Interested to know how these are panning out for navigation. (I couldn’t give a flying fig about training data, segments, etc: I just want proper, ie not just breadcrumb, navigation.)

In particular:

– How painful is it to load and sync maps? (Especially for long routes which stretch the required area into thousands of square miles.)

– How painful is it to work with RideWithGPS? From what I’ve read online, it seems to mean downloading from RWGPS and then uploading to GPS Root—which is clunky but not a deal breaker—but I’ve also seen at least one comment saying the navigation won’t work without a phone being paired up while riding, which I’m sceptical of, but would be an issue. And if you upload a TCX are the cue points and POIs retained and displayed?

After having ditched Garmin for Wahoo and then gone straight back to Garmin, I’ve just had a frustrating weekend with Garmin again and am starting to think I might have to shelve some of my objections to the Wahoo/Lezyne approach to navigation. To be honest I suspect Lezyne falls functionally somewhat short of both, but the battery life is certainly appealing. Any thoughts? (Indeed, any other suggestions, eg Polar?)

I have one, and got to the point where running it over with a steam roller would be to good for it.

Trying to load a map for off-line navigation is nigh on impossible, no doubt someone has managed it. If the marketing blurb had been as specific I wouldn’t have wasted my money it. It’s now sat in a draw in solitary confinement until I can be bothered to stick it on eBay.

Having to use a phone linked to the head unit is just not practical for real world riding. Bit the bullet and purchased a Wahoo which I am more than happy with.

Ha! I’m not sure whether that puts me off the idea completely or tempts me to make you a cheeky low offer for it 🙂

Having to use a phone linked to the head unit is just not practical for real world riding.

Can you expand on that bit? Will it not navigate at all without the phone doing some work? It would be a bit odd if so.

I don’t have a mega, I have a super but making routes on ride with gps and then uploading them onto GPS root is easy and takes a couple of minutes to do. Don’t expect the cue points to be very accurate though. Making routes on the Lezyne app is hard work so I don’t bother with that unless you just want to tell it where you want to go and let it map a route for you.

I have loaded a 65 mile off road route onto my super from the app and it took less than a minute.  The phone doesn’t need to remain paired to navigate if you don’t want it to, but why wouldn’t you?  I have been out for 9 hours with the phone paired up and following a route and the phone was still on 65% battery when I finished with the added bonus that if someone calls or texts you, it tells you on the screen.

It’s certainly not as good as as a Garmin for functionality, but it works and at a cheaper price.

The issue is with third party routes, i.e. you receive a route from an event organiser, in the form of a gpx file, it needs to be converted to tcx to be transferable and used off-line. Easy enough, save as a tcx and save it in GPS Root…except GPS Root converts it back to a gpx file, and it can’t be transferred and used off-line, you must pair the head unit to your phone to use the supplied route.

Prepare a route in GPS Root, and it’s easily transferable for off-line use. So for multi-day events with several stages it is useless, unless your phone battery lasts a whole week.

OK, if I understand that correctly, it’s insane.

Choice seems to be between the Element/Bolt and the Edge Explore, then. Wahoo for a clearer screen, acceptable battery life and slick connectivity; Garmin for better navigation and mapping. Hmm. I know from experience I’m not going to be particularly happy with either option 🙂

I’ve just got an Edge Explore 820 (first ever gps) and think it’s ace. Had it on all day rides (8-9 hours) and still had around 30% battery at the end.

Was a close call between the Elemnt or this, but got it pretty cheap. I’d be interested to see what Wahoo come up with when they refresh the range.