My Roam ALWAYS hangs on longer rides (happend at 250, 280km, 320 ...) Longest recording without problems was 330km ( but this was an everesting and therefore without navigation) Wahoo helpdesk: "Thank you for contacting Wahoo Fitness Support, and I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this issue with your Roam. For longer rides or tours, we advise saving the ride file at around the 200 km mark to prevent this crash from happening, and stitching them together afterwards as you have been doing. Although the Roam is absolutely geared towards touring and long distance rides, the size of the ride file once you pass the (approx.) 250km mark becomes too large for the computer to process, and thus the unit can crash at this point."
When I first got the Elemnt in 2017 it did not have any issues with long distances. I did 400, 600 without problems. Later with firmware updates it started crashing around 350's. Somehow the device got worse with updates.
I own the Roam and agree with your positive comments. I do have a couple of complaints. First, I have had trouble with firmware updates. On one occasion the unit tried to install an update when I was in the middle of nowhere rendering navigation inoperable. That was a big problem! Complaint 2 involves Wahoo as a company. I have bought three products from them: The Roam, A Tickr heart rate monitor and a Kickr Core smart trainer. In all three cases I bought the units when they advertised rebates. In none of these cases did they honor their rebates. Yes, there was fine print, but by the time I bought the Roam I was aware of the deceptive advertising practices and checked extremely carefully. I checked their ad and I checked the website. Fine print appeared on their website AFTER I bought the unit. Never had this problem buying things on sale from other bike companies. Again, I like their products but their marketing is deceptive.
Agreed I also have to say their customer service sucks, I got sent a broken kickr and i had to send it back and wait weeks for it to be checked and a new one sent out despite the fact it was DOA i asked if they could not send one out before hand and i was told i would have to pay a deposit on the new one being sent out... How much deposit... 999 -__- the full price of the kickr. Unreal.
I now use my Roam with the varia 510 radar . This uses flashing led lights on the side and top of the Roam to indicate traffic behind. Multiple wahoo or garmin users can collect the signal from the 510 so on a group ride not just the back man gets the " car back "signal. On twisty narrow roads this is a godsend. A great working combination of two fantastic products.
@@JustRideAdelaide the graphics work in exactly the same way as on garmin with the addition of the led which flash red in the event of a speeding car approaching. The faster cars get a double beep . Up to 4 cars shown in icons on the side of the screen. Best safety equipment invented for years.
Today I did a complex course with a lot of hills. It basically does a simple but brilliant job. Nowadays a lot of technology is so complex & has numerous functions many of which confuse the user. Wahoo is simplicity at its best. The one feature I love is showing your progress on a hill and the gradient. In future versions street names would be good and perhaps a more detailed and larger screen
Love my Bolt. Switched from Wahoo to Garmin and hated the experience. Back with Wahoo and a happy bunny. Key benefits; much easier to read screen, phone integration, button to zoom in and out of fields.
After five years with four different Garmin Edge units which all developed annoying software issues I bought an Elemnt Roam. I agree with all your talking points, except that I’ve gotten the batteri life that Wahoo claims. Only want to add that it communicates perfectly with the excellent Garmin Varia radar/light.
Ditto love this unit, theres a but having just done Bikingman Portugal 950 in under 3 day. I broke the the route down to 3 sections of about 300km, when I got to about 280km the unit froze on 2 of the 3 sections. The unit was fully updated pre event (5 hours pre start)
Interesting review. I have a Elemnt Bolt, but I suppose I would agree - it's reasonably "not annoying" after a short acclimation period. The Bolt doesn't have quite as many features as the Roam, but it was a fair bit cheaper and a little smaller. The biggest complaint I've had is the GPS tracking on mtn bike trails is terrible. Especially in many of the trail systems where I ride where there are many intersections and trails that parallel each other rather closely from a geographic POV. The GPS resolution simply can't pin-point my location on a trail well enough to figure out where I am. As a basic replacement for the Strava app on my phone (which is a real battery-life killer), the Bolt has been great. Plus, being able to integrate cadence and a HRM has been fun on road training rides.
I just ordered a Quad Lock for my Galaxy S10+ for this very reason. I'm not suuuuper stoked about mounting my phone on my bike, but going to give it a try and pray I don't crash and break it.
Brilliant review, as always! The aero-mount needs holes: Ice forms on it in Winter. The stem mount is actually used a lot on setups for triathlon (and ridiculously expensive as separate purchase!). Wifi, it does channels 1-11 but fails on 12-13 which are used in Europe a lot. And, Wahoo has removed access to several folders over time, it's no longer possible to edit (e.g. add hints) to routes synced from Komoot and similar. Further, it does neither talk to bike lights nor tyre pressure sensors.
@@JustRideAdelaide Indeed it does. To expand a bit on wifi, four channels are grouped together to broader ones, hence in the US you'd end up with 3 and the EU usually 4 - and won't have any connection every fourth day if your router were set to ‘auto’ (esp. a thing in our dense cities). Perhaps that helps someone.
I like to travel with least amount of gadgets so if I have a phone, why need a gps? Except when your phone gets older and the battery life diminishes. So, extra battery or bite the bullet with dedicated gps unit. Ended up with Edge 530 for minimalist approach and superb battery life if you only have minimal things recording. Particularly good for 300k plus rides. Garmin is a pain to set up but once that is done its ok but compared to the Wahoo, it's still a pain if you need to make further adjustments. If I was to buy again it would be the 830 or the Roam. Coin toss.
You do not need to use the app nor the Bluetooth after the ride. One of the best features of Wahoo is it automatically connects to your home WiFi and sends the activity to all your connected services. And its design is actually much nicer than any other gps-es around. Calling it ugly is a real misjudgement. As I learned all of them have some problems which you have to deal with, Wahoo sleek aero design was definitely the decisive thing for me. I would prefer much longer battery life either but my Roam lasts 17 h and I use navigation and 3 sensors connected the whole day. The only thing I restrict are the LED lights. I have them turned off letting them only blink at turns.
Have the bolt and managed 12.5 hours with 40% battery remaining. The secret is to disable the backlight and only had my HRM & power meter connected. More ANT+ devices means more power drain.
mounts. I think Wahoo assumed most of its users shall have a better third party mounts generally from K-Edge or Barfly or more exotically from Darimo or other boutique carbon brands. I mean Garmin's mount was ok. but nobody uses it LOL. So Wahoo didn't even bother trying and I'm fine with that.
I agree with just about everything you said, screen, buttons, functionality, bit ugly. I’ve had mine for 11 mths. It replaced a Garmin 820 which was getting flackier in its firmware. Garmins always crashed for me but Wahoo only once. . I love the battery life on the Roam. Recent 5.5 hr ride it was only down to 68% but mapping was not in use. Garmin has a lot analytics on their back end Garmin Connect but I use training peaks anyway. One thing I’d like Wahoo to add is messages from Facebook messenger. I get SMS from my wife on the screen (she knows not to ring while I’m riding) but most of my riding friends and riding friends use Facebook messenger and it would be so useful to have their messages display especially if I’m riding to meet them or if we get separated. Garmin does.
Good shout. I’m perplexed how shite devices are. I’ve been using Garmin variations since the early 705. The 1030 has got me lost and let me down at crucial points in ultra races and in local rides. Looking at the Roam for this year as an alternative. Just about sums it up in your header. Thanks for straight forward review. Used some of your hacks/ideas on a few rides and like your style fella. Happy trails 🤘🍀
This may be a dumb question, im green.. Will I need to pay a monthly subscription to use this for navigation (sending ride with gps maps to it for example)?
The Wahoo line up is hard to beat and I completely agree buttons are way better than touch. The only thing that I feel will be upgrading eventually with gps cycling devices is the ability to convert screen to landscape view. All phones do this and many (novice) people use their phone and apps mounted on their bikes. Maybe it’s only a concern for a select few but I could see it being an option for on future devices and might boost somebody’s gps to a top contender.
Agreed on the landscape view. The Lezyne Mega XL was really damn good in landscape. I think the Stages Dash M50 was the only other unit that tried to do it. C'mon GPS makers, be brave and do a proper landscape ratio!
