well said, Elemnts are stable and bulletproof, and rerouting is actually no problem. once you are off route it signals it automatically, so turning around and return those 50-100m should not be an issue.
moreover usually taking the wrong turn happens in those places where there are msny turns and streets. And then you have the map right in front of you, so I usually just have a look at the next upcoming turn back into the direction of my original route and there I am back on track.
worked perfectly fine for now almost 3 years.
I’ve had a Garmin 520 and 530 and they have been bulletproof. A couple times they have rebooted mid ride and then continued recording without me doing anything. So even in this rare situation, only 20-30 seconds not recorded.
A local guy I ride with has done 36 double centuries (~200 miles / 322km), 2 in 2021 and 34 in previous years:
and thats not counting all the 100+ mile ‘warmup’ rides he does. He did those on a Garmin 520, 1000, and now 1030. We talked about Garmin vs Wahoo last year and (like me) he hasn’t lost a ride.
When I wanted to upgrade from 520 I bought a Bolt. Ended up returning it. Nothing wrong with Elemnt, its primary feature is easier initial setup via a phone app. The navigation and maps and other stuff were simply better on Garmin. Choice is good.
Brevets are a different scale of distance. The minimum is 200km. Standard distances are then 300, 400, 600, 1000 and 1200km. There are longer events, such as the local wild Atlantic way here that clocks in at 2100km.
Most garmins are ok up to around 400 but then can have issues. The 800 model i had was particularly bad as it always crashed at between 200 and 400 and then required a factory reset. Not much good in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. And it wasn’t just mine, i had two which both did this, and so did everyone else’s i knew.
Also some of them, and i think its true for older 500s, could not be charged whilst in use.
I’m told newer models are better but almost all the long distance guys and girls i know prefer wahoos now.
Oh yes, i remember the other problem with Garmins is they wont load routes much above 300 miles. So you have to chop long routes up and start swapping them mid ride. Sounds easy enough in the living room but for some reason remembering or trying to do this after a couple of days riding with little sleep is just extra stress.
For “everyday” use, Garmin is no problem.
Another riding friend did this with a Garmin 800:
And all the brevets leading up to it. He never complained about his Garmin. 
I was following his progress and he never lost a ride during the long brevets before PBP.
After PBP he upgraded to a Garmin 530. At a time when a large percentage of our club (600+ people) had already moved to the Bolt.
Agree. Everyone should have one.
So it sounds like Garmin generally has an edge because of their routing. What if I don’t need/use routing, does that change anyone’s recommendation?
Does anyone know if Wahoo has added auto-lap by GPS position yet? Very useful in a circuit race like a crit. All signs from googling point to no…
Beyond navigation there is a lot more stuff on the newer Garmin devices, in particular off the top of my head I appreciate and actively use eat/drink reminds, more control over screen layout, gear tracking, and Climb Pro (when I start riding in the hills again). So I’m ok with the hassle of doing initial one-time setup on the bike computer - as this is the key advantage of Wahoo.
It really comes down to your priorities.
hi, are Garmin units based on Android? or do they offer a possibility to add custom apps? heard something like that and kind find where.
There are Connect IQ for Garmin which is custom data fields and apps, you can also download custom OSM maps too
Same experience for me, and this is also why I changed from Garmin to Wahoo about 4 years ago.
I found that my Edge 800 and 810 had a knack of crashing every now and then, and would erase a large chunk of the ride it had recorded so far (I think they should read about journaling filesystems). What’s more, when restarted, it seemed to have lost its cached GPS location and would need 3-4 minutes to find them from scratch.
Don’t know if more modern units solve this, but after repeated assurances from Garmin in their firmware updates that the issue had been fixed, I just don’t trust them any more. Several of my friends had similar issues.
My Wahoo ELEMNT has its issues as well, and may have a more basic feature set, but it is far more reliable – and that’s ultimately what I need on brevet/ultradistance rides. In 50000 km of cycling with my ELEMNT I don’t think I’ve once lost any ride data.
That’s great - I’m sure garmin have fixed the 800 by now. I’m just saying the 2 I had crashed all the time. If other peoples don’t then fantastic. If you want one - I’ll post you my old one.
If you don’t need routing, or just very occasional… then check out the new Garmin 130. It has most of the features from higher models, even including the climb pro feature but lacks the full routing functionality.
A lot cheaper, might be exactly what you’re looking for.
Also, you may want to look at Lezyne. The Super GPS model is a bit outdated in terms of design but also has the major features you might be looking for. And as a big plus, battery seems to last forever on that one.
Thanks. I started out with Lezynes, Mini then Super. They were mostly fine, but both had weird sync errors with Strava (lost signal and the rest of the ride took place in the future, somehow). So I jumped over to a Wahoo Bolt. The lack of a touchscreen was what sold me on Wahoo. I’m happy with it for now, but I’m always lookin at what else is out there. Every time I see a Garmin v. Wahoo, it seems like most of the votes for Garmin mention routing, so that’s why I asked.
is there any issue with Garmin headunits and pairing to Wahoo Tickr, Wahoo speed- or cadence sensors?
Or is it flawless?
Flawless.
Here in Europe the 530 is offered with a voucher for free download of a Topo-map pckage for the specific country. What does that mean? Does the Garmin not work without these downloaded Topo maps? What happens when I have the Topo map for one country but want to ride in a different country? Does navigation still work? Do i need these maps?
Not sure. My understanding from DCRainmaker review is that the 530 comes with:
- a basemap for the region you purchased it in (Europe in your case)
- Trailforks worldwide maps
- ??? something about Garmin regional heat maps for routing
as far as I know you only need to load additional basemaps for other regions, say if you travel to North America. You choice on either using free maps, or buying Garmin maps.
Absolutely flawless for me (Wahoo Tickr V1 and cadence sensor).
Is it worth switching to a Garmin 530 from a Wahoo element bolt v1 for TR’s outside workouts?