Which bike computer? Bolt 2 or Garmin Edge 830

[Gareth1974]

I'm looking to buy my first bike computer. I've been using my phone to date, but the battery life isn't long enough for longer rides.

I'm considering the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt 2, or the Garmin Edge 830, and I'm hoping there might be a Black Friday deal on them.

Has anyone got either of these? Would you recommend it?

[mikeiow]

A pal of mine used to use a Garmin....then moved to a Bolt, & told me the Bolt was far more reliable and longer battery life.
I went up a grade and got a Roam last November (worth watching for black friday deals) - done over 2,500 miles (including LEJoG) this year, mostly using it - brilliant device, highly recommended!

[MrBarry123]

I’ve had a Bolt 2 for a couple of months now.

It does everything I want it to do, it’s easy to use and doesn’t seem to do anything badly. It’s also less glitchy than I expected given early reports although Wahoo have released several firmware updates in relatively quick succession which have probably helped.

[Mazinbrum]

mikeiow said:

A pal of mine used to use a Garmin....then moved to a Bolt, & told me the Bolt was far more reliable and longer battery life.
I went up a grade and got a Roam last November (worth watching for black friday deals) - done over 2,500 miles (including LEJoG) this year, mostly using it - brilliant device, highly recommended!

Which Garmin though? My 530 battery life is way longer than my old 1000 which just about lasted a long day in the saddle.

[Scott W]

What about the Hammerhead Karoo 2 as another option? I looked at the Wahoo and Garmin too but decided on the Karoo and quite a few of the people I ride with have also moved over to the Karoo. It's a great bit of kit and the regular updates/features Hammerhead roll out every couple of weeks are great as they listen to the feedback of their customers.

[Mutts]

Throwing a curve ball into the ring, looked at any of the Bryton computers?

[lufbramatt]

Got a bolt 2. Been spot on, no issues at all.

Screen a bit on the small side but the colour helps. You get directions and average speed info via a set of LEDs along the top of the into too.

It’s a shame Polar have stopped developing bike computers as I loved my V650.

[Dnlm]

I had bolt one and crash replaced it (run over by car) with the roam at 50% off. Not sure if they'd have been so generous if it wasn't 2 weeks before the bolt 2 release....

User interface is great, and all the tech works well. if not the most advanced.

The Garmin I used for a week a few years ago was difficult and glitchy. Karoo looks good though. Roam/bolt2 hit most the things I wanted improved, like rerouting, but lacks on the climbs. Elevation is still really basic whereas Karoo and possibly Garmin give more insight into peak, different parts of climb etc

[defblade]

Nearly new Bolt 1?
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=121506.0

I love mine, I'm glad I bought it just before the 2 came out as the 2 brings nothing I need to the party, but was/is £70 more...

[mikeiow]

Mazinbrum said:

mikeiow said:

A pal of mine used to use a Garmin....then moved to a Bolt, & told me the Bolt was far more reliable and longer battery life.
I went up a grade and got a Roam last November (worth watching for black friday deals) - done over 2,500 miles (including LEJoG) this year, mostly using it - brilliant device, highly recommended!

Which Garmin though? My 530 battery life is way longer than my old 1000 which just about lasted a long day in the saddle.

I have a feeling it was a reasonably recent one, but not sure the model (830?). This was perhaps 15 months ago.
He had used the Garmin a while - described it as someone above did - bit glitchy, and not great battery when using the navigation features.

Scott W said:

What about the Hammerhead Karoo 2 as another option? I looked at the Wahoo and Garmin too but decided on the Karoo and quite a few of the people I ride with have also moved over to the Karoo. It's a great bit of kit and the regular updates/features Hammerhead roll out every couple of weeks are great as they listen to the feedback of their customers.

Interesting: it wasn't really out in time for me to chose a year back, but looked interesting.
Not sure if it integrates with the Garmin 515 radar light - that really was a game-changer feature to me, and seamlessly connects with my Wahoo.

OP, take a look at reviews on https://www.dcrainmaker.com for real detailed stuff.

[outnumbered]

I don't need mapping, and I recently got a Garmin 130 Plus that I'm very happy with. It's nice and compact and doesn't look like you're riding around with a fking iPad nailed to your bars.

[Scott W]

mikeiow said:

Interesting: it wasn't really out in time for me to chose a year back, but looked interesting.
Not sure if it integrates with the Garmin 515 radar light - that really was a game-changer feature to me, and seamlessly connects with my Wahoo.

