Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Wahoo ELEMNT GPS Bike Computer

Excellent bike computer, recommended after regularly using for several months!

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2016

Overall, very please with the unit. Serves its purpose very well and have not had too many issues with it. The support from Wahoo on the Google group is very good. Firmware release schedule seems to be monthly which is nice.

I've been using the ELEMNT with the TICKR HRM since April 2016. I upgraded to Strava Premium several months ago and have been using Strava Live segments feature for a few months consistently on every ride (I ride usually 3 times a week). I have not had too many issues with the Strava Live except for a couple rides ago it basically did not work at all (perhaps a user or firmware issue, not sure but it's fixed now after latest firmware update). It does not lose/drop the segment or however somebody reported above. And I still have the original unit I bought. I had bought the Edge 520 but the display was smaller than the ELEMNT's. The display on the ELEMNT is a perfect size and very readable.

The upload at the end of the ride to Strava works very reliably nowadays, but sometimes it takes several minutes and it depends on the wifi or LTE/4G availability and/or the companion ELEMNT iOS app being open, etc.

The setup and usability is very good. You can customize and/or add pages as well. I ride a lot in the dark and the light is very sufficient. Battery time is good enough for me and I think I can get easily at least 6-10 hrs (depends on the light on or not, etc.) but I have not fully tested battery life yet. LEDs are nice and customizable as well (for HR or speed for example).

You should be able to buy a unit as an REI member and return it if you don't like it. No worries, I recommend it highly. Be advised I have not tried any other ANT accessories, just the bluetooth connection to the TICKR. Btw, I did notice on a recent ride when I forgot to put the TICKR on my chest until mid-ride, that it took quite a while for the ELEMNT to pick it up and start using my actual HR rather than 135 bpm (which ELEMNT or Strava uses apparently when there is no data available).

Also be advised that there is a new route me anywhere feature as of WF42-1217 which I have not tested yet. Seems handy if you're lost and need to get home or hit a gas station, etc. Cool thing is new features are being released regularly via firmware updates. Give it a shot!

29 people found this helpful

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Bmester

Exceptional Bike Computer!

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2018

Verified Purchase

First let me start by saying this is my first true bike computer - prior to purchasing the ELEMNT I used the Strava iPhone App with Quad Lock securing my iPhone to the bike stem. Although effective, there were many draw backs to the Strava App/iPhone set up including battery drain (especially on 2+ hr rides), lack of screen customization, and the worst of which were frequent signal drops and/or app freeze.

Fast forward to using the ELEMNT. Since owning it I've logged ~1,000 miles (3/4 of those outdoors) and it's been flawless. Below are my Pro's and Con's with a perspective of previously using my iPhone and Strava App

Pro's:
> Initial set-up is extremely intuitive and user friendly.
> Size and mounting. The ELEMNT is much smaller than my iPhone while providing a much better presentation of data. Additionally the "out-in-front" mount is much better from a viewing and bike position perspective. It also comes with a stem mount but does not work with asymmetrical stems which is what I have.
> Data Gathering and Presentation. The amount of data it can track seems limitless (assuming you have the necessary data collection hardware) and the ability to create multiple screen/page's is a huge plus. Although I've only created 3 screens/pages (Indoor, Short Outdoor, Long Outdoor), I can see how this would be a big plus for those who have a wide range of cycling/training scenarios.
> Battery Life. I'm not sure what the true battery life is but I have ridden multiple 1+ hr rides before the battery indicator show's 50%. An added plus for me is I can now use my iPhone for safety purposes (I use RoadID app so my wife can track my solo rides which sends her an alert if I remain tationary for more that 5 min) without worrying about battery drain from two apps running at the same time. Paired with the ELEMNT App, you receive reminders on your smart phone to charge the battery.
> GPS Reliability. In ~30 outdoor rides (some in areas with very poor cell coverage), I have yet to experience a dropped GPS signal.

