The BOLT is a great budget option with a easy UI and a strong following. The 530 is a fully featured computer (lacks nothing) for a 30% premium over the BOLT. These are highlights of some key differences that you get for the extra $70 USD.

• If you want mapping, get the Garmin; Full stop
• Garmin has a larger, true color, and higher resolution screen (IMHO, it easier to see for those of us with presbyopia)
• Garmin's ClimbPro is really cool when you use mapped routes
• If you are already in the Garmin ecosystem with a Garmin watch, the Edge might be a nice complement
• Garmin's web and mobile app are more mature than Wahoo (Wahoo does not have a web app)
• Garmin's initial setup is a royal PITA (fortunately, you only have to do it once)
  
• Garmin's UI is polarizing love/hate for some; I think the 530 is very good and an improvement over past generations
  

I have Element bolt (for more than 2 years), my wife has Garmin 530.

I wish I bought her Element Bolt or Element Roam instead of the Garmin... But it's ok as she rides only 2-3 times a week.

Element Bolt is just awesome - no issues with my Assioma Duos and Tickr X. It works perfectly with Tacx Neo.
I use map navigation quite rarely, but also no issues.

Things I don't like in the Garmin:
- UI is too complex
- Controlling the trainer is difficult and not user-friendly in comparison to Wahoo.
- Constant connection breaks with Tacx Neo (other users has the same issue - https://forums.garmin.com/.../530-sensor-dropouts)
- A lot of features I don't need (bike alarm, mtb dynamics, training status etc.)

And yeah, I'm not Garmin hater, haha (my 920xt bought in 2015 still perfect), but Wahoo just nails in bike computers.

I have both of these for one reason. The MTB features of the 530 are superior to that of the Wahoo.

Elemnt: More simple, less flashy, EASY to follow cookie trail type navigation. Instant ride downloads. I use mine almost exclusively on the road and I used it for Maah Daah Hey 150 this year due to knowing the navigation feature / more familiarity with the unit.

Garmin: More accurate in the woods. Period. More flashy, more features, more learning curve. More buggy for downloading IMO. Due to the Wahoo being so darn easy I don't use the Garmin enough to learn it well. Due to the learning curve I used the Wahoo in the "open country" MDH 150 where I knew accuracy wasn't a huge issue with tight wooded hairpin switchbacks.

I bet I have close to 2000 hours on my Elemnt. It survived MDH 150 at 14:10 with 8% battery remaining.

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24 Hour World TT Champs-American record holder
Fat Bike Worlds - Race Director
Insta: chris.s.apex

Thanks for the input. I’ll be letting her know about Black Friday deals as well.

Bolt 100000000%.

I owned a Garmin Edge 1030 and a Lezyne Macro GPS. (1030 was wifes. Lezyne was mine.)

After more than a year of each, I sold both, and used proceeds to purchase two Wahoo ELEMNT Bolts. Was literally the single best cycling purchase decision I've ever made.

If offered a Garmin 530 for free, or a full-price Bolt, I'd purchase the Bolt. If offered a Garmin 530 for free, or option to have no bike computer at all, I'd go without a computer.

Reasons I departed from Garmin computers:
1. Cumbersome route loading.
2. Unintuitive.
3. Cumbersome apps that don't work.
4. Slow.
5. Complicated.
6. Headache after headache.
7. Cumbersome (see the trend) ride uploads.
8. When it worked well (rare) it was cumbersome. When it worked poorly, it was a life-altering headache for my wife and I.

I still use other Garmin products (Vector 2s and 3s power pedals and an old tri watch), and their customer service has been awesome, but I'd have to be paid handsomely to use their computers over a Wahoo Bolt. No affiliation with Wahoo, in case this reads like a Wahoo ad.

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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Garmin for me all the way.
Yes it is not as intuitive but if you are used to the Garmin ecosystem and set ups then it is very easy, plus once you are set up you really don't need to change much that often. The screen is great and I have had very few issues with my 530.
I tried a Wahoo head unit once and did not like it, mainly as the lack of colour screen and just the overall look did not appeal, but I have been Garmin for years so it would always be a tough sell to change over.
I don't use my bike computer for mapping rides prior etc at all. I have never needed that feature where I ride and train so cannot comment on that side of things.
I otherwise have similar preferences to you.....favero pedals, garmin watch, wahoo chest strap.....I am not brand loyal as such, I just use whatever works best for what I need.

If you took the best features of each of these computers then you'd have one very nice computer. Anyway, I have both and would hands down go with the 530. First, the Bolt experienced some software snafu that manifested over the summer and wahoo was unable to fix for a protracted period of time. There was a thread on here about it. I have no idea if they ever fixed it because I just gave up on the computer and it has been sitting in a drawer since August. Prior to that, and again if they have managed to fix it, the speed, reliability and straightforwardness of the Bolt were pretty nice.

The Garmin Edge has many more features, much nicer screen . . . I don't think the GPS is as accurate, I get the sense Garmin has traded battery life for accuracy across its newest range. You see that manifest itself if you're going after a Strava segment, it never knows for sure where it starts or ends, and it is waaay worse at predicting how long it will take you. I also hate hate hate that there's no UI on the Garmin to build your data screens. It's a no-brainer feature, and is so cumbersome to do in the computer itself. But still, I'd go with the 530 over the Bolt no question personally . . . Bolt really is a generation behind the 530 at this point, should be refreshed.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

Two nice features with the Bolt, one I only found out about last week.

- Integration with Best Bike Split is a piece of cake, if you ever use that to create a target power profile for a course. Sync your BBS account with Wahoo ("Connected Apps" in the Wahoo app) and any course profile you saved just appears on the Bolt for selection.

- Integration with 3rd party smart trainers is pretty easy now. When Zwift went down last week I was pissed off and in a hurry to get something set up to record my workout and set the resistance on my Elite Direto. I just paired it to the Bolt and it automatically generated a new set of pages and fields on the workout display that allowed me to easily set resistance. I was thinking I would have to piss about with settings and customizing the view, but it was very simple.

I've also got a Garmin Vivoactive 3 for running and whatnot, and I guess if I was fully bought in to the Connect ecosystem I might have wanted another Garmin. I seem to recall needing to manually upload a workout from the Wahoo app to get it into Connect (but I could be wrong). Anyway, I use Strava as the centre of my universe and everything ends up in there, so it's all good.

Cheers,
Rich.

I say this every time a comparison comes up between the Wahoo and any other bike computer.
I loved my Wahoo Element and I think my Garmin 530 is great as well.
But if you have cranks shorter than 165 the Wahoos power meter setting is not compatible.
Unless they have updated the software, but when I was inquiring it wasn't on there radar. So I replaced it with the 530.