Wahoo ELEMNT Companion Reviews

by Gragglerock

I was so excited to switch from Garmin to Wahoo. So when the new Bolt was released, I jumped at the chance to replace my Edge 520. That’s why I am so bummed that the experience is trash. The unit regularly drops my gps signal while on a ride. My mph and elevation drop to zero or stay stagnant. I looked into it, and it was suggested that I remove the pre installed maps from the device and reinstall only the ones I need. Now I can’t download any map as it just spins and says “download queued.” There is a red indicator on my settings tab, but when I go into settings, there is no indication as to what needs updated. Seriously, the UX of WahooELEMNTCompanion is seriously lacking and I’m beyond disappointed that a brand new $300 device doesn’t do the one job it was designed to do.

by Turney F.

This thing will never connect to my Kickr unless I turn off Bluetooth on my phone before starting, but then there’s a firmware update each week that requires me to connect to my phone. It’s maddening to lose 10 minutes of ride time just to reset the connections and hope everything works as it should to ride inside. Outside rides, works *most* of the time but even then I might have to cycle my bluetooth connections to get my Wahoo monitor to connect to the Wahoo gps. I chose to use the same family of products hoping that would make them a bit easier to use, but that is not the case at all.

It’s also odd that many deeply negative reviews have five stars. Someone is fudging something somewhere to maintain their image as a five-star app.

by Ronshev

Have had nothing but problems with this new version of WahooELEMNTCompanion . I have been a Wahoo Elemnt user since they first came out, and generally everything was flawless. I switched to Wahoo after been a lifelong Garmin user and was amazed at how dialed and intuitive everything was. Note that I use the past tense there...

With this new app, It constantly crashes and seems to keep toggling off the “wifi” button on its own so I can no sync nor upload any of my rides. It seems very unstable. I have tried every combination of unpairing from my phone, deleting and re-installing app, even tried two different phones! (Both iOS) to no avail. Just can’t get my data to sync to my preferred sites over Wifi (ie Strava, TrainingPeaks). When I open the ride history tab in WahooELEMNTCompanion , all I see is the very basic info, like mileage and time, but the GPS track, power, map, nearly everything is constantly being “scanned” and won’t come across.

Was all amped to get a new Roam when they become more widely available but this is BS. Might have to switch back to Garmin.

by Nephropa

I have had issues with Garmin battery life and multiple issues with WiFi connectivity, pairing with sensors, and downloading my rides. I was debating on whether to get the bolt or Garmin 530. So I decided to jump ship and try the elemnt bolt. The design is nice but I cannot get this to work. It struggles to connect to my phone. I cannot connect to WiFi to update the product. I cannot pair the device to my heart rate monitor. So far not impressed. To make matters worse customer support is non-existent. What do you do when you go through the troubleshooting page and it still doesn’t work?? I would not recommend purchasing this product at this time!! Hopefully I can return this and switch to the Garmin 530.

by Pragmanmatic

“Glad” to see so many others with recent sync and pairing problems. I bought my Bolt last April 2019 and it worked darn-near flawlessly. Since roughly March 2020 it’s gone through a few forced firmware updates and has suffered from chronic data transfer issues. Won’t ever sync with WiFi or auto upload to Strava. Generally syncs with the Element app but not always and often you have to unpair and re-pair with iOS.

It’s possible this is an iOS created problem, that is, Apple may have made a change in policies or something “in the plumbing” that breaks WahooELEMNTCompanion and device. But as a customer I expect these things to get resolved in due time.

by Spf134jcl

I have been using the Element Bolt and WahooELEMNTCompanion for a few years and up until recently was very happy. Easy to use, and always reliable.

Now, when I finish a ride, the data does not completely sync with WahooELEMNTCompanion and does not automatically upload to Strava. I have to kill WahooELEMNTCompanion on my iPhone , the restart it to sync the data. I also have experienced that the bolt head unit automatically turns off sometimes before I hit the start ride button. This is very aggravating. I have to turn on the bolt power button again and wait a few minutes before I can start the ride. This is very aggravating especially when in a group that is starting a ride together. I find myself fiddling with the bolt and phone (to re enable the live tracking) which is dangerous.