Con's:
> At this point I see no downside or inconveniences with the ELEMNT

17 people found this helpful

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TC

STOP! Look No Further! This Is The Computer You Need

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Topics in this review include:

1. Overview
2. Pro’s and Con’s
3. Recommendations
4. How To Measure A Wheel For A Speed Sensor?

OVERVIEW

I’ve spent hours researching two brands of computers because I spend so much time on the saddle and because they are expensive. It’s obvious the leaders are Wahoo and Garmin. I watched YouTube video after YouTube video and what it came down to is ease of use.

I’m not a Garmin hater, in fact I have had three Garmin’s over the years, and they are have served me well. However, their User Interfaces have way too much to navigate and configure. I want to ride, not program a bike computer. Don’t get me wrong, I am very computer literate with 30+ years’ experience writing code. I just want to ride.

Wahoo boasts that if you are familiar with using mobile Apps, you will be familiar with using a Wahoo Element. It’s true, the user interface is well thought out. There is nothing else to say, it’s that simple, and so is connecting other devices like speed sensors. I literally set up and personalized my Wahoo Element in about 10 minutes.

PRO’S AND CON’S

PRO’s
• Ease of Set Up.
• Large screen
• Easy to read in daylight.
• Crystal Clear Black and Grey Screen (Perfect in sunlight). Can also turn on a backlight which is just as easy to read at night.
• Decent Battery life.

CON’s
• It comes with a plastic one-piece platform/base computer mount. Also, it has no torque specification. If you accidentally over-tighten the bolt that hold it on the handlebar, you will strip the plastic threads that holds your expensive computer in place.

RECOMMENDATIONS
• If you want to have accurate data, buy a wheel sensor ($39.00) - do not reply upon GPS data, especially if you ride trails. GPS uses line of sight to run calculations. GPS data is why your STRAVA data is mangled and of course a couple other reasons – you get the idea. A wheel sensor will correct missing line of site GPS inaccuracies. However, you must enter the correct wheel size to have accurate data. I will explain how to do this in the next section.

• Upgrade to a K-Edge mount because the platform/mount that comes with the Wahoo Element is plastic. Yes, the K-Edge mount it’s an added expense and a little pricey, but worth it because it’s sturdy, and sturdy is an understatement. You will have peace knowing when you make it to the bottom of the mountain after hitting, jumps, drops, and rock garden your computer will be with you and in one piece.

HOW TO MEASURE A WHEEL FOR A SPEED SENSOR?

To make this simple, especially for newbies, there are multitude of methods to calculate wheel size. You will find lots of information on search engines, YouTube, cycling computer manufactures, and the sources goes on and on. However, what I found is the majority of these resources make this process more complex than what it actually is. SIMPLY PUT, IT’S MEASURING A WHEEL SO AN INDIVIDUAL CAN INPUT THE CORRECT NUMBER IN THE BIKE COMPUTER SO SPEED AND MILEAGE IS CORRECTLY CALCULATED WHILE RIDING.

You need a couple thigs before you get started.
• ¼ inch vinyl tube. I picked up ¼ tubbing from the local hardware store because it was cheap at $0.19 per foot. Buy about 10 feet, just in case you mess up. You will understand why in the directions below.

• Tape - Meaning you should use any tape that will stick to a rubber tire.

• Tape Measure

• Calculator

• Scissors

• Sharpie Marker

First, you need to measure your tire. When I say tire, I mean the outer rubber of the tire; the rubber that hits the dirt or pavement when rolling, NOT THE RIM that holds the tire. The most accurate method to measure a tire is as follows.

1. Run the vinyl tube along the outer rubber of the tire until both ends meet. See the attached image. It’s the green circle.

TIP: This is where I used tape. Since I did not have anyone helping me and I wanted to get an accurate measurement, I taped the tubing as I ran it along the tire.

2. After running the tube around the tire, mark where the tube meets each other. A snug fit will suffice. After running the tube around the tire, I pulled the tubing off and cut where I marked the tubing. Now you have one long piece of vinyl tubing that needs to be measured.

