I did the mistake of trying a Garmin after running Wahoo for many years, took me one ride before I went back.
Some things that are key for me in a bike computer:
- I can look at the road while I zoom in on the map (perfect for descents where I need to quickly zoom in and out based on corners etc). Being able to do that without looking down is really nice.
- Less is more for me, I ride 95% with a map, and all I need is to see which road I am on, and which turn to take next. I don’t care for street names or whatnot, I need quick glance and good contrast.
- I like to run everything from the app, takes way way way less time. Once route is loaded, I just want to press start and stop on the unit. If I need to change route I’ll do that on my phone.
- Wahoo has very good anti reflection and visibility in the sun. Felt like I saw more of the trees and sky on the Garmin (1040) I tested.
With that said, it feels like those who dislike Wahoo have never used one, and those who have gone from Garmin to Wahoo don’t go back. And those who run Wahoo and try Garmin immediately go back to Wahoo. At least within my circle.
I like the comparison someone else mentioned a while ago:
Garmin is like Android, perfect for those who wants a Swiss army knife that does 100 things mediocre, Wahoo is more like iPhone, not as feature rich, but it does the basic things very well.
I don’t care for widgets, touch screen, do it all on the unit etc. I set mine up, and then I want it to just work. Wahoo is probably more a performance computer, where Garmin is an “adventure and feature” computer.
Also, cannot stand the bird chirp noise from the Garmin, the beeps on the Wahoo are so so much better.