A big old meh.

No chance I would order after reading his review summary. A bit surprising. I thought Wahoo would knock it out of the park.

I don't quite get all the negativity, particularly in that review. I agree about micro-USB. That should be gone in 2019.

Zip-ties are ghetto, but so are rubber-band mounts.

Otherwise the thing seems great. I've had my Bolt for two years, and it's been drop-dead reliable, and the software updates have been spot-on.

Exactly. I've had my Bolt for two years as well and see no reason to upgrade to the Roam. I think a lot of people feel similarly. Thus, the negativity.

Me neither. But the review should be comparing the device to other devices with features sets that people *do* want. I don't see how Roam fares poorly vs. the new $400 Garmin, once the upcoming software updates are done (e.g. turn-by-turn, Trailforks, etc). Except the USB.

I only use mapping features like 1-2 per year, it seems, and the Bolt's mapping is fine for me.

In fact I might still be using my old Garmin 500 if it hadn't crapped out on me after like 5 years. Though over that ~5 years Garmin never seemed to have solved the seamless uploading of data, which is why I jumped ship to Yahoo. By the end of the 5 years I was just manually copying files off the 500 into a Dropbox folder to upload to other sites. (Though I'm sure the new Garmins have solved that issue....)

My Edge 520 is still hanging in there, and I don't really see a reason to upgrade. The 530 and 830 are appealing, but don't represent a large enough leap to replace something functional. I've always wanted to try a Wahoo, and if the new Roam were priced at $279 I might go for it. But at $379? No thank you.

Failing to launch the Roam before Garmin announced the Edge 530/830 looks like it has really sucked the wind out of Wahoo's sails.

Wahoo's problem is that the ROAM competes head-to-head with a $300 Garmin with more features. It has no shot against the $400 830. It is just the next iteration of the BOLT with a $130 price increase. Garmin only increased their price $30.

The $300 Garmin has:

• Longer battery life
• Faster processor
  
• Better screen
  
• Mapping (until ROAM updates someday)
• Custom apps
• Lots of performance analysis features (the FirstBeat stuff)
  
• Lots of gizmo features (the radar, lighting, battery extension, etc. stuff)
  

If you cherry-picked down to just the essential features for displaying, capturing, and uploading a ride, it would still be uphill against an $80 cheaper unit. It is like this sucker is DOA because of price. Now, if it undercut the 530 at a $250 or $280 price point, it might have a shot.

i agree 100%

I bought an Elemnt a couple months ago. I've been extremely happy with it. I would choose it over any Garmin. I was nervous about Wahoo launching something this year that is much better than my Elemnt, so I'm actually kind of happy to see the Roam is only slightly better.

I hated my 820, was extremely disappointed in my Vector3s, and disliked the battery life of my 520, so I decided i wasn't going to support Garmin anymore. With that said, the 530 seems to be a great offering at a competitive price. While the Elemnt was an easy choice a few months ago, the 530 would make it a tough call between the two today

I always take his reviews with a grain of salt lately. Too many Garmin products he has given a pass too that were utter garbage.

The single best feature of my bolt is the ease of use, setup, and battery life. Something that Garmin is incapable of getting right. I do think the price is a bit high......not sure what other features i really wanted though. I actually prefer the bolt screen.

Garmin and Wahoo's recent releases have added a bunch of features I personally wouldn't use. I typically ride known routes so things like live, routing, retrace, breadcrumbs, Garmin's ClimbPro etc hold little appeal to me. The MTB functionality is a bit more compelling but I again I'm on known trails and wouldn't really use the functionality. Exploring on a bike can be risky as you wind up at dead ends, roads with too much traffic or unrideable conditions. I'm honestly uncertain who this stuff appeals to. I'm much more interested in practical things like UI improvement, better battery life, WiFi, apps etc.

I really don't understand this. Just because they're good at indoor training doesn't mean they're gonna be good at GPS stuff. It really seems to me that if they want to actually be good at GPS stuff it's going to take them a very long time. Garmin, they acquired Tac-X, so they're going to be good at indoor training because they bought a great indoor training company.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

it may well be that you don't value what i value. but i can't use a bolt at all. here's my experience with the ROAM. and i'm by no means an expert in this category. just, there it is if you're interested, and i guess one thing that might make what i'm writing a bit relevant (i don't know) is that i actually rode with the darned thing.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

It's the nature of the beast. Two industry leading companies are going head to head with bike computer releases within a few days of each other. I think the Wahoo ecosystem is much easier and I am by no means a Garmin fan, however, I think Wahoo missed the boat on pricing vs Garmin and the feature set in relation to the price point. That said, Garmin needs to have a much longer runway with software updates for all of its products.

I respectfully disagree on a few points and why i no longer use Garmin. Their advertised battery life is never correct, to the point of being dishonest. My 510, 520, and 1030 were nowhere near their advertised battery life. Conversely, my bolt is 100% correct on its battery life. The screen on the bolt and roam is what makes it so good. It is easy to read in all light conditions and in the rain. I don't need to be entertained when looking at my power numbers, i just want to see my numbers quickly and easily. Wahoo excels at this. Finally, the mapping on the bolt has been 100% fine for lots of gravel races on roads that are unmarked. The new features that are soon to be released will meet 100% of consumers needs.

I do not understand Ray's comments on speed? Shane Miller has a video on the unit and it looks very fast and no issues. I really have no idea how this is a problem. Seriously, what the heck are you doing while riding that this is needed?

