New Wahoo Bolt replacement

[splzd]

No it isn't. If you've never tried anything else, you might think this.

Also I repeatedly state that both non-polarised and polarised sunglasses make it significantly worse - polarised moreso. This is typical of both this screen tech, and - worse - very strongly matte-finish anti-reflective coating.

The designers' intent seems to be that the user won't wear sunglasses of any kind, and particularly not polarised ones. Which is moronic. But then the matte anti-reflective coatings of this ilk tend to be a lot cheaper, which is the likely be explanation ....

Pretty exclusive, but all the more eloquently presented opinion you've got there.

[RDY]

Regarding performance, the latest update was a massive improvement. It no longer struggled to achieve or re-lock GPS. Speed (and power sensor) were a little lagged over the Garmin, but not game-breakingly so as previously. Power LEDs appeared synched to power reading (weren't previously).

It's still slow to switch screens and there's definite lag between button press and response, but it's a lot better. Map screen still taking a long time to load in when switching.

Battery drain is also significantly less bad, though still has way higher draw with backlight engaged than the 830 {despite the backlight being so weak).

Aside from the screen crapness, there are still other big usability issues:

Half the Strava prompts or pictures in pictures can't be dismissed. So if you want to be rid of them then you either mute Strava on the device, which even disables the dedicated Strava page (why?), or you disable notifications and popups in the phone app .... then you get nothing unless on the Strava page. There seems to be no middle ground as on other devices. Which is a real pity as their live segment screen is the best out there.

No screen / button lock. Strange omission.

No sleep mode - if you want to stop it draining power at idle then you turn it off. Bizarre ommission, particularly as it takes so long to boot compared to Garmin or Bryton.

No auto upload when you return home to WiFi ... Either synch Strava segments or check for an update manually and it will then connect to WiFi & push your ride to Strava or other services. Possibly because battery drain seems very high when WiFi is active?

It's not all bad, though. Maps and nav are good compared to the competition. The smartphone app is much more logically laid out and easy to use than Garmin (not difficult). Off the bike, UX is simpler and easier (on the bike - see above - not really, & compounded by stiff buttons).

[tomtom]

"It's not all bad, though. Maps and nav are good compared to the competition"

What (and compared to who) is better about the maps/nav?

[TribesMan]

Looks nice, I just don't understand why they keep forcing those LEDs.
They could have used a bigger screen and implement the same funcionality of the LEDs on the "top row" of the screen, since the screen is now able to show colours.
Also since you can use colured fields, I don't see the advantage of the LEDs anyway.

[RDY]

"It's not all bad, though. Maps and nav are good compared to the competition"

What (and compared to who) is better about the maps/nav?

They look better and it's more easy to discern where you are and where you're going than Garmin, assuming you can read the screen. Nav is far better - speed, routing, and re-routing - than Garmin, and better than Bryton. Garmin 830 goes absolutely beserk in dense areas (similar to how DCR was describing the Bolt V2 on earlier firmware), and re-routing is really inaccurate and often very slow, in my experience ... it's better on the Bryton 750, but not as good as the Bolt V2. I've only looked at rather than used the Karoo(2), so I can't really comment, though people sing its praises on that front. It (Bolt V2) also doesn't give you random (and often errant) warnings about sudden turns which the the Garmin is want to do.

[twoangstroms]

Thanks for all the real-world experiences.

I'd be curious about how people with Rx lenses (or, say, degraded close vision, which -- I hear -- can happen with age) find the screen in terms of readability when riding. With the original Bolt, I find I sometimes have to squint or look around my Rx lenses (for nearsightedness) to make out the screen data.

[RDY]

One more thing ... grades weren't working at all for me on older firmware. They now work ... sort of. It detects negative gradients immediately, and seems to accurately measure / display them. Better than the Garmin 830 and about the same as Bryton 750. However it doesn't seem to detect positive gradients at all half the time, or only very slowly (much worse than Garmin & Bryton).

Oh, and altitude is still consistently 40-50m above what it should be.

Hopefully both these things are easy, low-hanging fruit firmware fixes.

[nikospeed]

Feedback from Wahoo Support...I had sent them the fit files of 2 weekend rides with v1 and v2 installed in parallel...
All my reported issues (seems I am "lucky" to experience them all) such as: wrong altitude, wrong temperature, poor GPS sensitivity and the BLE pairing issue are all known and being worked. Nothing HW related (I feared the GPS issue might be...) and should be sorted with next FW update(s). Really appreciate the responsiveness of the lady working my ticket !

Wrt Rx lenses...I am formally "old" since when I required vari-focal lenses...however on the bike I just have normal optical lenses for remote vision in my Oakley sunglasses. I can read EVERYTHING which I could not do on the v1.

[neeb]

Hello all, can someone who has the new Bolt confirm whether or not it boots much faster than the old version? This would be my main incentive for replacement. My old Bolt takes forever to startup, whereas my GF's Garmin 530 just switches on pretty much instantly..

Can't seem to find an unambiguous answer to this anywhere!

[Steve Curtis]

It's quicker than the old version but I don't have a 530 to compare it to.

[splzd]

Hello all, can someone who has the new Bolt confirm whether or not it boots much faster than the old version? This would be my main incentive for replacement. My old Bolt takes forever to startup, whereas my GF's Garmin 530 just switches on pretty much instantly..

Can't seem to find an unambiguous answer to this anywhere!

Boot times on my old ELEMNT and my new ROAM seem to depend in part on the number of maps, routes, segments and workouts on the unit. It doesn't bother me too much: I power up the unit, leave my apartement and lock the door, close the boas of my shoes and when I'm ready to ride the wahoo is fired up.

[RDY]

Hello all, can someone who has the new Bolt confirm whether or not it boots much faster than the old version? This would be my main incentive for replacement. My old Bolt takes forever to startup, whereas my GF's Garmin 530 just switches on pretty much instantly..

Can't seem to find an unambiguous answer to this anywhere!

Garmin 830 boots in 14 seconds.

Bolt V2 boots in 43 seconds.

Garmin 830 has a sleep mode that drains 1-2% per 24H, and it's ready to use again instantly.

Bolt V2 has no sleep mode and drains quickly if you don't switch it off.

Assuming performance issues get fixed, this and the poor screen are the big problems with it.

[synchronicity]

Hello all, can someone who has the new Bolt confirm whether or not it boots much faster than the old version? This would be my main incentive for replacement. My old Bolt takes forever to startup, whereas my GF's Garmin 530 just switches on pretty much instantly..

Can't seem to find an unambiguous answer to this anywhere!

All you need to do is start the bolt V1 a little early. For me it's when I'm leaving the front door steps. By the time I have walked my bike to the front gate, it's ready to go. Perhaps start it just before you put your helmet on or whatever routine you have?

I've never had to wait for it to start preventing me from starting to pedal.

[raven14]

Bolt V2 boots a bit slower than the V1. Also, for now, the V2 gets its GPS fix slower than the V1. The latter seems to be fixable with a (future) software update.

[neeb]

Hello all, can someone who has the new Bolt confirm whether or not it boots much faster than the old version? This would be my main incentive for replacement. My old Bolt takes forever to startup, whereas my GF's Garmin 530 just switches on pretty much instantly..

Can't seem to find an unambiguous answer to this anywhere!

All you need to do is start the bolt V1 a little early. For me it's when I'm leaving the front door steps. By the time I have walked my bike to the front gate, it's ready to go. Perhaps start it just before you put your helmet on or whatever routine you have?

I've never had to wait for it to start preventing me from starting to pedal.

Yeah, it's just a constant low-level annoyance. Especially when it's doing updates and needs to restart.. But if the v2 had booted much faster it could have pushed me over the edge to think that it was worth replacing the v1. I don't use maps much so don't see much real benefit from the colour, especially if the screen might be less bright / harder to see in certain conditions. But when I DO need to use maps / directions, that's when the v2 would be useful.

Let's see how long my v1 lasts - I keep having to re-attach the side button rubber covers on with superglue..