I also use the V1 Bolt with a Varia and it shows me cars coming up from behind me on the screen. What more do you need to setup?
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From what I recall reading/hearing, it took them (Wahoo) as long as it did to implement the basic varia functionality into the head units because it was a closed protocol that Garmin wouldnāt/didnāt release to other manufacturers straight away.
That being the case, Wahooās hands were tied no matter how much the masses may have been complaining.
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I pulled the dates for radar support outside of Garmin:
Hammerhead Karoo: (roughly) October 16, 2019
Wahoo: August 26, 2019
Stages: December 3, 2019
It was before my cycling time so I wasnāt around back then to know any finer points such as it not being in a state to really be supported until that time.
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I went from a Bolt V1 to an Edge 540 this last year. There are definitely times where I miss the Bolt.
Itās so much faster and easier to set up your screens, the ability to āzoom in and outā on a screen is awesome, it found satellites faster and uploads to Strava faster, I like the TR outdoor workouts better on it. I have found both screens equally easy to read
What I do like better on the 540 (and the reason I switched to it): ClimbPro, mapping related stuff. there are a lot of extra bells and whistles that garmin has like training stress, asking me how much calories or water I had on my ride, suggested workouts. I just donāt use them or care about them or I have other better/preferred ways of tracking those things.
Had I not found the Edge for 40% off Iād probably still be happily using the Bolt V1
I use it all the time. The speed options are especially useful with any harassment issues
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Yeah, wow, I had that problem a couple months ago. My cx preride lap got truncated and then my race got recorded as an indoor workout without any gps data. It happened when wahoo added this dumb new start-screen. Havenāt seen it happen since, so maybe they fixed it, or thereās something non-intuitive the first few times you use it after that patch. Sometimes I think it would be nice if they didnāt add features, I really value the simplicity. Iām besides myself on the race that recorded as indoor. Iāve never used that ā so I certainly donāt need it on my start screen.
Put me in the camp who doesnāt care for the Garmin connect ecosystem. I have an Edge 1040 that I like, but I think there are tons of improvements that Garmin could make to the usability.
I also have an Apple Watch Ultra as that is all I need for a smart watch.
So my ecosystem is Apple Health / Athlytics and TrainingPeaks / WKO5.
Before I got the Edge 1040 I looked at the Wahoo options, but to me they are all fugly. Personal taste, plus they feel outdated from a hardware perspective.
I love my Bolt V2 but I would kill for a Wahoo head unit that doesnāt take 3 minutes to boot up.
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My god, yes. Having to wait for the thing to boot up just to check the battery level is infuriating.
Out of curiosity, how do you use that information? I would probably want to review only one or two specific overtakes per ride. Yesterday some ahole in a BMW did a very close pass at speed that surprised me. Or do you just take a mental note in the moment?
Same here. I have a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt v1, a Garmin Varia, a Polar H10 heart rate strap, SeeSense front light, etc. I donāt feel a strong pull towards the Garmin ecosystem. Nor do I think it is desirable to have closed silos. Iām glad the Varia integrates well with my Wahoo head unit, for example.
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Take a mental note of roughly where Iām at.
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I see the exact opposite.
Been using a Bolt V1, then V2 for ~6 years. Iāve never experienced a single critical problem with it, such as major navigation failure, crash/reboot, failure to upload. Not a single one. And, almost zero other problems either, just some teething problems with new some new features when they were being introduced, such as the Climbing stuff this year.
In contrast, the pals I ride with nearly all use Garmins - new models now - and regularly, as in every few rides, experience the types of problems that Iāve never seen in 6 years of ownership. My pals are sick of their Garmins because they cannot rely on them to do the basics, whereas my Bolts are always rock solid reliable.
Did a 2 week ride across France, following GPS routes: me on Bolt, everyone else on Garmins; periodic navigation errors sending them the wrong way, periodic crashes, etc for everyone else; totally flawless for me.
Did a 2 week ride around the Alps a few months back, following GPS routes: navigation errors and crashes galore for everyone else on Garmins; totally flawless for me. Every day thereād be instances of me shouting to others they were going the wrong way, because theyād been routed incorrectly. Every day!
Iām a software guy who values reliability and focus upon core functionality - doing the basics 100% reliably - above everything else. My anecdata, gathered over years, is such that I wouldnāt touch a Garmin head unit.
Interesting that youāre seeing the opposite 
Good weāve the choice anyway.
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My experience regarding Wahoo mirrors that of @AldridgePrior, except I can add that I have used a Garmin Edge 1040 as well. On the Edge through the few times Iāve used it I experienced ANT+ drop outs, one crash, and navigation errors (annoyingly in one case it just never gave me a turn by turn notification so I needlessly went up a 10% grade hill for no reason). The x40 series feels like itās still baking.
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In the Alps, my pal rode āhalfway upā the back of the Col de Sarenne before twigging that his Garmin had failed himā¦ 
We were about to send out a search party before he, thankfully, turned up. He had multiple instances of problems, but heās as sharp as anything (engineer), such that Iād rule out āuser errorā being the primary cause. Our conclusion was that the Garmin engineers had spent too much time adding a gazillion features instead of focusing on absolutely nailing the core functionality, hence stability issues.
Definitely agree with others on the thread, though, highlighting that in recent years Wahoo have been guilty of doing something similar: taking the focus away from nailing their core products while squandering scarce resources on other things. Which Iām certain they now realise was a disaster!
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Low cost, from Wahoo !!!
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Started with a Bolt V1, then went to Garmin, first a 830, then 530.
During this years black friday I found a Hammerhead Karoo 2 for 197ā¬ā¦ great deal, great device.
The navigation is so much better than anything I have seen so far on a bike computer. I barely would go 30m in a different direction than originally planned and the HH K2 would have already recalculatedā¦ actually calculated a new courseā¦ not a turn around like Garmin used to do it.
Regarding battery on the HH K2: 8-10%/h with a lot of sensors, GPS navigation, Climber always on and screen between 20-50%ā¦ that is absolutely fine for my needs. Iusually use the Switch Screen Off option, which switches the screen off after 15sec during rides and switches it on ahead of navigational turns or when Varia announces cars approachingā¦ works great. I do not need to look at my data all the time.
Garmins big promises on training data and data based training support are just an empty marketing bubbleā¦ so much of the data is interpreted randomly or simply wrong.
I am happy to be out of the Garmin world, sold all my Garmin devices except Varia (which is actually not a Garmin).
I was always satisfied with Wahoo though, Bolt V1 worked great. I enjoyed Wahoos setup process, its reliability, simplicityā¦ but now I am even more happy I can do everything I need on the bike computer itself, no need for a smartphone.
So, main unit is my Hammerhead, butI am still using the wahoo sensorsā¦ working fine.
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Silicon Valley engineer with both chip development and software development background. The 520 was ok for that era, and I never lost a ride. But the UX sucked. The 530 was a step forward and better than Bolt/Roam in some areas, but behind in others. The 840 is pretty sweet for doing outside workouts, navigation works well, etc., etc.
Iāve got a low tolerance for stuff that doesnāt work. Iāve never lost a ride on Garmin since buying my first in 2016.
This isnāt anecdata from a month ago
Someone with a Wahoo posted they also had to manually upload that day.
Things happen on Garmin too.
Itās not a perfect world.
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Still waiting for the official release Chip said would happen this month, but around 39 minutes into this podcast might be a solid hint?
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Sounds like new metrics of some kind? Iām wondering if itās using accelerometer data for metrics on how you move the bike, how much you sit or stand, etc. Microphone for how hard you are breathing? Lots of applications for sensors all phones have already.