3. Using your tape measure, measure the length of the vinyl tubing that you just cut.

4. Now all you need to do is perform two simple calculations to get the number you need to input into you bike computer.

Calculations
1. Multiply Inches of tubing you cut from above x 25.4 = Millimeters.

2. Divide Millimeters from the first calculation by 1000 = Meters a.k.a. your Computer Input Setting

Example:

1. 89 inches x 25.4 = 2260.6

2. 2260.6 / 1000 = 2.261

3. Enter 2.261 into your computer.

CONCLUSION
Wahoo Element is my choice for a cycling computer, for everything I stated above in the Pro’s list and much more. In retrospect after using this for a few months, the choice of a Wahoo over Garmin is not even a consideration, the Wahoo Element wins every time.

****** Please let me know if this review was helpful by clicking the “Helpful” button below***** THANK YOU!

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Vicky

Very Good Bike Computer with Turn by Turn Navigation

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

I replaced a Garmin 500 bike computer with the Wahoo ELEMNT about 6 weeks ago and I'm very happy with the unit, with one exception. The display is large and it's easy to navigate to the different screens while riding using the buttons on the unit. Accuracy of the GPS seems to be excellent and the turn-by-turn navigation/map function is great. It save our group several times during a century ride in August.
My biggest complaint though is the temperature readout. It's off by up to 6 to 18 degrees. It reads 6 to 8 degrees high when it's in the shade or indoors and it off by 16 to 18 degrees when it's in the sun. Wahoo tech support says that's within the design parameters of the unit. I say BS. My one other downgrade is that you have to use the ELEMNT app to configure the data fields but you only do that a couple of times in the beginning setting it up.

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Customer

Lots of great features, easy setup, good battery life

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2020

Verified Purchase

This bike computer is really great. It has all of the information I want, setup took about 15 minutes (which included syncing my speed indicator and Tickr). It has plenty of options available that can be changed on the app instead of pushing buttons on the computer itself. Love it!
The LEDs on the left are set to my heart rate ranges and are visible and helpful while riding at night. I haven't used the LEDs across the top yet but will do so when I download ride routes.
I like reading the data on my phone app when I return home from a ride. The data layout is great with temperature, speed, heart rate, and speed over the elevation graph.
The battery life is 12 to 14 hours so far.
I bought the extended warranty option from Amazon. I hope I never need it but am glad I have it.
Although I've been road biking for 25 years, I've always used basic cycling computers so I can't compare this computer to others, but I'm happy to have it!
Room for improvement: I set my bike computer on a table next to three other thermometers and the bike computer indication was 5 or 6 degrees Fahrenheit too high. Not a big deal, I just subtract five degrees from the indicated temperature while I'm riding.

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MadeVeryWell

Wahoo's Second Chance Pays Off

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

Bought it to replace my Wahoo RFLKT which quit working inexplicably. I was a little concerned about purchasing another computer by Wahoo, but after reading the reviews I decided to chance it. I'm glad I did! It works well, lots of customization and data points. Easy set up with QR code connection. The accompanying app works very well. The battery life is also excellent. I used it on my last century ride (that took way longer than it should have) and had ZERO issues with the ELEMNT. So far it has not had any problems connecting to my Wahoo speed and cadence sensors. The mount is great, good quality and I like the off set mount so that the device is centered on my handle bars. It is larger than I expected but with my failing vision the large screen means I can read the display without readers. I also like the LED bar display. It's a great visual aid of current performance. All in all, I have been very pleased with the ELEMNT. If you are swearing off Wahoo because of the RFLKT, the ELEMNT might change your mind.

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James

Battery lifetime is marginal and customer service is unacceptable!

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

Update: 9/21/19. I haven't been contacted yet by customer support yet because the replacement battery is still on backorder. How much does having an expensive bike computer fail for half the summer! And my guess is they don't care enough about my lousy experience to harvest a battery out of a new one and send it to me so I can have a usable device. Currently, battery life is less than 10 minutes.

