BayDad wrote:
Update - I regularly plug my 520 and 920 into my MacBook and they update. In fact they also update wirelessly, so no deal breaker.
Battery - my battery lasts well over 7 hours. Although I never use navigation so can't comment on that, but I call foul on the 4 hour comment. IMO if you "really" want navigating get a 1,000 or 820. Again for me it's not required - I have a phone in my jersey pocket that has maps on it.
The OP is referring to the ability of the Bolt & ELMNT to configure the fields and data pages through the app, not firmware updates. I've had the E since last summer and indeed this is very nice and Garmin really needs to catch up on this feature.
I don't have the Bolt but functionality of my E is exactly the same except for a larger screen. Aside from the smaller form factor, the other hardware difference I'm aware of is that beeps on the Bolt are much louder than the E, that's one minor annoyance for me.
Overall I really like the E. It's not perfect but it continues to get better with each update. The only real software hassle I had with it (trouble downloading navigation routes on new wifi networks) was fixed last fall. Prior to using the E I was using a Garmin 910XT for all three sports, but wanted a larger screen for the bike and for my aging eyes. And I've continually had problems with data loss with the 910, I would lose one or two files a month, and to me data reliability is one of the most important factors in a head unit. I suppose since with the Edge series one can also download files with USB this would likely be less of a problem but it really put a sour taste in my mouth. I haven't lost a single ride file in 8 months with the E. I also found some of the software decisions to be brain dead on the 910, such as adjusting backlight via a power button that also has no confirmation for shutdown. The E acts like you expect a unit to behave, it confirms power shutdowns or ending a ride; my wife is constantly forgetting to reset rides on her 500 and ends up with rides on different days munged together.
I don't doubt a lot of this is handled better on the newer Edge series but just explaining my thinking for not wanting to go with Garmin. At the time I bought the E the larger navigation-oriented Garmin units were getting long in the tooth and the 820 had not been introduced. It's my understanding the the 520 has very limited storage for maps and the download process is not very clean, both of which are non-issues with the E or the Bolt. The 820 fixes that at a higher price, but does have in-unit on the fly navigation. You can do on the fly navigation on the E & Bolt but you need your phone. I did find that the on the fly navigation can route you over trails that can only be ridden with an MTB and hopefully that will be fixed in the future but on the other hand this is a feature I'll rarely if ever use.
The E & Bolt do not have profiles like the Garmin but don't need them as much since it's so easy to configure the data pages. I set up different data pages for my different uses and turn them on and off quickly with the phone app. For certain uses, such as going back and forth from MTB use to road use, I'd like some sort of simple profile functionality as you can only have one map page, currently I have to go into the app to change data fields on the map pages and that's kind of fiddly; but my MTB use is seasonal so not a big problem.
Structured workouts are not currently available on the E & Bolt so that's something to be aware of, I believe they're coming eventually but are still a ways down the road. Personally I find that functionality to be useless as I find stop signs, traffic lights and downhills make preset intervals impractical, and I use zwift or golden cheetah indoors. My Quark Riken works well with the E, I believe most common powermeters work fine, but SRM and some less common power meters currently have issues so that's also something to be aware of. For more information search the Wahoo ELMNT user's forum on google groups.
The black and white maps work fine for me, I can see that color would be nice in certain situations, such as offroad to provide more context. Most offroad trails do appear on the maps, it uses Open Street Maps. Seven hours of battery life sounds pretty low, I would have exceeded that on a couple of my rides last year, and I only charge the E once every week or so. You can extend the functionality of Edge computers with Connect IQ, I've looked through the available apps and while many of them appear to be of minimal value a few of them look nice so that's also something to consider.
Overall I like the E, it seems to be built with more user-friendly software than Garmin. Both Wahoo & Garmin have their pluses and minuses and one may fit your needs better than the other.