[Closed] Garmin Edge 520 Plus vs Wahoo Elemnt Bolt - real world experiences

don't know the app in question but I went from a 510 to a Bolt and apart from the first 2 days where I couldn't get it to connect and update to the latest s/ware release, it has been flawless, with great connection to satellites unless under deep tree cover and long (8-10 hour) battery life.

Some will say the screen is too small, the mapping is no good (actually, there isn't really mapping but it gives me turn by turn directions on a 'pen drawing' version of the map just fine). Only minor annoyance is you can only scroll screens in one direction so to go back a screen, I have to go forward by 4, but we're really looking for moans there.

Just got a 520 Plus to replace a 520 I'd carelessly dropped onto concrete and smashed the screen (Garmin crash replacement is now nearly £100 on a 520 so thought I'd upgrade).

Mapping seems ok with the included map, not used it off road yet but on road is pretty good.

New unit took over from where the old one left off - had to reconfigure some screens to my preference, but there's a lot of data there and it hooks into stuff well (e.g. garmin connect to strava to MFP as soon as save-ride is hit)

I went from a 520 to the larger sized ELEMNT rather than Bolt. Love it. Particularly like how well it integrates with the iPhone app, Strava, Ride With GPS, etc and my home wifi. Bigger screen is great too.

Went from 520 to Bolt. As above love the integration especially with ride with GPS. Maps and route are simplistic but that can work nicely off-road, sometimes gets a bit cluttered on screen in town centres. Do miss the 520 colour screen a bit. Buttons work very well on the Bolt when off-road. Actually would be happy with either unit, battery, accuracy, ease of use, excellent with both. GPS units seem to be finally getting nicely sorted!

My main reason to change to Wahoo from Garmin was live segments. I wanted to chase my PR not that of the fastest person I was following.

There's a lot to like about the Bolt. Good battery life (~15 hours), very clear display, good syncing with online services, and the buttons are much better than those on the Elemnt. It has its niggles, though; for me the main two were that it fell a long way short of Garmins for navigation and the (necessary) companion app absolutely torched my phone battery (which I could repeat with multiple Elemnts, multiple phones and multiple versions of the firmware. First time round I filed a bug report it was never fixed; second time round I filed another, admittedly with unabashed frustration, and got a thinly veiled "jog on" in response). I've seen mixed reviews of the 520 and ended up with the Explore (which I almost can't fault); but then my priority is navigation and mapping, I don't use training data. If you're not fussy about navigation then I'd give the Bolt a go and keep an eye on your phone. But personally, despite Garmin never exactly lacking niggles either, I'd go with them.

Had my bolt for almost a year and have only had 1 time where it crashed. Battery life it awesome, and even navigation is good enough for me.

Although sadly it looks like mine may now have an altimeter issue as it's been showing varying incorrect altitudes (riding along a river and being 200ft below sea level for instance), looking at some recent strava rides and it's been out for a little while it seems.

Re, phone life using the Bolt companion app.....you don't need the app for the Bolt to work - obviously you need to connect if you want to get phone alerts, like text messages etc.
It's a bit weird, as the Bolt won't automatically connect to your phone via bluetooth when you turn it on - I don't understand the intricacies of why, but you have to go into the app for the Bluetooth connection to be established.

I've only run my Bolt a few times connected to my phone & haven't experienced crazy battery drain, but my rides are probably a lot shorter in length than Bez does & my phone does have a very large battery, so I generally don't have issues with running out of juice.

There are definitely a few niggles with the Bolt, but I much prefer it over the Edge500 I had before.
Niggles-wise:

- there is no way to turn the backlight on, apart from page scrolling - on the Edge 500 tapping the power button gave you a shot of backlight, so you could check the display in the dark without having to have it lit all the time. On the Bolt, you have to scroll the pages to do this, which then turns the backlight on but you are a page on from where you wanted to view, so you have to scroll all the way round (or tapping the power button puts the light on, but also takes you to a setting menu). It's been on their support page as a request for ages to sort out.
A lot of people say to just leave the backlight permanently on, but I find it distractingly bright at night to have on all the time.

- the mount isn't as friendly as the Garmin, as it only works in one direction.

- I don't find the LEDs particularly useful; but that's personal preference & I can see why you might want to use them. I've just turned mine off.

- No settings for bike profile, so you can't have 'Full Sus', 'Hardtail', 'Roadbike' set as individual profiles with different screen set-ups & assigned sensors for each.

Just got a Bolt, the other week. It's so aerodynamic, it's shaved literally seconds off my five-hour laps of the Isle of Wight. #marginalgains

Haven't tried using it for navigation purposes yet, just ride-logging so far. The Garmin Phoenix 3 I was using previously was quite limited as a navigational tool. Seems to like syncing with Komoot, which I already use.

Still figuring it out, to be honest. It seems more reliant on its companion app and less standalone than the Garmin 520 I've used previously.

Can't figure out how to get it to cycle between pages, or how to get the device itself to show me how much battery life it has left. Any hints and tips welcomed.

I love my Wahoo Element, previously had Garmin 500/510/ Edge Touring.

The issue is i found that the Garmin is great hardware with terrible glitchy software, i ad issues with all my Garmain with software, with poor battery life and doing odd random things.

