Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsThey didn't learn near enough from Garmin and Polar when making this device..too bad, back to Garmin
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2020
Entry level device with a company that did not learn enough from other device makers that had been doing it for many more years.
First the software failures: Don't depend on it to record your history correctly. Connecting to android Wahoo Element app will invariably have error after error of synch fail errors in the history on your phone. Later, they will show up on the phone and sync failed goes away but that is not necessarily a good thing (see below.)*
But one big problem never goes away; you might want to only connect to upload a great ride you had and not upload all the time. Simply trying to upload the latest ride that clearly shows it recorded correctly on the device, it will not upload or show on your phone ! Just the last rides will all upload (all of them automatically, yikes*) But not your most current one.
Then their horrible lack of understanding of user interface programming: Rather than being able to choose which rides that you want to upload, it starts filling up your phone and trying to upload all of them ! In my case many many rides. There is no auto-select and you will have over 50 rides if you don't want them you will have to delete one at a time rather than being able to auto-select them all and then just un-select the ones you don't want to save like you can do with Garmin.
Next, as said; they learned very little from the user interface designs that have been out for years in Garmin and Polar devices. Which both have for 20 years allowed you to set the speed threshold for your auto-start timing of a ride. Why would this be important ? On a very very technical mountain bike climb or a really steep road climb, it will reach it's NON-ADJUSTABLE SPEED THRESHOLD and stop recording ! So, the hardest part of your ride you will not be getting recorded and timed for when you look at your workout on the map it won't show heart-rate or record that time or distance (for instance, you have just lost a mile of the hardest climb because you weren't going fast enough) !!! With both Polar and Garmin computers your speed threshold is adjustable so you can have speed granularity to like 1 mile and hour which will cover such cases. With the Wahoo computers you can't set it. It just won't record ! A very steep climb like in Georgia Brasstown Bald or in Colorado in Boulder Flagstaff, Apex mtb park ? Forget it ! Your hardest part will not be recorded !!!
Next, it's font on the timing of your ride is non-adjustable. So, it will always be too small relative to the other ones on the screen unless you zoom and wipe out your other columns you want to watch on the page. Now for time of day the font is one size larger (so if they are side by side on the page the time of day will always be one size larger and you will need to squint to see your ride time relative to time of day) so they think that is more important than sizing up the font on your total ride time and the exact opposite is true in most cases.
Last, way to many confirmation prompts. If I want to end a ride I just press a button on my Garmins and it stops it and turn it off and it is auto saved. Also, to turn off just hold the button down on the Garmin you are done.
With the Wahoo's and the designer's failures to understand good UI programming; you have to confirm every thing you want to do over and over. Do you want to turn it off with the long press, confirm yes. Do you want to end a ride, please confirm yes. It goes on and on with each action. Lastly, if you turn off without saving the ride it doesn't give you a prompt to save the ride lol (or auto-save like Garmin's), it simply wipes it out.
For the good: Battery life !!!
Also, it's form factor and LCD is easier overall to see than the new color Garmins but the other problems make it not a worthy replacement device. They are could have knocked it out of the park with good research on the other devices on the market that have been doing this for many, many years longer than Wahoo; but they just failed to do that and so we have just another mediocre endurance exercise recording device.
