Currently using a garmin edge 200 but in the new year I’m wanting to upgrade for a bigger screen and more features. The price difference will be an extra 60 odd pounds for the element.

You can get an extra 50 quid cash back on the Element if you trade in your old Edge.

A lot of positive reviews for the Element, I’d be very tempted, and the 820 would be more comparable than the 520 in terms of features so it’s well priced. Compatible with more stuff like BLE sensors. And I really like the smart phone config feature, works very well on the RFLKT.

Though of the two, if it were my money, I’d probably get the 820 😉

Just made my decision tougher

I don’t think my budget will stretch to a 820

I had the same decision to make. Went for the wahoo. Battery life is great, easy to read screen. Uploading to Strava via wifi is fantastic. Very happy with choice. Always had Garmin before that and although they were good, they were always a bit glitchy.

I think I’ll pay the extra for the Wahoo. Able to customise the screen from the phone will be a major bonus

520 is £153 at millets right now.

jam bo. It excludes garmin products which is a shame. I think I’ll save the bit extra and get a 520 from CRC. BC get 10% off and then sell my 200.

Just moved from 520 to Elemnt. Only had three rides so far.
The Garmin looks much neater on the bars. Elemnt is huge in comparison, but easy to read.
Functionality of Elemnt is streets ahead of the Garmin. Much, much less faffing.
Favourite strava segments load directly rather than through Garmin Connect. You can see your normal data screens when doing a segment (on 520 you just get some crappy map and time up/down).
Using the Elemnt as a head unit for Kickr could not be easier.
Maps seem good, plus there is whole world coverage. I used OSM on Garmin but only had access to my local patch. Would have had to faff on with substituting maps if I wanted to travel.
Overall much better IMO.
PS. if you are eligible for Apples educational discount then you can get 10% off in the Apple store.

djflexure – They sell wahoo on the apple store?

Indeed they do I’ve just looked 🙂 thanks

I can get 10% off CRC due to BC discount. Makes it £162 where as the wahoo is £225 off CRC. Therefore £63 pounds more difference.

I’m edging towards the 520 but I’ll ponder it for a week

Wahoo and Apple teamed up to produce the Elemnt. Apple have done much of the software, from what I understand. That is why it is immediately so much better than the Garmin.

The trade in only works on the wahoo website? or can I use it on CRC as well?

As long as the wahoo sold in apple stores still works on Android and isn’t somehow locked I may well get one

Firestarter – they are 220 on wiggle. They do the trade in so brings it down to 170 once trade in.

Thanks mate I don’t have one to trade in tho. Thanks again

They appear to be 250 on wiggle now

220 if you have the platinum discount 🙂

mrblobby – Yeah just ordered one at that price hopefully fill the forms in for 50 quid back cash back on my gps unit

Interesting thread. What are the off road maps like on the wahoo? Thanks

Not sure tbh as have not had the map page up while I’ve been riding off road. Supposed to be fine for following a preloaded trail. Will check out. The 520 is not really a great navigation device off road. I suspect you might be better looking at the 820 or 1000 models. Here are a few pros and cons of Elemnt v Garmin 820 taken from a thread on DCR. Reflects my recent experience of Garmin (800 then 520). Battery life on the 520 was less than I would have ideally wanted. I am impressed by the Elemnts connectivity to Strava and Ride with GPS. You can create a route in either application and it is automatically uploaded to the unit. This contrasts with the pain of using Basecamp and exporting tracks to a Garmin which could not be relied upon at all.

Pros:
• Elemnt is much cheaper.
• Elemnt screen is clearer.
• Elemnt battery life is longer (I’ve had 13hrs out of mine and thats following a route with sensors, Di2 sensor and a phone attached)
• Elemnt does fit in a Garmin mount (I’ve got mine in a standard Garmin one due to having flat aero bars)
• Elemnt Turn-by-turn works (a lot of people complain Garmins doesn’t)
• Elemnt has visual LEDS which you can program for HR, Power or Speed. Also has visual LED’s for turns.
• Elemnt allows you to have 6 data fields on the map page. Garmin only 2.
• Elemnt-you can zoom in and out on the magnification of data so can have less or more data fields per page.
• Full whole world mapping.
• Wahoo constantly fix any little bugs and make improvements to the software (theres been 3 updates in the last month alone). Garmin not to much.

Cons:
• Not a colour screen. (assuming you want colour)
• Not a touchscreen (assuming you want touchscreen. My last gps had it but I’m not missing it on the Wahoo)
• Cant input a Postcode to navigate too. (Though in reality, i had this on my last gps and used it once in 3 years. Generally you either know where you’re going or you’re following a pre-planned route anyway. But knowing Wahoo it wouldn’t surprise me if they introduce this at some point)
Not much else i can think of.

Garmin 820:
Pros.
• Colour screen (assuming you want it)
• Touchscreen (assuming you want it)
• Ability to put in a postcode to navigate to

Cons:
• No doubt it will be buggy and take ages to get fixed.
• Turn by turn is unreliable.
• Mapping probably won’t be the whole world like the Elemnt.
• Battery will probably be less than the Elemnt.
• No visual LED’s.
• Have to scroll between mapping page and data page to see more than 2 data fields on the map page.
• Expensive and unlikely to drop in price for a while.

Touchscreen on the 820 is a bit of a pro and a con. There’s a thread on here somewhere about how flakey and fiddly it can be. Nice when it works but I’d happily have a decent set of buttons instead, especially when wearing full fingered gloves. I’d not miss the colour screen either, 99% of the time it’s just displaying data fields or menus anyway.