Hi can ypu use de leds to see the side of a turn in a navigation route? And its posibble to configurate the buttons to do very difficult to power on the device aacidentally lets say if you have it in a bagpack before your ride to avoid drain the battery? there is compatible garmin mount with wahoo mount Finally can you export automatically the rides to garmin connect using this platform to see the trainings? (I have garmin run watch) Thx
ahhhh you're straying into the territory of my upcoming ELEMNT Roam Vs Edge 830 video. The tech ecosystems each brand has can be an important separator. The reason I've stuck with Garmin, despite generally liking the Wahoo units more, is the Connect health tracking and using a Vivoactive watch. Garmin is more compelling as a health platform.
My annoyances with the Wahoo Bolt: 1. charging port poorly located, hard to ride and simultaneously charge 2. Zooming in and out in the map is slow 3. The app is not as useful as it could be, routing in the app is a no-go 4. Does not have anything like ClimbPro on Garmin Otherwise I agree completely Wahoo being the least annoying. When set up, syncing stuff with Strava and uploading via wifi is friction free. And it never lost any data, which is the most important thing!
I can’t stand having to use WiFi to put anything on to it, it never connects. And can’t scroll around the map while following the route so you end up having to use your phone for that so what’s the point.
Hey, nice reviews! And would take your word on advice. So if buying first computer would you buy edge 530 or wahoo roam?? Thanks keep up the good content
Cheers mate! The Roam Vs 530 is a tough one because they're my two favourite units from the current generation. I really like my 530, and it's $150 cheaper in Australia. So really, it depends on your budget. If $150 makes a difference to your life then get the 530, but if your heart belongs to the Roam and you have the cash then go for that.
I'm very happy with my Roam since I bought it a year ago. What was really frustrating though was that it crashed every single ride in the first months and it even wanted to update in the middle of a ride. It haven't happend since so I guess it was a firmware issue. I don't relate to the short battery life claimed in this video. I usually burn 5% of battery every hour without the map function and between 5 -10% with the map function on.
I’m with you on the battery life. It’s been a revelation over my old Garmin 820. But in 11 mths it’s only crashed once and been rock solid which neither my Garmin 810 or 820 were
I had a garmin 1030 and after 3 months give up on it, the software seemed to be garbage, no problems with the Edge and now the Roam although I do think Garmin's maps are superior.
On battery life. I have an element bolt which recently reset itself completely and uninstalled all updates and the battery life tanked (almost flat in 5 hours). After the updates re installed I got over 10 hours, almost exactly the quoted life after 3 years of use. The point is that I suspect the roam will improve after a software update. So much of battery life is down to software!
Very fair points there! Isn't it interesting that neither Garmin, Wahoo, or any other GPS hardware maker has really made robust route creators? It's no wonder they all rushed in to integrate with Strava, Komoot, and RideWithGPS.
@@JustRideAdelaide I think that was a wise decision on their parts. Better to integrate with bespoke services which are letters ahead than to waste a lot of investment trying to play catch up!
I don’t agree, My roam passed 10-12 hours riding including 1-2 hours rest and it would lose gps sometimes? At least, in my recent 2 long ride, it happened. For now, I’d rather say “always”
@@JustRideAdelaide multiple crashes on long rides, wouldent auto upload when i first got it, the wifi is pain not connecting or finding the wifi and the thing that annoys me most is when following a route you cant scroll around the map so you end up keep reaching for your phone to check the map. kinda feels like you might as well stick your phone on a quad lock and be done with it.
it's like a competition to put the smallest screen on the biggest device .. someone should tell wahoo (and garmin) that it's not 1990 anymore .. don't these people own phones?!
A bike computer encouraged me to undertake spontaneous longer rides, and segments - gamification really - can be quite motivating. Something for a different mindset.
Maps are fine, but not so great when you have to pass through a town or city and find a minor road out, or your route has lots of turns, I got fed up with keep having to get the map out.
@@SteveT__001 I agree it's a complete pain, on the other hand I find it stressful following a sat nav where you have no clue as to where it is taking you. Google maps are pretty good though.
