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Wahoo Fitness ELEMNT Bolt V2 Review

A smooth to use device that just works day in and day out and does just what you need, no more
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Wahoo Fitness ELEMNT Bolt V2 Review (Those LEDs on top combine with color coded data fields to make it easy to see how hard you're working, no matter how...)
Those LEDs on top combine with color coded data fields to make it easy to see how hard you're working, no matter how hard you're working
Credit: Luke Hollomon
Price:  $280 List
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Manufacturer:   Wahoo
By Luke Hollomon ⋅ Review Editor  ⋅  Aug 2, 2023
85
OVERALL
SCORE


RANKED
#3 of 14
  • Ease of Use - 30% 9.0
  • Ease of Setup - 20% 9.0
  • Features - 20% 7.0
  • Versatility - 20% 8.0
  • Water Resistance - 10% 10.0

Our Verdict

The Wahoo ELMENT Bolt V2 is very smooth and easy to use, especially wowing our non-tech-savvy testers. We were able to go from brand new, in the box, to riding on the road within just a few minutes thanks to Wahoo's well-designed phone app and straightforward device design. The physical buttons on the device are intuitive and easy to master, and the unique ability to zoom data screens in or out to adjust focus on just the metrics you want is really nice. Unlike some other top choices, routing on this device requires the use of a phone app and isn't as quick or smooth, and the battery life is pretty good at 15 hours but behind what top devices offer these days. Still, the unique LEDs at the top of the unit are surprisingly useful, and the whole device is very well-made. Our review of the top bike computers shows how it stacks up versus competing products.
REASONS TO BUY
Simple operation
Great suite of metrics
Good navigation
Uniquely useful LEDs
REASONS TO AVOID
Lacks activity-specific settings
Small screen
Requires phone use for some features
Unimpressive battery

Compare to Similar Products

 
Awards Top Pick Award
Best Balance of Ease of Use and Functionality
Top Pick Award
Best for Bikepacking and Touring
Top Pick Award
Best for Battery Life
Best Buy Award
Best Bang for the Buck GPS Enabled Computer
Best Buy Award
Best Basic Computer
Price $279.99 at Backcountry
Compare at 2 sellers
$269.99 at Amazon
Compare at 2 sellers
$200 List
$196.30 at Amazon
$160 List
$99.95 at Amazon
$60 List
Overall Score Sort Icon
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Bottom Line Easy to use and well designed device whose smaller screen and lack of activity profiles keeps it out of top spotsExcellent navigation and mapping with colorful screen that lacks workout planning and can be slow at timesBest in class battery life, offline maps and navigation, and great smartphone integration are just a few of the things we loved about this computerYou're trading user experience for price against unrefined performanceThe ideal computer to get your basic riding data without fussing over the noise
Rating Categories Wahoo Fitness ELEMN... Garmin Edge Explore 2 Lezyne Mega XL GPS Bryton Rider 420 CatEye Quick
Ease of Use (30%)
9.0
8.0
7.0
7.0
7.0
Ease of Setup (20%)
9.0
8.0
9.0
7.0
8.0
Features (20%)
7.0
7.0
7.0
6.0
4.0
Versatility (20%)
8.0
9.0
8.0
8.0
5.0
Water Resistance (10%)
10.0
10.0
10.0
10.0
7.0
Specs Wahoo Fitness ELEMN... Garmin Edge Explore 2 Lezyne Mega XL GPS Bryton Rider 420 CatEye Quick
GPS enabled GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU Galileo, and QZSS GPS, Glonass, and Galileo GPS, Glonass GPS, Glonass, BDS, Galileo, QZSS No
Cadence Sensor ANT+ or Bluetooth ANT+ or Bluetooth ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart ANT+ or Bluetooth No
Heart Rate Monitor ANT+ or Bluetooth ANT+ or Bluetooth ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart ANT+ or Bluetooth No
Power Meter ANT+ or Bluetooth ANT+ or Bluetooth ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart ANT+ No
Smart Trainer ANT+FE-C ANT+FE-C No, but does have "Stationary Mode" ANT+FE-C No
WiFi Yes Yes No No No
Weight 68g 104g 82g 67g 18g
Dimensions 3.1" x 1.9" x .84" 4.2" x 2.2" x 0.8" 2.3" x 3.1" x 1.05" 2" x 3.3" x 0.86" 3.7" x 2.1" x 1.4"
Display Size 2.2" 3" 1.4" x 2.3" 2.3" 1.25" x 1.25"
Battery Type Re-chargable lithium ion Re-chargable lithium ion Re-chargable lithium ion Lithium polymer CR2032-Sensor, CR1616-Display
Battery Life 15 hours (claimed) Up to 16 hours (claimed) 48 hours Up to 35 hours (claimed) 1+ years
Touchscreen? No Yes Yes No No
Phone App ELEMNT Companion Garmin Connect Lezyne Ally V2 Bryton Active App None
Accessory Interface ANT+, BTLE, BT. Bluetooth Smart, ANT+, WiFi Bluetooth, ANT+ Bluetooth Smart, ANT+ Bluetooth, ANT+ Proprietary Analog Wireless
Strava Segments Yes No Yes No No
Text, Email, Call notifications Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Navigation Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Our Analysis and Test Results

