[Closed] Garmin Edge 520 vs Wahoo Element Bolt

I'd go for the Wahoo every time.
I had a 520 and it was rubbish, kept freezing up and would never upload rides. I sold it and got the 820 which was just as bad but with a rubbish touch screen. I decided to get the Elemnt Bolt but was also unsure about the mounts. The difference with the Wahoo is night and day. It works exactly like it's meant to, the routes work well, the mapping is good, it's easy to upload new routes to it from Strava or Ridewithgps.
It basically does everything it's supposed to without all the troubles of the Garmin.

With regards the mounts you can use the basic Garmin stem mounts by turning them 90 degrees and trimming a tiny piece of plastic off the mount. I've had no issues after doing that.

I’m really impressed with my wahoo so easy to use

I haven't had a Garmin to compare to, but my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt has been very easy to use. Simple to set up, easily customisable display, and seamless synchronisation with RideWithGPS and Strava. Battery life us as advertised. My only slight complaint is that it takes a while to turn on, but that's a minor issue.

I am considering the same 2 options as you OP as i want to replace my edge 25. Having read everything possible to arm myself with the best info i have decided its the wahoo by a long way. Not having to deal with garmin updates/software is a massive tick for me plus battery life on Garmins seems to be nothing like advertised,case closed.

Edit: different mounts is not really an issue as it involves 1 screw and there are plenty of cheap mounts available.

+1 for Elemnt Bolt.Previously had a Garmin Edge. Wahoo is easy to use, simple to upload GPX files to, has decent battery life, can view data on phone and mapping works fine on roads.

I have an Edge 500 and have been longing for the time when some companies come along to offer decent competition to Garmin.

The hardware side of my Garmin seems fine, but the software is just cak. I never really trust that it will get me where I am going when using it for navigation.

I won't be buying another Garmin, unless there is literally no other option.

W
A
H
O
O
O
O
O
O

I’ve got an Element Bolt and it just works.

I’ve just ordered a new out front mount and sensors so I can use it on the “gravel” bike as well as the roadie.

Yep, another Bolt convert here. The usability wipes the floor with all my previous Garmins - numerous 500 and 510's. Changing the settings via the app, not the bloody infuriating menu system is a Godsend.

Had an 810 for about 5 years until I left it in an airport, worked well for me, had the occasional hang/crash at times but that was maybe once a year. Worked well with bluetooth and the garmin watch it was paired with for HR.

Replaced it with the 520 as having the extra sensors and mounts made sense, it's been good, miss the touch screen a bit as having to use the buttons is a bit slow sometimes but it's been solid and reliable, paired with my phone on day 1 and uploads straight to strave, have the screens configured as I like them. Only thing I've not spent time working out is map zoom as it was always nice to be able to zoom up and down fast on the 810 when you were in the trees etc.

So no reali issues here and does what it says on the box.

Converted to a bolt from a 510.

The wahoo wipes the floor with garmin offerings imo.

I've had both.

Wahoo is head and shoulders above. The phone app makes it super easy to use.

No contest at all

Slight hijack, but any of you Wahoo owners use it for off road navigation?
Cheers.

@madedgar - I have. Where the route or trail is clearly defined or obvious e.g. SDW it's OK to follow, but where you're looking for a new trail that's not immediately obvious, e.g. navigating to a new strava segment it's not ideal due to GPS accuracy and scale IMO, but I haven't got anything to compare it against.

We've just (yesterday) had our first delivery of Wahoo through, very very impressed. Gone for an Element myself, the setup was a complete piece of piss, excellent. Had a 510 before that, which was ok - but I'd not go further than that!

I'm after a new garmin after my 500 died, was going to buy a 520 but think I'll now go for the element.

Whats the difference between the element and element bolt?

Another happy wahoo convert here. I used it off-road on the BB200 and on some rides more local to me (in suffolk). Generally it's fine as long as you have a route you want to stick to.

It's not great for "having a look around" as while zooming out is possible, detail is lost and you can't pan about.

It's comes with maps of everywhere and (in the UK and France at least) that includes off road ROW.

Creating and syncing routes with Ridewithgps is a doddle.

Three final things that the Wahoo does better than Garmin, 1. when you pause/stop a ride none of the options are the fatal "discard ride" option.

2. On the one occasion I've managed to run it flat, I plugged in a battery pack and it booted up said "recovering ride" went from 0 to 100% and carried on if nothing happened.

3. My 810 would start shutting itself down when on charge and it reached 100%. The wahoo just keeps on trucking.

The two Wahoos are essentially the same but the Bolt is smaller, more aero and only has one row of leds.

The leds are ace. I have the vert ones give me a colour based HR reading (frees up a data panel on the map) and the horizontal ones flash left or right for turns and red/green for on/off route.

scott_mcavennie2 - Member
Converted to a bolt from a 510.

The wahoo wipes the floor with garmin offerings imo.

Same here. Grew tired of Garmin issues and failures. Went from 510 (my last ever Garmin!) to a Bolt.

Thanks johnnystorm. I thought with the £50 price differences there would be functional differences.

So Bolt is 520 sized ish and element 810ish?

A more cautious opinion of the Wahoo:
https://mashing53.cyclyc.com/wahoo-navigation-nailed-or-failed/

If you use the little Edge mounts that fit with O-rings you don't need new mounts. Turn them 90deg and cut about 1mm off each tab with a knife. 30 seconds and you have mounts that work with both devices.

But they don't fit out front mounts?

Really good direct comparison here:

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/garmin-edge-520-vs-wahoo-elemnt-bolt-49381/

I like my 820 but would be very tempted to go for the Wahoo.

