Hi,

I’ve been a long time Garmin user and never had any real issues others had until I had an 820. A great device but the battery life was shocking. Everytime I do a long ride all the Garmin users need a power source and the wahoo users have 50% battery life.

So I bought a wahoo bolt. Really easy to use, battery life is amazing and I like the app. Easy to navigate on your phone etc but 3 problems.

1) I have to stop and use my phone to navigate.

2) if I go off route it doesn’t route me back to course like a garmin

3) it’s killing my phone battery now.

So, has anyone gone from a bolt to a roam and was it worth it? Or will I just get used to the bolt?

Any tips on phone battery life?

Thanks

I have an elemnt and don’t have your problems but I’m prepared to concede that’s because I use it to follow preprepared GPXs and rarely do I change route on the fly and if I do I accept there is no rerouting.

In order to stop the phone battery being hammered only connect to your phone when you need to.

The roam should solve the rerouting and has a larger colour screen. The other option is a USB battery to keep your phone topped up if you’d rather not disconnect BT during a ride.

The roam will solve all of those problems you listed.

It may not be a lot of help, but the battery life on the Garmin 530 is pretty impressive.

it’s killing my phone battery now.

Whats actually killing your battery? Is it you taking the phone out of your pocket and checking maps? None of the Wahoo devices require a phone to connect during normal use, just to setup initially, load pre prepared routes before you set off or to get strava live segments and phone notifications.

The only reason I’d swap my Bolt for a Roam is the bigger screen, but I’m another one that tends not to change route on the fly.

My phone and Bolt have only been permanently connected since I’ve started leaving Bluetooth on for the NHS Covid app, but not noticed a battery issue as a result.

but I’m another one that tends not to change route on the fly.

I don’t normally but I’ve been dropping and picking up work cars recently. Either cycling to pick them up or dropping them off and cycling home. I’ve not had the time to plot routes so been using wahoo to navigate via the phone. Every now and then it tries to take me down a grass field etc which is why I keep re routing.

I’ve also been sending a link to my Mrs so she can track me. I think that’s why the battery is dropping.

I think when I plot my routes properly I won’t have the issues I’m currently having.

Thanks for your comments

New Garmin to roam user here. Battery life is much better but the not being able to reroute and having to load routes from phone while on the move is a pain if I’m honest.

I used to use the Wahoo’s link for my wife, but found it unreliable and switched to RoadID.
My phone is getting on a bit and the battery on that is the problem more than the Wahoo i reckon. That could be your problem with battery life.

Yes, my wife has said the tracking link is hit and miss, so just like the Garmin one then.

I used my wahoo bolt today without connecting my phone and the phone battery was fine so I think the wahoo does use a lot. Easy enough to connect, route, disconnect etc.

I was impressed when I’d finished the ride, paired it, history, upload to strava. Done.

I’m definitely getting more used to the wahoo now.

If you want to send your location while riding and you have your phone on you, you could always use the “location sharing” feature in Google Maps.

The tracking link with Wahoo is only patchy when there has been an IOS or software update in my experience, same with any hits on phone battery life (it doesn’t use that much phone battery when everything is working normally).

A reinstall of everything (in the order Wahoo suggest) usually sorts any issues.