Wahoo Elemnt Bolt (V2 Color)

The @gpl Varia display packs are: Wahoo Elemnt ANT+ RADAR Customization: Elemnt // BOLT // ROAM – GPLama.com

And while very much the wrong time of year, the Holiday packs are here: Garmin Varia Radar w/ Wahoo ELEMNT GPS: Christmas Image Pack 🎄🎅🏽 🦌 – GPLama.com

But if you want to make your Wahoo show chickens, sheep, or death stars, then I’ve got ya covered here: Wahoo Releases TrainerRoad Integration, Plus Ability to Customize Radar Icons to a Chicken | DC Rainmaker

Enjoy!

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The Elemnt and Bolt are running Android as the OS, there is no RTOS. There is a GitHub project with instructions on button presses to enable adb mode and then you can do interesting things.

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First Ride / Outside Workout / Navigation with Bolt v2. Very impressed.

Pros:

  • Screen much better, even in full sun.
  • Color is a nice touch and increases experience, which surprised me.
  • Navigation, cues, rerouting is amazing. Such an improvement over v1.
  • Rerouting was flawless. Tested on several occasions and even through it a couple U-turns and the navigation was able to adjust.
  • Navigation and TR outside workout worked perfect. All while running Varia Radar.
  • Top lights easier to see.
  • Uploaded without issue (v1 had been acting up lately).
  • Buttons easier to push.

Cons:

  • Took several rounds of updates and self power cycling the Bolt for everything to function properly. Had to close and swipe away the app several times as well. It’s wasn’t playing nice initially but eventually everything got working.

  • Lost navigation arrows momentarily (5 seconds) on 2 occasions before it repopulated. Cues were still present but it seemed to lose signal.

  • No retention string and v1 doesn’t fit the v2.

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The fields exist for you to add, but I’ve not gotten most of them to actually work. I would put very little stock in getting the metrics working with Vectors. Now with Wahoo Speedplay power pedals on the horizon, I’m hoping things with change on this front as I would expect they’d want all those metrics to work properly.

Yup, the terrain profile on the Climbing page was semi(/completely)-useless, and is the main reason I’d been toying with switching to a Garmin. Hopefully, this is an area that will be improved in the nearish future with the V2 as/when they roll out new functionality. IMO, with the V2 having onboard maps (ie. onboard turn-by-turn, rerouting, etc) there’s not a lot else other than this climbing-related data that needs fixing in terms of core functionality.

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Link to the GitHub Project?

Searched and could not find anything, clearly a hidden project! :rofl:

Try searching my previous posts or use search strings that include adb mode or boltapp.apk :thinking: Or power on your unit. Press the power button. Press the power button again. Connect a cable and enjoy adb access.

Thanks, Ray! I will be adding DeathStars soon!! LOL!

Don’t you find that the Bolt/Roam is next to useless on MTB trails? No names, hard to spot where a trail goes and a lot aren’t on the map when you plot a route. Just my experience anyway.

No not at all. I mainly use the Bolt to track metrics and race with. However, for routing/navigation, I generally download a route from Strava or create a new route. This has been very helpful when I travel to new trails or need to pre-ride a race course I’ve never done. I use either heat maps or routes from MTB Project for creating routes to follow.

I just raced a 50 mile MTB this past weekend that was new to me. Since I didn’t know the route and it wasn’t marked 2 weeks ago, I found the race course on Strava in 2019 and loaded it on my Bolt. It was flawless and did everything I needed it to.

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Good to hear it. It is probably location specific, although I do have a problem following the 1980’s chevron graphics.

Bought direct from Wahoo (on the basis warranty claims would be simpler direct with them - the price is the same everywhere anyway). Arrived in 3 days!

Several long rides this week and absolutely faultless so far. Tested all parameters including rerouting and it never dropped a beat, always choosing the most sensible way to get back on track.

The colour and brighter screen really do make a difference. I was sceptical about the need for colour but I’m a convert. It’s just more intuitive when following a route and makes life easier. Bleeps only when it should!

There have been 3 updates this week alone so many of DCR’s problems may have been resolved. Certainly no problems here :grin:

BTW 20 miles of today’s route was through central London, so no issues in this urban environment.

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The screen is by far the most standout improvement for me over the OG Bolt. It’s crazy how much clearer and easier it is to read. And I’m in total agreement with you on the color. Having the HR and Power fields change based on zone is amazing.

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I have a Roam so no huge need to make the purchase, but have to admit this feature makes the Bolt V2 appealing.

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I’m surprised it isn’t also pushed the Roam, honestly. I can’t imagine the architecture being that different. FWIW, you have to choose the proper fields when setting up the pages. They say (zone color) on them, so it’s possible you have the features but the field isn’t the one you need for it.

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I know TR poo-poo’s features like the color association, but I fully expect I would LOVE that feature on the Bolt V2. I submitted a feature request for colors of Power and Heart Rate in the TR app years ago and got their standard “we like to keep it simple” answer.

It’s a shame since I think color is such a powerful device that is actually quite “simple” in understanding once you know the association. Much faster than actually “reading” power data in digits and such. If you are aiming to hold a zone, color is about the easiest way to convey it with minimal effort on the part of the user.

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Maybe they included it in an update since the Bolt V2 was released, dunno….I’ll check into it.

But the Roam color screen does not have as much capability as the Bolt V2 (8 colors vs 16, I think I read?)

Good to see the Bolt getting an upgrade. Not sure if Wahoo has improved the structured workout data fields/pages, from DCR’s video and Wahoo’s promo video I don’t see anything really new. Color coded data fields are ok, but it seems to be missing the more TR app experience you can get on Garmin. Maybe its there and just not being shown by Wahoo in the promo materials?

Not fully sure since I only do TR outside workouts rarely on my Bolt V1 and haven’t see what the V2 offers besides the new colors mentioned, and I have never used the Garmin for a comparison either.

I’m setting workout screen for my new Bolt V2 and having trouble locating the power/HR fields with “(zone color)” in them. If I recall, a few were available as default fields, but I’m not seeing an option to choose any of them manually (or get back to them). Am I missing something?

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