The comments about the Garmin screen in the review above are fair, it can be a bit rubbish in daylight. And the touch screen, well I sometimes wish it had the same buttons as the 520 and the touchscreen was more of an optional thing that could be disabled. One thing I would miss though is integration with other Garmin devices. Vector pedals, ok I don't use the specific view but it's nice to know it's there. The remote button, really useful for switching between stats, summary and map views without getting out of the drops (though if the touch screen worked better maybe it'd be less of an issue.) And I really like the Varia rear radar and the way it's integrated into the Garmin display.

Oh the photo on that other review up there reminded me ^^. Who's stupid idea was it to mount buttons at the bottom of the Garmin? Mount it on one of Garmin's own out front mounts and you have to squeeze your finger between the stem face plate and the Garmin to press it 😡

But they don't fit out front mounts?

Not unless you can take the actual mount part out, cut the tabs and refit it at 90deg. I don't use out-fronts so I don't know if any allow that, but I suspect most don't.

Not unless you can take the actual mount part out,

With the Garmin mounts the insert is usually removable and can be taken out and rotated through 90 degrees. Not sure about cutting the tabs though.

Tried the Bolt and it is good and the maps are great for road riding, I didn't really like the LED's, but thats not a problem. When you realise your friends use the LED's connected to show their power output its quite fun to watch how hard they are pushing whilst pretending not to be, although quite demoralising if they're not trying hard and you are to keep up with themm.

Had no issues with my 520 though and for the most part using OSM maps works much better for off road navigation. If you ride around the same places a lot then its great, I've got the whole of the South East Region and London on mine. If you go to new places you have to download the maps in advance which is a bit of a faff, but the mapping is great for most of Europe.

Hopefully Garmin will up their software game or they won't have many people buying new units, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Am I the only person who preferred the Garmin ? 😆
I tried both, went with the 520.
You can customise the screen on the 520 with various downloadable Apps and screens.
The Openstreet mapping us pretty good (better than the bog standard Garmin).

I'd still get the 520 😮

Gary_M - Member
But they don't fit out front mounts?

Mine does.. mounts on my Enve Stem

[IMG] [/IMG]

Went from an Edge 500 to a Bolt. Feels like I've joined the 21st century, so much easier to download and upload routes

Mine does.. mounts on my Enve Stem

Sorry I meant garmin mounts.

Just bought the Bolt.

Thanks for all the replies! Looks like I'll be going for the Bolt.

One last question. There's a package deal for the Bolt with cadence and speed sensors and hr monitor. But what is the speed sensor for with a GPS computer?

I have owned both and my view us that the Bolt is so much better. The firmware on Garmin's is shocking having owned several over the years. The Bolt has been perfect over several months almost daily use. I can see me ever buying a Garmin product again now there is a viable alternative 🙂

Using on a turbo trainer possibly?

I bought mine on chain reaction using my December British Cycling 10% off code.

If you want my January one then PM me.

But what is the speed sensor for with a GPS computer?

It tends to be just a bit more accurate and responsive than GPS speed.

I moved from a 510 to a Bolt and have no problems. It can be quite boring in that it just works, updates don’t break things, it doesn’t slow down over time etc.

My only gripe is the number of data fields shown on the screen, where it goes from 4 to 7, so when your on 4, there is a gap on the screen where the 5th field could go, or you have to put 7 fields on screen.

So the elemnt bolt I bought was delivered yesterday. Had a play about with it last night and it's bloody brilliant. The ability to set up pages using the app is a massive improvement on a garmin.

I have an issue with the 60 strava premium offer though as after going through the process I've been charged for a years membership. I've emailed strava support and I'm waiting on a response.

Gary thanks for the update, deffo going to buy the wahoo now if i can find one in a sale as its a bit spendy for me at the minute. Going to sell my garmin to help fund it.

Anyone got any updated experiences of these?

i am heading towards the 520 I think as I don’t seem to have problems with the garmin and I can get a 520 with hrm and cadence sensor for the same price as the bolt.

I must have had my Bolt for almost a year now and it's never missed a beat. I've never had a Garmin that's managed that!

Even if the Bolt was dearer than the Garmin, I'd still go for it I've the Garmin any day.

I love my ELEMNT. I went for the big one because it is supposed to be more durable, I wanted the extra LEDs, and the bigger screen. I sold a 520 to get it. BOLT can take a leash, ELEMNT needs a hack (take off the charger cover, loop leash around screw, and put back on.

What it does better:

- linking directly to 3rd parties like ridewithgps

- strava live segments (tracks multiple simultaneously, switch between, and chase your own PR rather than follower)

- better screen

- better navigation

- LEDs are a nice touch for navigation and HR

On mounts, if your mount has a rotatable insert, then it'll fit. Wahoo is 90 degrees to Garmin. Also worth noting it comes with an out front in the box (which I use on my road bike). I use a top cap mount for my stem on the MTB.

I've got the Elemnt, I think it's superb. I was going for the Bolt but got a great deal on the Elemnt on eBay.

Navigation is great, route planning is a doddle on RideWithGPS. Only minor gripe I have is that the warning beeps are fairly quiet, but that's no way a biggie. They're apparently louder on the Bolt.

And +1 for zerolight's comment about mounts.

whats the hack for a tether? I kinda refuse to pay 14 quid for a piece of pissing string, though I know ill regret it if I dont!

it does piss on the garmins, touchscreen is useless on the latest garmins, was fine on the older ones....only slight gripe I could say If Im nitpicking is lack of colour screen, but that's about it, navigation is way way way better, its much clearer to follow a preloaded route