Author Topic: Wahoo Elemnt Roam  (Read 4590 times)

Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« on: 01 May, 2019, 02:25:23 pm »
Another new bike GPS unit, hot on the tails of the new Garmin 530 and 830 - a colour Wahoo Elemnt, with on-device navigation.

https://uk.wahoofitness.com/devices/bike-computers/gps-elemnt-roam

Review from DC: Rainmaker, he seems a bit underwhelmed by it: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/05/wahoo-element-roam-cycling-gps-in-depth-review.html
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #1 on: 11 June, 2020, 10:54:28 pm »
I can't quite believe I've done this.

I've never really been a 'leisure' cyclist (whatever that is).

My cycling has almost exclusively been commuting, with the odd FNRttC, a couple of bits of family cycle-touring, a Hilly 50 here and there, bouncing round the Brighton bit of the South Downs Way at weekends and the odd longer adventure.

For the commuting, I know where I'm going, and for everything else half the fun was planning the route, getting the maps out beforehand and then using the map en route.

On the first of the family cycle tours (when the minis were 12 and 14) the map reading thing became a bit of a bind, 'cos I wanted to be 100% sure we didn't take a wrong turn for fear of the whines I would doubtless receive if we did. Therefore, before the second tour the following year I bought a secondhand SatMap and had great fun planning the routes and then enjoyed the trip itself without the fear of losing where we were.

I opted for the SatMap because it runs real maps which I can understand. Wasn't bothered about the fact it couldn't do routing, 'cos I did all that up front. Another factor were the consistent tales of woe from Garmin owners (typically) about software and routing glitches. It all sounded too flaky to me. On the odd occasion where I've been on a ride with a mate with a Garmin (Chris L, I'm looking at you), the thing has done the most extraordinary deviations.

Anyhow, roll on a few years and cometh the plague, and I find myself going for a Sunday morning ride with Mrs hatler every week, dipping out from SW London into the Surrey Hills. She's now an old hand at this, having discovered road bikes a few years ago, and manages two or three rides a week out with mates. She knows the back roads of Surrey better than I ever have, and I grew up there.

On Sunday just gone we decided to head for Windsor. We didn't have a route, just a general idea. It was bright (very) and my poor old SatMap seizes up after about an hour when I'm recording the route. It all became a bit frustrating. Having to stop, check the phone in the blinding sunlight, rinse and repeat. Agh !

Well, having spent virtually nothing for the last three months, on a sort of a whim I thought I would treat Mrs h to a late Christmas present, a Wahoo Elemnt Roam.

It turned up yesterday and we had it linked up with the RideWithGPS account in no time at all. A quick spin around the block this morning and it did exactly what I expected/hoped it would, and all very very intuitively. Ride was uploaded to RideWithGPS as I walked through the door.

We're planning a slightly more adventurous route for Sunday, though not too certain of destination yet, we wait until we're sure which way the wind is blowing before we make a final decision.

I'll provide updates here if there's anything of note to report.
Rust never sleeps

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #2 on: 12 June, 2020, 01:00:29 pm »
It turned up yesterday and we had it linked up with the RideWithGPS account in no time at all. A quick spin around the block this morning and it did exactly what I expected/hoped it would, and all very very intuitively. Ride was uploaded to RideWithGPS as I walked through the door.

We're planning a slightly more adventurous route for Sunday, though not too certain of destination yet, we wait until we're sure which way the wind is blowing before we make a final decision.

I'll provide updates here if there's anything of note to report.

Make sure you have your security settings correct on RwGPS, if you set the wahoo to auto upload, and the rides are defaulted to public, then everyone can see where you live etc...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #3 on: 12 June, 2020, 01:08:40 pm »
Ooo. Thank you.
Rust never sleeps

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #4 on: 12 June, 2020, 02:14:10 pm »
Make sure you have your security settings correct on RwGPS, if you set the wahoo to auto upload, and the rides are defaulted to public, then everyone can see where you live etc...

RWGPS has got privacy zones for public rides

Click on profile image -> Settings -> Privacy zones
It's the usual draw a circle round something that means you can't see where the hoose is.

EDIT: Just playing with it, it's a bit more advanced than most, you can move the centre to pretty much anywhere with a lattitude and longitude, and change the size of it. I've got a handful set up to make the area around the house not a circle, which makes working out the center trivial if you have a few possible approaches.