The Wahoo Fitness ELEMNT Bolt V2 takes what the original did best and adds even more features. It's a well-designed device that works well for everyone who tried it out. We were consistently impressed by its ease of use, simple setup, clear organization, and very bright screen. Though you have to wait a few seconds for it to start up, in use, it's a snappy device that's smooth to use. We experienced no kinks or surprises in our months of using this device, and everyone was able to quickly set it up to their liking, experienced cyclists and newbies alike. It doesn't do as much as some other devices we've tested, but it does plenty for almost everyone and is so easy to use that it earned a new award from us this cycle, a Top Pick for Balance of Ease of Use and Functionality. Read on to learn why.

wahoo fitness elemnt bolt v2 - the addition of leds at the top to tell you how hard you're working...
The addition of LEDs at the top to tell you how hard you're working are a fun little feature of the Elemnt Bolt 2 that's more useful than you'd think.
Credit: Luke Hollomon

Performance Comparison



wahoo fitness elemnt bolt v2 - the bolt clips into a quarter turn, aerodynamic mount and can even...
The Bolt clips into a quarter turn, aerodynamic mount and can even be secured with a supplied screw.
Credit: Luke Hollomon

Ease of Use


This is where the Wahoo Fitness Elemnt Bolt V2 really stands out. It's exceptionally easy to use day in and day out. It's not as complex as some other devices we've reviewed, but it does exactly what you need simply and well. From startup, the Bolt is clear and simple to navigate with its six tactile buttons, and you can bop around to any screen easily and quickly. Changing data screens is done through an excellent phone app that's smooth and quick. Wahoo knows what they're doing with user experience design; it's a great little device.


Our favorite things about the Bolt are its unique Zoom buttons and the LEDs along the top of the device. The rocker buttons on the right-hand side of the computer zoom in and out on the map quickly and easily, but they also zoom in on the data screens. You can quickly customize a data screen to have anywhere from one field to nine, allowing you to focus on the specific metrics you want. The seven lights at the top of the device can be customized to correlate to heart rate, power, vehicle distance (when paired with a Garmin Varia radar), and more, allowing a quick glance to capture all the information you could possibly need. This was incredibly handy when keeping our eyes on our physiological output in fast, bumpy races like cyclocross and mountain biking. These little details and the overall simplicity make the device fantastic to live with day in and out.

wahoo fitness elemnt bolt v2 - a mountain bike race is a great proving ground for a cycling...
A mountain bike race is a great proving ground for a cycling computer, so we dove in headfirst
Credit: Emily Hollomon

Ease of Setup


This is another area where the Wahoo Fitness Elemnt Bolt V2 really shines; it's very quick to set up, even if you're new to cycling computers. We got it out of the box and onto a bike in under 10 minutes with minimal faffing about. The companion app, Elemnt, is smooth to use and quickly connects to the computer via a QR code that gets things done in a snap. We didn't need to edit the default data fields much to get the device out the door, but any customization we did was simple in the app. On the first few rides, we could pull our phones out and modify the data fields in seconds without resynchronizing anything.


Even though it's a button-only device that lacks a touchscreen, the buttons are intuitive, and the rapid app makes setup very easy. Wahoo has provided great data screen setups out of the box, making it very easy to connect the device to your Strava account for live segments, your trainer for indoor riding, and any heart rate monitors or other peripherals. That connection can be done on the device itself or in the app, but we prefer to use it.

