DC Rainmaker has hands on reviews out. Do you mean because he hasn’t released a review with the final firmware?
and might be just a coincidence, but yesterday on releasday of the Bolt and Roam 3, my Ace got a new Firmware Update.
According Wahho it contains the following:
ELEMNT WG49-301249 - 5 May, 2025
- Added: A new Auto Max backlight mode.
- Added: Change elevation profile distances on Elevation or Map pages by tapping the profile.
- Unrouted: 2mi/2km (default), Total ride
- Routed: 2mi/2km (default), 20mi/20km, Route to go, Total route
- Added: Save/Modify Saved Locations for ACE in the Wahoo app.
- Improved: Significant improvements to battery life due to under-the-hood fixes for CPU efficiency, tuning of the Auto backlight mode, tweaks to screen animations, and more.
- Improved: Map page data fields slide out of the way when the map is unlocked for touch.
- Improved: Usability and readability improvements across all the menu pages.
- Improved: Overall stability of ACE
- Updated: Redesigned map layer menu
- Fixed: Bug fixes and stability improvements
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How frustrating.
I saw a video around the announcement suggesting they’d have a release firmware soon and assumed that it was coming before release.
This sounds like another rushed release in that case. I shall avoid until your full review drops, thank you!
I’m going to have to eat my words a little bit here.
I found a 10% off offer in the Roam 3 which was enough to tempt me into an early test.
2 and 5 hour rides so far and my impression is pretty positive
The new UI looks great, the map is so much clearer and feels more responsive while moving and it’s been rock solid stable thus far.
Also love the touch screen, especially when I regularly swap between two screens - no more laps of all my pages to go between map and workout.
A few little niggles;
Lapping on planned workout intervals is off by default - such a bizarre default.
The screen is easier to see in more scenarios than my Bolt 2, especially in bright sunlight but with one exception. If it’s in my shadow but everything else is bright, I find it very hard to read.
The activity names do not inherit the name of the planned workout you ran anymore - everything is just called “Cycling”
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@mikehhhhhhh The activity name actually uses the workout profile name, which if you just have one named “Cycling” would make it “Cycling”.
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Yeah, I figured as much.
I don’t really care what it uses normally, I just want it to use the workout name when doing one like the v2 did.
Thanks for this. Really helpful to get some real world feedback on it. Given the last minute release of the launch firmware there’s very little reliable info to go on which is why I haven’t bought one.
How have you found the battery life? Is it meeting (or at least close to) the communicated life?
I charged to 100% before my 5hr ride and ended up 79% with backlight on “auto max”
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I’ve been using wahoos for years now. Had the bolt v1 and now v2. Debating on roam 3 vs karoo 3. I’ve always like the wahoo ui experience and just ease of use. But the karoo 3 seems pretty nice too.
The last time I did unbound in 2023, my wahoo ran out of battery around 15h. I bought a battery for it on eBay but haven’t mustered the courage to try to replace it yet.
Since the Roam V1 doesn’t have Ant+ Light support, will it have full functionality with Wahoo’s Radar?
That is funny. Saw a reel of someone showing off how illegible the new Roam is, and it was exactly this situation, the Garmin was in sunlight but you could see the Roam was in shadow and indeed it looked very, very dark. Seems they cherry-picked the one instance where it looks this bad.
Same, though I am pretty certain I will try the Karoo. Few things that stick out to me: they are almost identical in weight, 10g more on the Karoo, but screen size is 0.4" bigger. 3.2 vs 2.8 is a massive relative difference. Reason for that (similar weight but screen discrepancy) is something that visually bugs me - there is a huge bezel above the Roam’s buttons below the screen. It looks ugly and I just can’t understand why there is no screen there. And finally, the extensions now native to the Karoo plus the other non-native ones you can load seem very cool. GP Lama had a video testing these with windsock displayed on the map, was very cool.
Where I am the Karoo is also relatively affordable, one seller, though out of stock currently, has it 65 cheaper than the best price for the Roam and another in stock 44 cheaper. Not huge, but not nothing.
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I really wanted to give the Karoo a go but two takeaways from other peoples views put me off.
The slow/clunky ui/animations would drive me mad.
As would having to charge it basically every ride
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The first one I have to look up, not come across it much. You maybe have a YouTube handy where this is shown? Because it does sound potentially off putting. One thing about wahoo Vs Garmin was always ease of use which includes smoothness of use.
The second one doesn’t bother me, my bolt v1 is currently the same. Also, I don’t think it’s every ride, DC Rainmaker tested effective use of about 12.5 hours and there is battery saver if need be. For my needs (longest ride including stopped time was just under 11 hours) that is sufficient and I also charge my shokz headphones and varia that often (I use the steady light instead of flashing which reduces battery life but it’s kinder for people who can’t take flashing lights).
I mean, it’s real. The screen sucks in the shade on a sunny day (any time you pass under a tree, or your body blocks the sun behind you) . Other units simply don’t have this problem.
There’s a reason why so many new ROAM/BOLT/ACE users keep bringing it up. It’s not awesome. I haven’t seen the reel your referencing, but it’s definitely not cherry picked, it’s just reality.
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I think my ranking on screens would be…
1050 > Karoo > ROAM2 > ROAM3 > COROS DURA > ACE
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Are they still sticking to a transflective display? When the Bolt was first released, it seemed like an advantage. But these days backlit LCDs have become so bright and are so energy-efficient that Wahoo devices tend to have the same or worse battery life while not being more readable.
I don’t know if I just haven’t managed to replicate the same conditions where I just could not read it in the shade but since setting backlight to be always on Max, I’ve not found myself in a scenario where I can’t read it.
Definitely a downgrade here from my bolt V2 though.
You just didn’t run out of battery yet - then you can definitely NOT read it, ha
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First ride using the Roam 3 (5 hour MTB). Day started off cloudy and eventually sunny but scattered light through tree cover. Auto light was definitely too dim! Switched to “always on” max brightness and was at 55%, using gps mapping the entire time and several sensors.
Next ride I’ll try “Auto Max” to see if that’s better and saves battery life.
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