To me the other selling point is the update stability of the software from Wahoo and the ease of use. That right there is a huge selling point that is not being addressed. I have never had an issue with my bolt, never a lost file, never dropped data. My 510, 520, and 1030 have all had issues with setup, lost files, or needed regular reboots. The wahoo has been flawless. I still have problems with my 1030/520 connecting to my phone whereas the bolt connects instantly.

The price is the other concern. I think they needed to come it at 300 or 330, 379 is a bit high. I suspect they will drop the pricing this year, but still if this was at 300 it would be a killer. Wahoo in the road racing world is doing very well. The bolt is the most popular computer at big races so far this season (from what i have seen). The gravel market seems to be split between the Bolt and 1030. I think the biggest problem for Wahoo is their bolt is so good it leaves little reason to upgrade to this unit other than for increased screen size.

Ray was a software engineer at Microsoft...

Also...an easy pass for me is Wahoo's idiotic desire to not support Varia radar.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

This is why I sold my Wahoo ELEMNT and went back to Garmin was because of the Varia. I'd consider Wahoo again if they offered support for the Varia but until that time it's a total non-starter for me.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

What are you saying?


Nevermind....a bit slow today, LOL

That two software engineers can have two different opinions...although Shane saying he's a Time Travel Expert is kind of...not funny. Must be an Aussie gag.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

You are coming at it from the point of view as someone with specific personal experiences (Garmin negative and Wahoo positive) that are guiding your preferences. Many buyers will not have this point of view. The 530 torches the ROAM on paper and it's $80 cheaper. Someone not predisposed would have to be swayed by something like an LBS shop person who is a strong Wahoo advocate, or they would have to find and believe similar Internet reviews to your experiences (without also stumbling across any Wahoo negatives) in order to make the personal justification to spend the extra $80.

IMHO, Wahoo would have been better off waiting until they at least got the mapping done before releasing. In its present state, it doesn't even meet the minimums to compete with Garmin's $300 product. If Garmin chooses to target its marketing against Wahoo, they will bury the ROAM before it even has a chance.

By the way, I agree with a lot of your negative Garmin comments. When my 520 was new, it did have seemingly infinite battery life. Then somewhere along the line, they did a firmware update and now it probably has only half the life it once had. The 820 was a freakin' dumpster fire of a product. I had one for a weekend before getting rid of it. If I did not need the 820 for its mapping, I would have crushed it on the side of the road before the weekend was done. OTOH, I have never lost a file on any Garmin device in my lifetime of use. My 520 has rebooted 3 times (I think) in three years of use during a ride. But it picked up where it left off pre-boot. The 1030 is the most awesome bike computer I have ever used. If it would fit on my TT bike, I would be using it there.

Add me as another fan of the Varia radar. And it comes with a very good rear tail light. I feel naked if I leave it off the bike. Kind of like a good wrist watch.

Idiosyncrasies aside, I don't have a problem with Garmin head units. My Edge 1000 has been flawless.

I'm a very happy Bolt user.

I don't care about mapping.
I don't care about color screens.
I don't want a bigger form factor than the Bolt.

I would consider selling my Bolt and paying $250 for a new version if you gave me the following.
Better battery life...not to say the Bolt's reliable 15 hours isn't enough, but more is always better when it comes to battery
USB C charging...again, not to say that micro USB is "slow", but usually as I'm getting ready for a ride I power on my computer to verify battery life and a few times I've seen the "oh shit...only 10% left" and I need to leave in 10 minutes.
Ability to select activity profiles from the computer (which are configured using the phone app). I have about 7 pages set up on my Bolt. It be nice if I could select a commuting profile to only use pages 5 and 7, training profile to use pages 1, 2, and 4. Racing profile to use pages 3, and 4. And MTB profile to use pages 6, and 7.

And I'd pay the $380 if you did the above, and had ANT+ light integration and FULL GoPro control integration. Being able to start/stop multiple cameras, toggle between video and photo, view battery life and SD card storage, etc.

So obviously I'm just sticking with my Bolt...and no real interest in a 530 either.

Time Travel Expert?.... Oh, you've stalked my LinkedIn profile. The back story to that is LinkedIn allowing us to set a job start date prior to our birthdate. Note that I've held that title for 118 years... with the job description of "Confirming the input validation algorithms are somewhat lacking on LinkedIn.". Most of my LinkedIn data is correct. I'll update it next time I have to apply for a job. :)

Anyhow. The ROAM. I'm hoping in a few weeks when/if they nail Strava/TCX/GPX Turn by Turn, ANT+ Radar & Light, and maybe a few more partner integrations (eg TrainerRoad workouts!?) the unit will pack a lot more punch. The hardware should allow it. It's now up to the code gurus to make it happen.

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Shane Miller - GPLama
YouTube | Web | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Strava

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Elemnt user, but I’m disappointed by the ROAM.

I clicked through on the email thinking I was going to buy, but once I read up on it, I was left hoping for “more”, though I’m not exactly sure what , haha!! (lighter? bigger screen? USB-C?). So I’m holding off for now.

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You will never, in your life, have a chance like this again.
If I were you, I would not pass this up. I would not let this go by...this is rare.
Come on...what harm??

bigger screen! you mean smaller screen! just read the comments above, and in the other thread. you can't win for losing if you're a manufacturer in this game. if the screen size isn't exactly what someone wants, the device maker hasn't just erred, it's made some sort of moral miscalculation. our folks here are nothing if not entertaining!

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman