Wahoo released their "Ace" cycling computer today and... well... it's big. Very big. Bigger than a Garmin 1050 big. It's also expensive, launching at $599 USD / €599 / £549 / $999 AUD. Oof!!
DC Rainmaker with the full review. Synopsis? "It's half-baked".
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2024/12/wah ... puter.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPbvpFmFKu4
New Wahoo Ace Cycling Computer
Moderator: robbosmans
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MrCurrieinahurry
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I feel like this shouldnt even be mentioned on WW being over 200gs 
Formerly known as Curryinahurry
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cleanneon98
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I was hoping it would be good just to push down the price of the 1050, but seems unlikely to happen.
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KalleWirsch
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OuchMrCurrieinahurry wrote: ↑Tue Dec 03, 2024 7:06 pmI feel like this shouldnt even be mentioned on WW being over 200gs
What I'm getting from the reviews:
+ Buttons a bit smaller but still usable, along with a decent/good touchscreen
+ Better menus and general UI (I'm not a huge fan of the menus on my bolt v2 so this is a good improvement, especially if it comes to more practical head units)
+ Bell seems useful and its flaws - lack of activation modes beyond double tapping specific screens - can and will be pretty quickly patched
- $$$
- Extremely heavy
- So incredibly large it doesn't work with many current mounts
-- Ad materials show many features that don't currently exist or work
-- Wind sensor doesn't provide useful data for aero testing - from EC review, >5-10% off aero sensor readings for airspeed, and drag scales quadratically with airspeed - so whatever data is provided only sort of quantifies the effects of wind... ok? Doesn't sound like an amazing feature, considering it's pretty obvious on the bike when and how wind is affecting a ride
--- Many features incomplete/half baked/straight-up removed, and only vague dates given for bringing them up to par
--- Observed battery life is 40-60% of claimed life, with no solar recharging. In fairness, solar is of debatable usefulness - though it would be very nice here in CO where practically all rides are sunny - but regardless, behind the curve set by Garmin and Coros
Seems like it would be good if it spent another 6-12 months in development and came out of it a bit smaller, a lot lighter, without a wind sensor but with functional software. I'm not really liking this as an omen for Wahoo's direction regarding bike computers... will be keeping my bolt v2 for as long as it lasts, methinks.
EDIT: forgot to mention that wahoo STILL hasn't improved their dreadful bootup times! Feels bad when my dinky $20 igpsport computer on the commuter bike boots up in 3 seconds and my bolt takes 10x that long, and it looks like the ace is just as bad
+ Buttons a bit smaller but still usable, along with a decent/good touchscreen
+ Better menus and general UI (I'm not a huge fan of the menus on my bolt v2 so this is a good improvement, especially if it comes to more practical head units)
+ Bell seems useful and its flaws - lack of activation modes beyond double tapping specific screens - can and will be pretty quickly patched
- $$$
- Extremely heavy
- So incredibly large it doesn't work with many current mounts
-- Ad materials show many features that don't currently exist or work
-- Wind sensor doesn't provide useful data for aero testing - from EC review, >5-10% off aero sensor readings for airspeed, and drag scales quadratically with airspeed - so whatever data is provided only sort of quantifies the effects of wind... ok? Doesn't sound like an amazing feature, considering it's pretty obvious on the bike when and how wind is affecting a ride
--- Many features incomplete/half baked/straight-up removed, and only vague dates given for bringing them up to par
--- Observed battery life is 40-60% of claimed life, with no solar recharging. In fairness, solar is of debatable usefulness - though it would be very nice here in CO where practically all rides are sunny - but regardless, behind the curve set by Garmin and Coros
Seems like it would be good if it spent another 6-12 months in development and came out of it a bit smaller, a lot lighter, without a wind sensor but with functional software. I'm not really liking this as an omen for Wahoo's direction regarding bike computers... will be keeping my bolt v2 for as long as it lasts, methinks.
EDIT: forgot to mention that wahoo STILL hasn't improved their dreadful bootup times! Feels bad when my dinky $20 igpsport computer on the commuter bike boots up in 3 seconds and my bolt takes 10x that long, and it looks like the ace is just as bad
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Rotalution
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The killer issue is weight VS mount, I think it is safe to say a big majority of demographic that will spend this money on a bike computer will have an aero bar. I am no engineer but given the leverage effect from it's length and weight with constant vibration on road it is only matter of time it will come off even with loctite? Or worst snap my Roval cockpit single bolt (even if it fits as a separate issue) with a bloody light/gopro mounted under as well.
Not so sure. Many dual cell lights weigh 200g+ and are mounted commonly with large head units (e.g. 1040) that weight 100-120g.
How many of those have snapped off their mounts?
Worst case if you run this guy, you should run a single cell light limited to 100-140g or so?
How many of those have snapped off their mounts?
Worst case if you run this guy, you should run a single cell light limited to 100-140g or so?
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MrCurrieinahurry
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New mount released for the Ace..
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Formerly known as Curryinahurry
Bolts won't come off, but there will be much more strain on the plastic mount/insert. There are a lot of cases of broken mount/insert with heavy units.Rotalution wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2024 4:32 amThe killer issue is weight VS mount, I think it is safe to say a big majority of demographic that will spend this money on a bike computer will have an aero bar. I am no engineer but given the leverage effect from it's length and weight with constant vibration on road it is only matter of time it will come off even with loctite? Or worst snap my Roval cockpit single bolt (even if it fits as a separate issue) with a bloody light/gopro mounted under as well.
Always see this argument. People seem to forget about battery life.
On another note, I wouldn't even mind the weight. But I don't see anything that's mind blowing in the features list.
Boom $600 into investment account instead.
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mashiehood
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utterly pointless - why would anyone need that level of data and screen size when riding a bike ffs!
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Do we know how many fps it gets running Zwift? At that weight, it can't be seriously intended for outdoors...
Jokes aside, head unit manufacturers are really digging their own grave when they normalize putting phone-sized screens on the bars. I know the arguments. Robustness, screen technology (still applies to this one, it's not all bad), runtime (if they get the software to behave) and goodies like dedicated buttons. But we are fooling ourselves when we pretend that the main driver of dedicated had unit adoption isn't style. When head units keep growing, that style penalty will eventually collapse.
Jokes aside, head unit manufacturers are really digging their own grave when they normalize putting phone-sized screens on the bars. I know the arguments. Robustness, screen technology (still applies to this one, it's not all bad), runtime (if they get the software to behave) and goodies like dedicated buttons. But we are fooling ourselves when we pretend that the main driver of dedicated had unit adoption isn't style. When head units keep growing, that style penalty will eventually collapse.