Edit2: And looking at mine, I can obfuscate it further so the only thing that's obvious is what village I live in, rather than just where in the village...

Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #5 on: 12 June, 2020, 02:19:52 pm »
Clever, I hadn't rumbled you could set up multiple privacy zones (I didn't spend too long looking at it).

Instead, I've restricted my Profile, Rides and Routes to 'Friends only'.
Rust never sleeps

JonB

  • Granny Ring ... Yes Please!
Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #6 on: 12 June, 2020, 02:39:25 pm »
Thanks, I've just set mine but I get the impression that a number of people are doing this as it's put me in a queue and it's going to go backwards and apply the zone to all my rides. I had thought this was a feature only available to paid members as I'm sure I tried to do it several years ago and couldn't (unlike Strava). It's not so much a problem for stopping and starting as I usually do this a few hundred metres from home but I do remember doing a 400km DIY audax where I used home as a stopover point which precluded uploading to RWGPS (at least on a public setting). 

PaulF

  • "World's Scariest Barman"
  • It's only impossible if you stop to think about it
Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #7 on: 12 June, 2020, 03:53:09 pm »
Make sure you have your security settings correct on RwGPS, if you set the wahoo to auto upload, and the rides are defaulted to public, then everyone can see where you live etc...

RWGPS has got privacy zones for public rides

Click on profile image -> Settings -> Privacy zones
It's the usual draw a circle round something that means you can't see where the hoose is.

EDIT: Just playing with it, it's a bit more advanced than most, you can move the centre to pretty much anywhere with a lattitude and longitude, and change the size of it. I've got a handful set up to make the area around the house not a circle, which makes working out the center trivial if you have a few possible approaches.

Edit2: And looking at mine, I can obfuscate it further so the only thing that's obvious is what village I live in, rather than just where in the village...

I just centre it on someone else's house :) Or more accurately on a junction that's away from my house

Anecdote. Before I moved house one of my neighbours who was in the same mtb group had his privacy zone end at my front door.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #8 on: 14 June, 2020, 12:11:09 pm »
EDIT: Just playing with it, it's a bit more advanced than most, you can move the centre to pretty much anywhere with a lattitude and longitude, and change the size of it. I've got a handful set up to make the area around the house not a circle, which makes working out the center trivial if you have a few possible approaches.

Glad I'm not the only one who does such things. My RwGPS setting is default private, so I don't have privacy zones set, but on strava I have several overlapping over my house so that you can't see where I live just cos of the circle.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #9 on: 14 June, 2020, 01:22:57 pm »
I just centre it on someone else's house :) Or more accurately on a junction that's away from my house

Anecdote. Before I moved house one of my neighbours who was in the same mtb group had his privacy zone end at my front door.

I may or may not be used a number of Sandbanks as my privacy zone centre (strava insists on a named location where as RWGPS lets you drop the pin)
I forgot that multiple zones is a paid for thing in RWGPS.

RWGPS also then off set the centre slightly, but that's likely a case of who's garage* gets broken into...

*in leafy suburbia

Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #10 on: 14 June, 2020, 01:31:30 pm »
I have enough privacy zones to block most of town so the route only appears from the boundaries. If you go to Strava segment create it’ll show all your privacy zones at once, on the map.

Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #11 on: 14 June, 2020, 02:04:28 pm »
First use today. Created route on RideWithGPS, synced to Roam, Clicked Start as we set off and it performed faultlessly. Display is really clear, even when looking across from my bike, it handled bright and shade equally well.

Good notice of upcoming junctions (a beep followed by flashing lights).

Downloaded Ride details to RwGPS even before we were through the front door.

Mrs h very happy.

(If I have one suggestion it would be to have different tones of beep to let you know whether the next event is left, right, or straight on. But that's being picky.)
Rust never sleeps

Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #12 on: 15 June, 2020, 12:56:56 pm »
One other 'nice to have' would be the ability to point to a location on the map and save that to a location listing. Currently I think you can only save your current location to that list.
Rust never sleeps

Re: Wahoo Elemnt Roam
« Reply #13 on: 11 June, 2021, 10:58:54 pm »
A quick question for the panel.

If we're out on a ride, and want the Roam to get us to a location that is not in its saved locations list, and we can't be arsed finding what we want on the map, what's the sequence of steps to get the route from where we are to our desired destination loaded onto the Roam ?  I understand you have to use the accompanying app on a phone, but how, precisely ?

Many thanks.
Rust never sleeps