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I’ve had a standard Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt for a few years. I’m happy with it but the screen has bled a bit. Wahoo have given me a 40% code as a crash replacement. I’ll get a colour screen replacement but I’m not decided whether to get the Bolt or Roam…
I find navigation on the Bolt pretty good, but I guess a bigger screen would be better.
What do you think and why?
The 'point' of the Bolt is/was that it's smallish and therefore aeroish. If neither of these is important to you, get the Roam, cos a bigger screen (and battery?) has to be better.
Although the Roam screen is bigger, the Bolt screen has more colours. If there was a Roam v2 with all the benefit of the updated Bolt v2 screen I'd be right there (currently using a reasonably venerable Bolt v1) but there isn't so I can't decide. Interested to see which you go for!
I'm a happy Bolt v1 user, and to be honest I don't think you can make a bad choice here.
I think I'd stick with the smaller device especially now that it has decent colour, on-board re-routing and much bigger storage than the old Bolt and the Roam.
But if you want the extra LEDs, a few more pixels and slightly better battery life get the Roam.
Do any of the new ones allow panning?
I love my Bolt v1. Not fussed about colour, size is good as it's nice and unobtrusive, but panning would be very nice sometimes.
My Bolt v2 was flakey, I swapped it for a Garmin 530...but since you have a 40% discount I'd probably take a punt on the Roam on the basis of it not being a Bolt.
Not sure if there may be an updated Roam in the offing though, it's been around a while now?
kayak23
Do any of the new ones allow panning?
Yep, I believe pan & zoom is now available on the Roam & Elemnt BoltV2 - one of the things annoyingly missing from the V1.
I was looking at a review earlier today (following a browse of this thread) and it looks like even though the screen is smaller than the Roam, the BoltV2 is able to show more detail when zoomed out on a map (perhaps because it has more memory available?).
There's a pic of it on this review under the Navigation heading 2/3 of the way down the page:
https://www.sportivecyclist.com/wahoo-elemnt-roam-vs-bolt-v2/
That's another gripe of my V1 Elemnt Bolt - the detail all but disappears when zooming out & because you can't pan around the map quite often the route is completely off the screen & there is no way to make it visible.
I have no idea how usable pan/zoom is given that I don't think the Wahoo devices use touch screens.
Ah - DCRainmaker has the details covered...
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/09/tech-tidbits-wahoo-adds-pan-zoom-moxy-kickstarter-and-polar-teasing.html#:~:text=To%20access%20it%2C%20yo u'll,%2C%20or%20to%20Pan%2FZoom.
Great links thanks @stumpy01 the boltv2 is more advanced than i had realised.
What was the process you followed to get the discount? I’ve got an ELEMNT and wouldn’t say no to a discount on a ROAM.
I use the bolt V1 and am happy with it but I would go for something with a bigger screen. The maps can look pretty cramped on the bolt's small screen but it does the job.
My Bolt v1 screen has also bled, so considering a replacement.
I think screen size and battery life will swing it for me, but waiting on some more current reviews as there seemed to be a few reported teething problems with Roams and Bolt v2s at first.
I got the crash replacement offer and upgraded from the v1 bolt to the Roam. I don't really use the extra features and I preferred the smaller unit. Comments regarding the larger screen...I don't think it is, it's just got more black glass around the edge?
@tonyf1 just contact support through their website and say it’s damaged
They will make you destroy the old unit though, with specific evidence. That's my one complaint about wahoo, planning in obsolescence by making the batteries irreplaceable. I couldn't even pay them to change it for me
Not in my case. My contact was to ask if there was a usb blanking plug replacement as it was falling off and they said no and gave me a code.
Bolt v1 has now got two bleeds and lines all over it. So I’ve ordered the V2, that review above swung it for me. More colours, panning and a longer lasting battery sounds great.
Nothing much to add about choice, but have also recently had great support and discount from Wahoo after damaging the screen. No requirement to destroy old unit but they did want proof of purchase. FWIW I went Bolt V2 and it’s been faultless, although I don’t use any advanced features.
I had a Bolt v2 for a bit after wearing out the battery in the original ELEMNT. The screen wasn’t as good as the ELEMNT and frustratingly was difficult to read with polarised sunglasses.
Changed it for an Edge 530 and don’t regret the decision. DC Rainmaker loathes the Bolt V2 and won’t even publish a review of it.
DC Rainmaker loathes the Bolt V2 and won’t even publish a review of it.
That's silly. What's the point of doing reviews if you only do good ones?
I'd be just as interested to hear why he thinks it's no good.
I have the Bolt 2. It’s not all about colour, it’s a much better resolution. Screen and seems to be a little bit faster / better at everything.
DC Rainmaker has published a review. He has issues with his Press launch version fwiw I’ve had absolutely no issues with mine over six months of road and MTB.
I've a Bolt V2. I think it's great (V1 before that). Maybe I've been lucky, but I've had very few issues with it - the odd time I have, it's been resolved with a quick restart (and it's usually at the start of a ride anyway...). Plus they're still adding in new features with the updates.
Garmins I've had seemed a lot flakier to me.
Riding buddy has the Roam - that's nice too, but I found it a bit too big (as I run mine on my stem. He uses his Roam with the out in front mount).