Please fix these regressions in behavior. My iPhone 7 is updated to the latest IOS.

by Lindsay Kathryne

Since the latest update to WahooELEMNTCompanion , I’ve had major issues with its connection to my Element Roam. It will say that it is connected to my computer but when I start a ride, it is not reflected in WahooELEMNTCompanion . Additionally, once I finish a ride, it refuses to sync and instead says “searching for Element” despite the fact that my phone is connected to the computer. I usually have to turn the computer on and off a few times before it finally syncs. It’s mind boggling that this got past QA and it’s even worse that there hasn’t been a fix yet despite people complaining for at least a month about this issue.

by _TheThingThatShouldNotBe_

I started using Wahoo Elmnt Bolt in Sep 2018, and in the beginning both the IOS app and the device itself were so good, I raved about it to all my cycling friends, it was such a huge improvement over my old Garmin! I loved that one can easily control the device from the phone, and that there’s still all the necessary buttons on the Bolt.

This changed when the companion app was redesigned. I don’t remember when exactly it happened, I think in May 2019.

That major upgrade to the companion app did not work as well as the old one. The UI is not as responsive, it often feels like it takes too long for WahooELEMNTCompanion to sync with the device after a ride.

And recently it got even worse - the rides would not sync automatically at all; when I choose a route to follow it often takes multiple attempts to upload, and sometimes I just abandon the idea of using the routes on device at all and have to use my phone to navigate. I tried removing and installing WahooELEMNTCompanion again, and it resolved the ride sync for a week, but reappeared again.

For the context - I currently have about 800 rides on the device.

I hope the synchronization issues will be resolved with the future versions.

by DeeFulls

TLDR; live track no longer works, so my family can’t track me to make sure I’m safe.

WahooELEMNTCompanion used to be good, I’m giving it 2 stars, not 1 because it at least had some functionality in the past. Now after about 40-60 minutes of riding WahooELEMNTCompanion will cutout and stop syncing. This means that when I get home I have to restart the computer and reconnect it with my phone in order to upload my rides. Most importantly, cutting out also means that it’s no longer able to sync properly with live track. This was the way my family would track me to make sure I was safe during rides. It was a massive part of my I chose wahoo in the first place. Without live track I FEEL UNSAFE. This needs to be fixed.

by Losirc

Issue #1:
It all started probably about 1-2 weeks ago when I completed a ride. Usually it just automatically syncs the ride to Ride with GPS and Strava, but when I noticed it wasn’t syncing, I checked the “History” section of WahooELEMNTCompanion and it said “Waiting to sync” and didn’t progress until I closed down WahooELEMNTCompanion completely.

Issue #2:
I’ve had live tracking enabled for the lifetime of my Wahoo ELEMNT (just about 2 years), and when the other issue first came about is when I noticed this. The live tracking feature is constantly behind and often stops in the middle or soon after I start the ride, even when I have had perfect cell service. Even after I complete a ride the mileage, time, and the rest of the stats are completely incorrect.

by ECF/MD

The most recent “upgrade” of software that pairs with the Bolt broke a few functions, namely the ability to create a route from the History of the Bolt. The old software pulled the route from the Bolt and made it an available route in WahooELEMNTCompanion , allowing you to recreate the ride. The new App doesn’t “see” any history from the Bolt...it’s a blank page, which makes it impossible to turn the route you just rode into a historically based route...the route is useless, except for data and stats.

I much preferred the prior version of WahooELEMNTCompanion . It was easier to use, easier to navigate, and it actually worked. This version...not so much, which is a shame because it detracts from the awesomeness of the GPS head unit which it should be supporting.

by Sleep Deprived New Dad

I love my ELEMNT bolt and generally speaking the companion app is a stable companion. I appreciate the live tracking link since I often ride alone, and am glad Wahoo now supports the Varia taillight.

There’s one major improvement that could be made for me: As a Type 1 diabetic it would be extremely helpful to me (and many others) if the ELEMNT would display data from my Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM.) having cgm data on my head unit would be hugely helpful, as I currently have to carry a second piece of technology to view the data. I know many other diabetic cyclists and your partners at Team Novo Nordisk would be grateful for this feature as well.

by PDog_Rockies

The new Element Bolt 2.0 is a great computer. Simple to use and has great page views. I love that is displays color on your watt output to show your effort level. Paired with heart rate and cadence…really does give you a great view of your workout live. With all the great things I can say about the computer…just two issues. Takes a long time to acquire GPS and the barometric sensor in mine is faulty. Otherwise would get a 5 star.