Pros: The display is excellent and it was easy to setup with my Polar HRM and PowerTap hub. It calculates mileage and cadence from the PowerTap hub.

Cons: Unfortunately, the battery has been the weak link. I started noticing that the unit was giving me a low battery warning after a ride or two when it seemed that I used to go about a week of use and would charge as I noticed the battery percentage down. I contacted customer service who suggested that I use a USB greater than 2A, not use a iPhone block charger or a laptop and I was using the appropriate charger. They told me the unit hasn’t been fully charged since April 2019, which probably indicated that the battery wasn't accepting a full charge because I had kept the unit on the charger all day many times since April. Currently, the battery will last 40 minutes before the unit turning off. What compounds the frustration with the poor battery performance is that this unit just over a year and a half old, so that it’s not under warranty and the manufacturer said batteries are back ordered so I’m out of luck using this for who knows how long. It’s a little disheartening and I was caught off guard by this. I didn’t consider battery durability when comparing cycling computers.

5 people found this helpful

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Bon Jovial

Easy and powerful

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

I took a chance and jumped off the Garmin train when I decided to buy a dedicated bike computer, rather than using my GPS watch. I was weighing the Garmin Edge or the Wahoo Elemnt, but took a chance on the Elemnt due to raves about it's ease of use and Wahoo customer service. I'm glad I did. The Elemnt took me about 5 minutes to figure out and get out on the road. Download the ap onto your phone. Scan the QR code on the screen of the Elemnt and it pairs in about 2 seconds. Then you configure the computer using the phone ap.

It found my sensors (ANT HR strap, and speed/cadence sensor) instantly, and I was on my way. On the fly, you can page through various customizable screens and show more or fewer lines of data. Uploads data (via Bluetooth connection to your phone) to Strava, instantly. Super sweet!

23 people found this helpful

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NATSFAN

Very basic bike GPS that’s not worth the price

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

I’m not one normally to write reviews, but I decided to write one for this product in the hopes of helping people determine which bike computer is right for them. The bottom line is that you need to decide what functions are important to you before buying a bike computer. There are loads of articles, reviews, etc., comparing Wahoo and Garmin. Neither is perfect and have their own issues: Garmin seems to be strong on hardware, whereas Wahoo is strong on software and ease of set up. Garmin is also head and shoulders above Wahoo in navigation. I purchased the Wahoo Elemnt thinking that the navigation would be sufficient for my uses and would in fact be quite simple. It is very simple to set up, but the navigation is quite bad — it’s like using a grainy, slow black and white Mario game. Streets are not named and you only get turn by turn directions when using the “Take Me To” feature on the Wahoo app (you have to do it on the companion app; can’t do it on the Wahoo itself). If you want to download routes you need to use third party apps and must pay for a monthly or yearly subscription (about $60 for a yearly inscription). I was trying to find popular routes in Cape Cod while on vacation. Strava was a major pain in the neck — you need to pay the subscription and then use hot routes, and you need to do it on your computer (which I did not bring). RidewithGPS was much easier and they allowed me to pay for only a month to test it out (about $5). Another big issue was that in order to sync the routes on the Wahoo (using the device to do the syncing), Wahoo has to be connected to WiFi. I tried for quite some time to sync routes without luck. Once I dug through support literature I found that Wahoo cannot connect to WiFi if there is a login page, such as in a hotel or airport. Oops! That’s a big problem when you are traveling with your bike and did not sync routes in advance. The navigation itself — whether using Wahoo’s Take To companion app feature or using a synced route from a third party app — doesn’t have street names. You essentially follow bread crumbs. If you go off route the device does not tell you how to get back on. Rather the LEDs just blink. For a direction-challenged person like myself that is not at all helpful. I tried out the Take Me To feature (which does provide turn by turn directions) on a route where I knew where I was going to see how accurate it was. I knew I had to turn right at an intersection and was about two miles from my destination, but Wahoo said I had 4.8 miles to go and wanted to take me in the complete opposite direction. On the plus side, the Wahoo does have an easily-readable display and provides the basic information you need as you ride: speed, time, average speed, etc., but for $300 I would expect much more. I recently bought my wife a Garmin 945 triathlon watch, which she loves. She can download popular routes easily without having to pay a subscription fee for third party apps. Connection to the internet is easy as is Bluetooth. After reading another ton of reviews I decided to return the Wahoo and order the Garmin Edge 830 for another $100 above the Wahoo Elemnt. Touch screen, turn by turn navigation, round trip routes, popular routes in the area for free, street names, etc., etc. I’m sure it won’t be perfect, but it’s more in line with what I want, which is premium navigation and simplicity in creating routes so that I can go off and explore without getting lost. All the other functions of a bike computer (speed, distance, etc.) aren’t and shouldn’t be complicated. From what I’ve read, the Edge 530 and 830 are big advances over their predecessors, which tended to have a lot of software bugs. If it’s any indication, when I went to buy the 830 online at REI they were sold out at almost all the stores in my area (Washington, DC) and in every store in a four hour radius of the Boston area (where I am vacationing). I hope this has been helpful!

