out there since Tuesday.

She came back to me once again. Slightly broken

[Peruvian]

I'm still getting by with my iPhone and earbud for turn by turn directions via RWGPS, but the Wahoo Element Roam is now on sale for $199 which is making my decision a little more difficult.

[Dee Hubbs]

If you look around Fort Rock and most likely the trail Demoralizer, you'll find my Bolt. It's only been out there since Tuesday.

She came back to me once again. Slightly broken

I have my Garmin programed with a custom startup screen that reads:
"Belongs to Dee Hubbs, if found: deehubbs@email.com or 970-111-1111"

I also use the tether around my bars at all times now. The only instance I've ever lost it in a big crash, I just disconnected my bluetoothed Garmin app on iPhone, and reconnected my iPhone repeatedly, making the Garmin repetitively beep until I found it deep in the bushes.

[jackstraw]

I gave that thing away. I'm too reckless on a mtn bike. My knee pads would hit that thing when I'm flailing over some tech feature far too often. Bought a watch and haven't lost that yet [emoji16]

[SJG]

2 things to add.

On strava a change in elevation is not counted unless it's >10m (33') elevation change. So the mesa-miles thing is totally under-reported.

on Trailforks, when it calculates your total it adds up the totals of the trails you rode. If you ride part of a trail, you get credit for the whole thing (or none of it), not partial credit. So the #s get way skewed. FWIW.

[alfajores]

Lezyne computers (and others) have barometric altimeters, which are way more accurate than GPS for elevation. I don't think any phones have those.

Just did a quick search and found this link for phones with Barometers. Not sure how accurate this is, but worth looking at as a starting point if it has any value in a purchase decision.

[Jax]

My V1 Elmnt Roam only lasted a little more than 2 years. Turns out, you are not supposed to use apple cube chargers on it, like at all. Wish they would have printed that somewhere obvious on the startup leaflet in the original packaging. Using the apple charger kills the battery life. Right after the warranty expired, I started getting random crashes during rides, first one during a century ride. Eventually, the head unit would not stay on at all after charging, even if it said it had a full charge. As soon as I would unplug it, it would turn off. The apple chargers don't have a high enough voltage for the Roam. Doing a complete reset did nothing.

So I was on the fence about Karoo or Garmin but still didn't like reviews I was reading...found a good deal on a V2 Roam and against my better judgement, pulled the trigger anyway to give it another try because I prefer their UI.

Better, convex buttons makes it easier to change pages on a ride. The finish on it has a bit more shine which I don't like, I preferred the matte on V1. The vibrant colors are nice but aren't a game-changer for me. It's USB-C now but the cord seems a little janky when plugged in. You still can't charge it while riding with the out-front mount provided, there's no room to plug in the charger. Ordered a right-angle adapter with proper voltage, and made sure to get a charger with proper voltage for home (needs to be minimum 2VA according to Wahoo's fine-print).

The main changes are the buttons, dual-band GPS, slightly better mapping (but still not very detailed), additional colors with a bit more clarity of the pixels, added memory, and live functions that I don't/won't use on hill-climbs. I turned those off right away for the sake of battery preservation. I also deleted all the world maps as I feel like the lack of space on V1 was another reason it started crashing on long rides. My hope is this one will last at least 2 years and then maybe by that time things will have improved even more. But no way would I be paying full-price for the recent upgrades. I feel like Wahoo is just hanging on at this point for the premium pricing they have in place. The one thing they didn't change was the battery, and I knew this going in. My hope is the proper voltage charger that will help keep the battery ticking a little longer than V1.

In retrospect, the newest Bolt does everything the new V2 Roam does, just smaller and a better value, IMO. I probably should have just bought the bolt.

To add- Wahoo's claim of 17 hour charge on V2 Roam is hype at best if you want to use any of the functions. I keep all notifications off, no backlight, minimal sounds, etc and on a normal 2 hour ride on a full charge, it shows around 80% after. I don't think real-world usage will net the battery life they claim, as with most things tech. I realize the LED's take up a lot of that usage, but I have already grown accustomed to using those from my Varia. This is why I will still need to charge it while riding on those longer days.

[Andeh]

I've also got a v2 Roam, and would agree with all you're saying. Although I haven't had issues with charging on it. I do really like the small form factor of the Roam, and like their interface better than the Garmin I had before. For my use case its fine. Roam with a K-Edge stem spacer mount puts it in a perfect spot for me where it's visible when I want to see it, but also (mostly) protected in crashes. The overpriced lanyard works great.

[beaterdit]

My V1 Bolt experienced serious battery degradation in two years, it's down to maybe three hours of battery life. I complained to Wahoo about it and they offered me 20% off on a new one which I took them up on, a little begrudgingly. No mention of the charging thing, I wish I would have known that about it, but I do like my new V2 Bolt. Only charged it once or twice so far but I'll make sure I do it on a proper charger going forward. I wish they had Trailforks integration but it's a nice little unit.

I also use the overpriced tether and it's saved it once so far in Sedona. I use the out front mount on my road bike and a ripoff K-Edge top cap mount on the MTB, keeps it mostly out of trouble. No way the out front mount would survive on my MTB. That said, I wouldn't mind the top cap mount on the road bike if I thought I might have to plug it in.

[basinbeater]

I use a Garmin 530 and the out front mount for the road bike, and the MTB uses the rubber band mounts that came with it. I should get a stem top cap mount for the MTB .
I like the Garmin, I took some time to make sure I had the screens setup in the order I want etc... And it works quite well I think. I haven't tried wahoo.

[singlesline]

I like the offset (k-edge style?) stem mounts way better than the direct stem cap mounts.

I have this one: https://www.amazon.com/Cestbon-Mount...g%2C142&sr=1-8
It has a decent amount of rise before the pivot point which helps it clear the clamps on short MTB stems, but there are also versions out there with less rise.

The pure stem cap designs leave the computer sticking out towards you which is both a more awkward location to use the buttons while riding, and makes it more likely for you to bump it while mouting/dismounting/crashing.

Also with this design you still get to keep your stem cap if you care about that/use a tool like the EDC, etc. If you don't have room for a spacer, they make a version that is just a cap.

[Andeh]

FYI, if anyone breaks the 1/4 turn tabs on their Wahoo or Garmin, Wahoo customer service directed me to this little company out of Utah:
https://www.dogearsgps.com/

They make a nice little aluminum bracket that replaces the plastic mounts. You finish breaking off the original plastic tabs, sand the edges smooth, then glue and screw on the new metal bracket. I just ordered one, was $33 with shipping.