Looking for experiences that people have had with either the Roam or the Edge 530/830 series of devices. In addition to using the unit to navigate (loaded courses or address interfaced/uploaded via iPhone) one of my main uses will be TrainerRoad outdoor workouts.
What have people’s experiences been with these devices as it related to outdoor workouts?
One of the main things that would be helpful for me would be the ability to pause mid-interval for intersections, etc. Or pause a rest interval until I get to a suitable and safe location but have the device continue to record. Are these possible on either device?
I’ve done a bit of online research and most of the content that I’ve found relates more to how to enable outside workouts on either device and how to upload when complete. There’s not much discussion of experiences when using this feature on either device.
I have a Wahoo Bolt, which actually is like the Roam just smaller, no color display and no redirection navigation option in case you get lost.
All of your points mentioned work flawlessly with the Wahoo. You can load an outdoor workout via TR calender, it gets automatically pushed to the Wahoo once it is connected to the internet. Then you can start, pause, rewind, fast forward, pause your outdoor workout while the recording of your ride continues.
And: I use it for almost 2 years - not once (!!), so never, did I have any problem with the device… no lost data, no reboots, no weird software problems… non of that.
Hey, I have a 530 and do most of my TR workouts outside and have very little to complain about in that regards. It has a little graphic that shows you where you are in the interval and average power for that lap. You can also pause an interval and continue recording. Tap the screen and a little icon displays at bottom, tap that and then and theres an option to pause, skip back an interval and skip forward. FWIW I haven’t used it much because there aren’t many interruptions where I ride.
You do have to hit the lap button everytime to start every next interval block which isn’t bad and actually nice for me if there’s a descent or I want to get to an ideal location to start the interval.
I’ve loaded quite a few courses to it (never with an iphone, I always plug in to computer and drop GPX files in). So far navigation has been good and easy to use. The touchscreen is a huge improvement over the 520 which was my biggest complaint before.
I’ve heard good things about Wahoo’s too but I’ve never used one personally.
Both Wahoo and Edge 530/830 will allow you to pause/rewind/skip an interval in a structured workout. I’ve been doing outdoor workouts on the Edge 520 for 5 years now and that device worked well. Tried the Bolt but it didn’t offer any on-the-bike advantage over the 520, but it does have easier initial setup using your mobile phone. Then a year later tried the 530 and in my opinion it is best overall value although I only looked at / watched Roam reviews. Garmin has been around a long time, some people have negative experiences with older Garmin devices.
Over 1000 indoor/outdoor rides recorded on my 520 and 530 and never lost a ride.
Personally I use and like the additional features on the 530 vs Roam, but both 530/830 and Roam are good choices. The touchscreen on the 830 is very nice and makes it really easy to navigate the menus.
TrainerRoad Outside Workouts - Wahoo Setup:
TrainerRoad Outside Workouts - Garmin Setup:
With Garmin you have a lot of control over customizing the screen layout, and use 3rd party data fields.
Like I said both Wahoo and Garmin work well outside. Hope that helps.
I’ve used the Wahoo Elemnt, much like the Roam but without color screen. I find outdoor workouts brilliant on it, and also had no problem following a route whilst performing an outdoor workout. I love the fact you can pause a workout if you’re not in an ideal place to start your interval but this not pause the overall recording of your ride. Unlike the Garmin you do not have to hit lap though if you’re in a situation where you can just flow through your intervals. I’m quite lucky in that I have long straight quite country roads right from my door with great visibility so once I start a workout I rarely need to pause which is why I find the Wahoo a better experience. I am only comparing with a Garmin Fenix 5 Plus (I received last week so used only once!), not 530/830 and that experience is flawed by not being able to pick workout fields to display on a custom screen - I still didn’t like the need to press lap buttons though, probably because I’m not used to it and it felt unnecessary in my situation.
Honestly don’t think you can go wrong with either option - I have been critical of Garmin in the past and been somebody who has struggled with loosing rides on older Edge units but I think recent models are much more reliable. Perhaps the Wahoo competition has been good reason for the improvements.
?? I’m not pressing lap buttons on my 530 and the workout runs from beginning to end without any interaction. My workouts are synced from TrainingPeaks which provides more control (vs TR) over what gets sent to my Garmin. The Garmin mobile app lets you create workouts and I started using that feature 5 years ago. IMHO from a laptop/desktop the TrainingPeaks workout creator is best. Looking forward to seeing what TrainerRoad does to improve workout creation/modification experience.
That watch is a very very different experience versus a 530/830 bike computer!
I really like how Garmin has you pressing lap between sets, it allows me to get to the proper road spot and then begin intervals, but auto laps on things like Vo2 where you’re doing many smaller intervals
Yep, that’s why I wanted to call out my experience and also say that either a Wahoo or Garmin would be a good experience. Regardless of using a watch though on a Garmin you have to use the lap button - it’s even mentioned in the TrainerRoad support article.
This isn’t the case with Wahoo. Dependent on situation either solution could work better for you. Personally I prefer the Wahoo way where I only need touch it if I want extra time between intervals. Still loving my Garmin Fenix (and my Vector pedals) though so not trying to bash Garmin!
I was using Wahoo Roam and Bolt when these outdoor workouts first landed. Wahoo experience was great I thought. May have changed and updated since then, I’m pretty sure the hit lap to start interval thing wasn’t there on launch.
After I quit riding and came back I went to the Garmin 530 though, I just felt the device was a generation ahead of Wahoo’s Bolt in terms of the display. I prefer the phone setup on Wahoo, but it was 2020, I’m sorry, I’m just not paying good money for a really dated display. Anyway tangent - so now I’m using the 530 for outdoor workouts and it’s as flawless as the Wahoo was, and the lap to start interval thing is absolute genius. Sounds like both have it now too and it’s the biggest quality of life improvement there. Garmin has some nice colour power range band on the screen too. I like colour screens.
Wahoo still has that ability to reverse one section of your activity screen, used to love having power reading colour-inverted, was what sold me to Wahoo in the first place actually.
I’d probably not be tempted to by a Bolt at this stage - it’s well overdue an update. The Roam is great if you want a bigger device though. I bought one for doing big distance stuff but only spent a few months with it in the end.
Think you really can’t lose. Head unit tech is all top-notch these days really.