I got the Element to do Torino-Nice rally last year and i find it just works, it doesn't have a flash colour screen or OS mapping, but the battery life has been about 14 hours with navigation and backlight on so you can see the screen in the dark. For my Garmin 510 if i'd had to navigate over night i would of got 5-6 hours.

The best thing about the Wahoo though is the app and the fact that it connects automatically to other apps like Strava, Komoot, RidewithGPs etc. I plot a route in Komoot and it automatically is in the Wahoo routes, and then over wi-fi or Bluetooth it is on the headset, no plugging it in to PC to have to try and drop the roue on to your Garmin, so routes can be done on the bike not sat at table easily.

As you can probably tell i really like mine, if i had to do intricate navigation off road, then i'd recommend a Garmin Etrex, for everything else, i'd recommended Wahoo (personally)

StefMcDef Subscriber

Can’t figure out how to get it to cycle between pages, or how to get the device itself to show me how much battery life it has left. Any hints and tips welcomed.

Not sure you can get it to auto-cycle between pages.
Battery Life - I think if you press the power button briefly to get to the settings page, there is a battery percentage in there at the top.....press it again to come out to the normal pages.

Here you go (if this pic embed works); a pic I found in the DC rainmaker review:

Complete review here.....definitely worth a look when you have time:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/03/wahoo-elemnt-bolt-in-depth-review.html

Re, phone life using the Bolt companion app…..you don’t need the app for the Bolt to work – obviously you need to connect if you want to get phone alerts, like text messages etc.

Sort of true. You need it to get routes on there and to configure it. You can kill the app when you've done so; which admittedly isn't exactly hard labour, but it's a continual reminder of something annoying.

The drain I experienced was moderate most of the time (but annoyingly occurred regardless of whether I was using the app or the Bolt/Elemnt). However, when I had another crack at the Elemnt a year after trying the Bolt, when syncing with RideWithGPS I could literally watch the percentage on my iPhone ticking down every few seconds while the phone warmed up to maybe-I-can-fry-an-egg-on-this temperatures whilst (ironically) being frozen. Literally couldn't get a route onto the device, spent all evening trying and then boxed it up again and bought an Explore.

To be fair I haven't seen many online reports of this issue, though. Not quite sure why, given that I consistently had similar problems on three phones, two OSs, and two Wahoos with two or three firmware versions, but I'm probably just cursed and maybe it's best to ignore it 🙂 The majority of serious grumbles on the forums seem to be things like sensors stopping working, as mentioned above.

I do miss the clarity of the screen in sunlight, though. It's very good indeed for that. And what does work (which is most of it) works very well.

my rides are probably a lot shorter in length than Bez does

A few years ago maybe, but sadly not since Plural Fatherhood 🙂

I use ridewithgps to plan my routes and it doesn't need the app, once you've authorised the bolt to connect to ridewithgps, when you create a route it'll sync automatically (or go to the map page, then routes and press sync) and it'll download it.

I only ever load up the app once every few months, if that, if I need to change HR zones for instance.

Bez

Sort of true. You need it to get routes on there and to configure it. You can kill the app when you’ve done so; which admittedly isn’t exactly hard labour, but it’s a continual reminder of something annoying.

Nope. I've never used my phone to get a route onto the device.
Create the device in ridewithgps & then turn the device on & hit sync (I think on the map screen). Even if you created the route a week ago, it will go off & sync to drag anything new onto the device.

Yes, you need to configure the device with the app but isn't that generally a set it up & leave it option? Since setting mine up the day I bought it, I haven't needed to change any settings & if I did that would likely be while at home sat on the sofa, not while out on a ride.

ta11paul Member

I use ridewithgps to plan my routes and it doesn’t need the app, once you’ve authorised the bolt to connect to ridewithgps, when you create a route it’ll sync automatically (or go to the map page, then routes and press sync) and it’ll download it.

Ah yes....what he said ^^^ :o)

Hmm. That rings a bell from when I had the Bolt a couple of years ago. Can't entirely recall whether I tried that method when I had the Elemnt. The latter was a rather more brief affair, I got quite angry quite quickly 😀

I went from a 520 to a Lezyne to a Wahoo.

Had to ditch the 520 cos it just wouldn't pair with my new phone. Even a new 520 wouldn't pair. The Lezyne was cheap and reasonably cheerful but a bit quirky in that you had to select indoor or outdoor ride every time or it might not record all the data.

As mentioned, it's a bit naff not to have different profiles on the Wahoo, but the screens are easier to change (increase/decrease number of fields on the screen).

The mapping is sufficient to get you home but I've found when you input a postcode destination, then sometimes the route it provides sends you down private driveways, footpaths, dead ends/pedestrian cut throughs, private land....

Pairs fine with my Assioma pedals or FSA Powerbox depending which bike I'm using, but you will need to set the crank length in the Assioma app because the Wahoo app doesn't have the feature. (Well, I think it did, but it seemed to go missing and they've not been able to sort it despite me sending many data files)

I swapped an 810 for a 520 for road. I miss the touch screen but love the form factor and the interface. The basket of ANT devices is so much nicer than bike profiles. Wahoo doesn’t do lap by position and that was the deal breaker for me.

I run Assioma Uno and it’s been flawless on Garmin and now Zwift iOS. There were issues with Wahoo, Zwift and Assioma, but Favero updated the Bluetooth so it sent the full power (not half per pedal) to device. Hence Zwift and I presume Wahoo are now fine.