After messing around with all of this ourselves, we handed the device to someone who is much less tech-driven and often gets overwhelmed by all the options. They were able to get everything set up for themselves in under 15 minutes and get out the door. It was very impressive.

wahoo fitness elemnt bolt v2 - though the app is the best way to set up the device, you can access...
Though the app is the best way to set up the device, you can access all settings on the computer itself as well, so it's easy to handle
Credit: Luke Hollomon

Features


The feature set on the Wahoo Fitness Elemnt Bolt V2 is robust and useful. It does everything most people would want, though it falls a little short of other devices we've tested. We'll start with the good in this section; let's discuss what this little device can do. It connects to all the peripherals you want: heart rate, power, indoor trainer, cadence, and even a glucose sensor that can update live on your screen. As you would expect, the integration with Wahoo's indoor trainers is top-notch, and this device is a joy to use in concert with a Kickr. It also has excellent, quick navigation with built-in rerouting, a SUMMIT screen that shows climb segments to tell you meter-by-meter gradients, and integrations with Strava, Ride with GPS, and Trailforks too.


Overall, the device has all the features that most people would use every day, but there are some shortcomings. One frustrating element, for example, is the lack of activity profiles you see on other computers. The Wahoo Fitness Elemnt Bolt V2 has one set of data screens with the occasional addition of an indoor trainer screen or Strava live segments. If you take the same computer back and forth to mountain bikes, road bikes, cyclocross races, commuting, and more, it's nice to set up a specific profile for each of these forums to get custom settings in each venue. This isn't offered on the Bolt. The device also lacks more advanced features, like training plans, suggested workouts, course demand analyses, bike alarm, and more. None of these features are necessary for a good ride, but they are nice features that the Bolt lacks.

wahoo fitness elemnt bolt v2 - the easy to read maps are great on every road or trail and come with...
The easy to read maps are great on every road or trail and come with a whole world stored inside
Credit: Luke Hollomon

Versatility


This is another area where the lack of activity profiles holds the Bolt V2 back, as it's not as useful when switching from bike to bike. It handles indoor training exceptionally well, especially when paired with a Wahoo smart trainer, but other disciplines are tougher to change into. At one point this summer, we had a mountain bike race and a road race on back-to-back days. We want different data in those two forums, which meant recustomizing data screens the evening after the MTB race to be ready to get on the road. Sure, the process is smooth on the app, but we'd just as soon not have ever to do it.


If you're a roadie only or only ever take your bikes onto the trails, you won't notice this problem, and you'd be very happy with the Bolt. But bike-obsessed people like us, who use these devices in every forum and even on commutes, had a bit more trouble with it. It seems that this is an area where Wahoo decided to trade ease of use and setup for versatility, and it's a noble choice, but that means it suffers a bit in this category.

wahoo fitness elemnt bolt v2 - the garmin edge 840's huge feature set and built-in activity...
The Garmin Edge 840's huge feature set and built-in activity profiles make it easier to switch from road to mountain than the Elemnt Bolt, though both are easy to use on the trail.
Credit: Luke Hollomon

Should You Buy the Wahoo Fitness Elemnt Bolt V2?


If you're often overwhelmed by new tech and want something that works well day in and day out without thinking about it too much, this computer is a great choice. It's also ideal if you only pursue one type of cycling: road, mountain, gravel, touring, etc. You'll never notice where it lacks features. The overall emphasis on this device is that it's just nice to use; even if the feature set isn't mind-blowing, it's good enough for most. Skip this computer if you're constantly changing bikes and surfaces, want the most possible data on your rides, or need super long battery life. The Bolt's 16 hours are good but not stunning. It's a Top Pick for a combination of ease of use and feature set, a fantastic compromise between extremes, so if that's what you need, dive in.

wahoo fitness elemnt bolt v2 - with easy to read screens and great buttons, the bolt is just a joy...
With easy to read screens and great buttons, the Bolt is just a joy to pick up and navigate.
Credit: Luke Hollomon

What Other Bike Computers Should You Consider?


If you want the best computer for a data-hungry cyclist, check out the Garmin Edge 840. It's a bit bigger than the Bolt, has many more features (though they're not all super useful), and is very well-designed. If you want a bigger screen and immense battery life, don't look past the Garmin Edge 1040 Solar. After six days of 10 hours of riding per day on a bikepacking trip, it still had 30% battery left, which is very impressive. But if all this data seems overwhelming or too expensive, you'll like our Best Buy pick, the Bryton Rider 420; it's inexpensive and quite good, and we think you'll like it. See all of our picks in our full best bike computers review.

wahoo fitness elemnt bolt v2 - whichever device you purchase, take it on big adventures with...
Whichever device you purchase, take it on big adventures with friends, like the famous Dirtbags 100 ride here in central Virginia
Credit: Luke Hollomon

Luke Hollomon