4 people found this helpful

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R. Watkins

Consider the ELEMNT BOLT instead; Turn-by-turn navigation is poor

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2018

Verified Purchase

The newer ELEMNT BOLT is a superior device in almost all respects. It is smaller, sleeker, and has a louder beeper (important for navigation). The only thing you give up is a bit of vertical screen real estate (ELEMNT screen is 240x400 pixels whereas BOLT screen is 240x320 pixels). The main consequences of this are that: on the main page, you can see only 9 parameters simultaneously with the BOLT versus 11 with the ELEMNT; on the cue-sheet page, only 2 turns with the BOLT versus 3 with the ELEMNT, and on the map page, slightly less area with the BOLT than with the ELEMNT. Both units run exactly the same software and have the same features.

The displays of both units are monochrome. Moreover, they are bilevel displays (like the old-fashioned bitmap displays of the 1980s), so there is no antialiasing. Small text looks somewhat crude, and streets on the map display have the "jaggies", but these are more cosmetic issues than practical ones. The smaller physical size of the BOLT screen makes these anomalies less apparent.

I purchased this device mainly for navigation, not for fitness. In this regard, performance is disappointing. As I mentioned above, the beeper that alerts of upcoming turns is barely audible. I am unable to hear it at all if there is any automobile traffic around. This issue seems to have been addressed with the BOLT. When I ride with my wife, I am able to hear the BOLT on her bike from several feet away.

Another big disappointment is that the routing cue sheet does not scroll after each turn. Instead it shows turns that have already been completed with negative distance-to-turn values. To get it to update, I either have to scroll manually, or flip to the map and back to the cue sheet. According to WAHOO customer support, it is supposed to automatically scroll but in what I consider an undesirable way. They say it should scroll so that the upcoming turn is always at the bottom of the page with the two previously completed turns visible above it. I would much rather see the upcoming turn at the top of the page with the next two turns below it. With the latest firmware (version 1982) there is no automatic scrolling at all. I am still in contact with WAHOO customer support about this issue, but they have yet to acknowledge it as a bug.

Finally, there is not enough warning upcoming turns. The unit doesn't start alerting until I am right on top of a turn, sometimes not until I am actually in the turn. I would like an advance alert, say a quarter mile before the turn, and then a second alert at the turn. I did a recent bike tour using the RideWithGPS app on my cell phone, and I really enjoyed that feature.

Despite these issues, I am pleased with the device overall and am becoming addicted to tracking my rides on Strava. However, I am not sure that I would recommend purchasing it solely for navigation. A handlebar mount for a cell phone might be a better solution. For fitness tracking, definitely -- but go with a BOLT instead.

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