Wahoo ELEMNT RIVAL Smart Watch with GPS review

There are higher spec and fancier smart appliances out there but the Wahoo ELMNT RIVAL Smart Watch with GPS does everything I want.

• Brand: Wahoo
• Product: ELEMNT RIVAL Smart Watch with GPS
• From: Wahoo
• Price: £199.99
• Tested by: Ross for 3 months
• SQUIRREL_TEXT_13051078

I’m not really one for tracking an absolutely huge amount of data but I do like to know the distance and elevation for my riding (and a bit of running, don’t tell anyone).

I also like having an actual watch on my wrist, as opposed to constantly stopping to get my phone out just to see what the time is.

Wahoo may be more commonly known (to me at least) for their indoor trainers and bike computers but they also do a whole host of tech accessories – from heart rate monitors, to power-meter pedals.

As stated, I’ve used this Wahoo watch for cycling and running but there are plenty of other modes: race running, track running, treadmill, lap swimming, open water swimming, KICKR (their own trainer), strength, yoga and triathlon. You can even add bespoke workout profiles. The watch also has a navigation feature but it’s not a function that I’ve used.

The watch comes with a ceramic bezel and gorilla glass lens for durability, has a 64 colour display, runner strap, ambient light sensor that adjust the screen brightness for indoor or outdoor use, along with big easy access buttons on the sides for scrolling through features and weighs in at 55g.

Tracking activities is as simple as a few of button presses. Press the middle righthand button to enter the Activities menu. If it’s on the activity you want, press it again and the watch will search for GPS and then (once connected) another press will start the tracking. If it’s not automatically on the activity you want, scroll up/down through the options using the upper and lower righthand buttons.

The ELEMNT phone app auto uploads your workouts. It’s also through the app that you can pair up to other apps (Strava etc) via simple toggle icons. The ride data is sufficiently accurate and once in the app you can change to a satellite image of the map, which is a good option.

The battery lasts about a week when using it for logging daily exercise of around one to two hours. The watch recharges from empty to full in about an hour.

The only real issue I’ve had with the Wahoo ELEMNT RIVAL is that connecting to GPS being a bit slow and a bit ‘wandery’ when the weather’s bad and under tree cover. This has ended up with some parts of a ride or run missing.

Overall

If you want a well priced smart watch that gives usable data then the ELEMNT Rival is worth a look, especially at the current price. There are certainly higher spec and fancier smart appliances out there but this does everything I want and gives more data than I need.

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