OP, take a look at reviews on https://www.dcrainmaker.com for real detailed stuff.

I'm using the Garmin radar and it works a treat. Nice clear indicator on the left side of the screen and you can get a good understanding of what's behind/passing. I also have a Garmin front light and the head unit controls it very well too.

[mikeiow]

outnumbered said:

I don't need mapping, and I recently got a Garmin 130 Plus that I'm very happy with. It's nice and compact and doesn't look like you're riding around with a fking iPad nailed to your bars.

You okay hun?

On a thread where the question is “Which bike computer? Bolt 2 or Garmin Edge 830”, you felt it useful to post that?

Great that you only cycle areas you already know. Congrats.
Some venture further, and I imagine a large subset of those don’t want to get lost!

Or maybe you have the small map I have here to supplement my iPad Wahoo

[Gareth1974]

Thanks for the advice so far, I'll also look at the Hammerhead Karoo 2.

I definitely need mapping. I'm into Veloviewer Explorer tiling so carefully plan my rides in advance, but find following routes using Strava on my phone is quite difficult, so I'm looking to find something that shows turnings etc clearly.

[mikeiow]

Gareth1974 said:

Thanks for the advice so far, I'll also look at the Hammerhead Karoo 2.

I definitely need mapping. I'm into Veloviewer Explorer tiling so carefully plan my rides in advance, but find following routes using Strava on my phone is quite difficult, so I'm looking to find something that shows turnings etc clearly.

The Wahoo has both a beep when a junction comes up, and also a line of white LEDs on the top: they stripe R to L, L to R or both sides to the centre, depending on whether you are turning left, right or going straight on. Very effective!

No idea how Garmin or Hammerhead manage that....others can perhaps tell you.

For mapping: I am a massive fan of https://cycle.travel/map - used it to plan my LEJoG, & the roads/backroads and indeed some tracks & cycle paths were an absolute delight!
Still use it for local routes.
I prefer to plan on the laptop: just easier to see everything. It is a two-step process to get it to the Roam (save to dropbox - or other storage the phone can get - then open in Wahoo Elemnt app.
When Wahoo is powered on, you then chose the route from their App to sent to device....but does "just work", something I don't always read for Garmin (& indeed my pal who had used Garmin warned me about!).

I see you're in the Midlands....if you want to see the wahoo in action, and are near enough to Leicester, message me!

[Dnlm]

Ha, never noticed that R/L thing with the lights, after years of use.

I use ridewithgps for mapping. Syncs really well. Think the Strava functionality has improved there, but not really tested it out.

Have the premium Strava membership for the live segments though, which are fun / often a painful reminder of my fluctuating fitness...

[mikeiow]

Dnlm said:

Ha, never noticed that R/L thing with the lights, after years of use.

I use ridewithgps for mapping. Syncs really well. Think the Strava functionality has improved there, but not really tested it out.

Have the premium Strava membership for the live segments though, which are fun / often a painful reminder of my fluctuating fitness...

I decided I would never be fit enough to benefit from Strava premium
RideWithGPS (& I think Komoot) does sync directly with Wahoo.

Wahoo have been woeful at opening up their APIs to other mapping tools, cycle.travel is pretty well the work of one fella & he has been chasing them for over 18 months (& I have for a year).

[outnumbered]

mikeiow said:

You okay hun?

On a thread where the question is “Which bike computer? Bolt 2 or Garmin Edge 830”, you felt it useful to post that?

He didn't say he needed mapping originally, so I'm quite happy that my reply was relevant, as the 130+ is cheaper.

[Daveyraveygravey]

Mutts said:

Throwing a curve ball into the ring, looked at any of the Bryton computers?

I bought a Giant Neostrack a couple of years ago, because it was on sale at just over £100, when the equivalent Garmin/Wahoo were over £150. It's based on a Bryton, and one of the big appeals to me was a 33 hour battery life. I've done one 27 hour ride in my life, and will probably never get near that again, but it's nice to have one gadget you haven't got to recharge every other day.

It works pretty well. Initial setup is on the unit, so lots of button pushing, scrolling through menus, waiting for the alphabet to go through. Clunky but you only do it once.
Navigation is ok, you have to pay attention to upcoming junctions, and check after you have passed through to be sure you are still on track. Plotting the route is done via a Giant app, which looks like it was designed to just about work and has been abandoned ever since. I usually have to check by doing it on Strava first and then trying to copy it via the Giant app.
The usual data collection and display is ok, the time is shown top right and is very small. I like the interval training side of it too.