The 2.0 does have some sort of SW bug with the barometric sensor. I have spent much time back and forth with Wahoo support to get it rectified, but to no avail. Last communication was “It is a known issue and as soon as our support team has a fix we will contact you”. That has been 2 months waiting. Not happy about this since it has had the issue right out of the box. Temperature is about 9 degrees too high. I did a side by side compare with my Bolt original to verify that the sensor is either faulty or has a bad offset in the software. Either way…Wahoo should make good on it. Will change my rating and update post if they do come through. Otherwise, I do love the computers…both the Bolt original and the 2.0.

by Cjswheels

I’ve been using the wahoo ELEMNT bolt for over a year and it’s been great...mostly. As a cycling computer it’s pretty easy to use and easy to sync other devices like power meter or heart rate monitor. I haven’t been successful (yet) importing a route although I haven’t tried that hard. I followed directions but it didn’t work the first few times and I gave up because I don’t have time to futz around. I will give it a go again soon. Recently it also seems like the battery is not lasting as long as it did and it’s not that old. I also don’t use it that much since about twice a week I’m stuck riding a trainer. All in all I’d recommend.

by Djwjqpsjfnejxje

The most recent update fixed a major problem that a lot of people were having where your session wouldn’t upload to WahooELEMNTCompanion , or any other apps. The team at Wahoo were on top of it and got us an update quickly and all is right again. By far better than any Garmin or any other garbage out there. If you want something that will work and a team that actually cares about their community, look no further.

by Anga Ling

WahooELEMNTCompanion and Elemnt provide all the basic data I need and have never let me down. No crashes. No horribly mangled gps routes. No badly dropped signal. It just works. As an awesome bonus (to me) the turn by turn navigation coupled with WahooELEMNTCompanion has allowed me much more freedom to explore. I also have the Elemnt set to receive text messages to my phone so I can read them on the headpiece. Helpful at times. The one thing I haven’t yet used is the function where you can ‘see’ other riders who are also using WahooELEMNTCompanion (and have that function activated) by it has been a big help to group leaders on a few big rides I’ve participated in.

by Cybis

The just released version 1.22 is just as buggy as the last ten or so update. It freezes, it’s laggy, doesn’t upload workouts reliably to third party, doesn’t send workout in progress notifications reliably, doesn’t broadcast or receive other rider position reliably. It’s been a mess for a very long time now.

Edit: yes, I’ve reached out to customer support about all these issues and everyone is still waiting on the devs to fix things. Please stop adding new features until you fix what’s broken.

Edit Nov 2020: changed rating from 2 to 5 stars. Wahoo has been working hard fixing all the instabilities and misc bugs. It’s been working flawlessly for the last couple months now. Yay.

by Lizzyh.

I love WahooELEMNTCompanion but something is not right under IoS 13.5.1. Although to be fair, the new Elemnt release was installed at about the same time the ios update came out but it did seem like the problem began with the ios update.

Since installing ios update my battery won’t charge properly and constantly discharges very fast. I checked all the forums and this ios version does have a battery optimizing feature that is contributing to similar problems. But I notice in the Battery control panel that Elemnt is taking up 70% of battery even overnight when I’m sleeping! My phone has been running hot since the ios update too. Ive turned off notifications, blue tooth and background app refresh in Elemnt and guess what - my phone is charging and discharging normally again. And is running cool again.

by JesusChristTheSuperstar

Wahoo got the most important things right when hitting the design/drawing board for cycling computers. The UX/UI is exactly what you need when grinding it out, pushing pedals. They display the right data and information in appropriate sized margins on the screen. I like the fact that they use buttons instead of touch screen for rain and winter riding(gloves and rain render touch screens nonfunctional). Ease of use is also a big win here. Everything is easier to use/implement from your first ride to customizing display and route configuration. End of the day, we want a product that works and is easy to use so we can focus on chasing faster rider and KOM’s and the Wahoo team delivers a consistent and positive experience.

by Scoultrane1978

So I have an ELEMNT mini. Before the update, it worked. I could make changes, and it would actually save them. Then they updated to 1.6. Nothing worked. Make a change - the button would literally slide right back to default one second later. Change auto-pause, it reverted. Tell it not to display one of the default pages, it wouldn't keep the change. Essentially it meant that the user couldn't do ANYTHING but use the factory default settings.

Then, they updated to this version after hearing many, many such issues from other users. And now? Exactly the same. Not one of the issues was fixed in this update, at least for us lowly mini users. So, i have ordered a different brand of cycling computer and Wahoo has lost me as a customer. WahooELEMNTCompanion probably works with the new Roam, but it has made the mini unusable.

by C Farber

It’s spring time.. so I took the bicycle out for my first rides of the season the last couple days. App was pretty putzy connecting to my element.
Left WahooELEMNTCompanion open in the background, which is what you’re supposed to be able to do with apps.. noted that my battery was draining like crazy today. Normally my phone will make it thru the day and still be 60-70% charged. Today I charged it after work from just under 50%. Went to the gym for an hour or two, battery was already back down to 50%. Opened up the Battery section of Settings and guess what, Element taking 50% of my battery in the last 24 hours.. even though WahooELEMNTCompanion was not used in the last 24 hours.

by Grbob

Worked fine when I first got it. After the update it won’t connect with the iPhone. The support isn’t very good either. I bought the element to work with my power meter and my entire experience with the integrating the power has been some of a disaster. First I bought the Stages and the Garmin 530 and returned them both. Then I bought the Stages cycle computer which they acknowledge does not work with Apple. I researched and thought Wahoo was the answer and it worked for awhile. All this tech has taken the fun out of cycling

by Reid C.

New update barely works on an iPhone X. It takes forever to see the ELEMNT Bolt, the on-screen buttons don’t function for 60 seconds or more. It doesn’t sync my rides to the phone most of the time, or thinks it’s still mid-ride an hour after I’m done.
It’s total trash.
Bring back the old one.
If the new app is required for new devices, make those users suffer. Don’t punish everyone who bought one of your devices.
It used to be a perfect ecosystem. Now you’re drawing attention to how badly you can ruin the usability of a product I purchased and thought I owned.

by DMajaS8QP63

The instructions say you can import a route on by selecting a downloaded GPX file (I did this via Safari from MTBProject) and select Copy to ELEMENT.

THIS DOES NOT WORK BECAUSE THAT OPTION DOES NOT SHOW IN THE iOS SHARE DUALOG.

This severely limits the usefulness of WahooELEMNTCompanion and device if you are trying to download a GOX file and sync it to your Element device using your phone alone. The alternative of connecting to actual WiFi is very tedious and not an option when you are already at the trailhead with LTE but not WiFI.

by RachelTri's

I used to love WahooELEMNTCompanion and my mini. But after the update, I’m having so many problems. My main concern is that my live tracking link no longer shows my current ride no matter what I do. Live tracking was one of the main reasons I was using this particular computer and app. The live link shows a ride from months ago. I can’t seem to fix it, which means my partner can’t track me while I’m out riding. Being an anxious rider, not having accountability with someone else makes riding so much harder. Hopefully it gets fixed soon. I wish I could revert to an older version.

by Wmdurand

Love WahooELEMNTCompanion overall and the whole idea of “use the big, high quality touch screen of my phone to configure my bike computer” is great and so much easier than on device config (looking at you, garmin...)
Only issue i’ve run into is the text notifications only show up on my wahoo about 1/3 of the time, even when i’ve made sure that the two devices are connected, everythings enabled, etc. hope this gets fixed in the future!

by Rxinstinct

I love Wahoo for the simplicity and reliability of the ELEMNT Bolt. I don’t want a 5” color display in front of me when I’m on the bike, but I still want to see critical data, such as power, W/Kg, etc. and the ELEMNT is perfect for this.
I have NEVER had my ELEMNT crash or fail to fully record a ride—something I can’t say for the previous bike GPS I had... plus the WiFi/Bluetooth upload works flawlessly. Yes, the navigation could be improved, but with some common sense it works well.

by Blackshb

Wahoo companion app has been terrible lately. Had to delete and reload WahooELEMNTCompanion and now can’t access my account. All I get is a something went wrong try again message. Well I’ve now tried again more than a dozen times and the same thing. I guess it’s back to Garmin as Wahoo seems to have lost their edge (no pun intended) and have grown complacent with the release of the inferior and overpriced Roam. And now WahooELEMNTCompanion issue? Terrible

by Hl2.exe Has Stopped Working

First I want to thank WahooELEMNTCompanion developers for actually listing things that were fixed/added in updates, instead of the useless “bug fixes and performance improvements” plaguing WahooELEMNTCompanion Store!

Also the Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt itself is fantastic. I mainly have WahooELEMNTCompanion installed for the automatic sync (sometimes I have to start WahooELEMNTCompanion to get it to sync after a ride) and occasionally to adjust settings. Works great so far!

by Justin M. 02

About 6 months ago I decided to purchase my first bike. Soon after I realized the Strava mobile app on my phone wasn’t cutting it and needed to get something that wouldn’t drain my phone battery and more importantly looked good on my bike. I researched many bike computers from Garmins to other cheaper ones and I came to a realization that not only does the Element Bolt perform well but looks better than garmins with its aero mount. The apps helps too

by MINI-map

Just got my new Element - downloaded app, turned on device, followed directions & connected to Bluetooth but I CAN NOT LOG IN! Keep getting “Sorry, an unknown error occurred. Please try again”. Deleted app 3-4 times and reset Element - no support on a Saturday- can’t use this now... not a great 1st impression/experience. And I picked Wahoo over Garmin cause of the ease of App integration - Ugh!