getting lost

[alanroy17]

Hi I'm new to this site, I entered bb200 in October and my question is would a Wahoo Bolt v2 be suitable for navigation off-road. as it one of cheaper gpx

[redefined_cycles]

Hi Alan... Yes, V2 would be even better than a v1... I have done the BB200 on each AFAIR. 1st time in 2019 or so, with a v1. Then 2020 with a v2 BOLT... Then 2022 with a ROAM V2. They're ace things and good at IDing the various paths properly. Can't recall any points at which the devices struggled (except for when the GPS seemed to stop working near the World Cup DH track - but post ride others reported a similar phenomena and was supposed to be summat to do with UN planes/radar testing or thw sort).

Welcome to the site and sorry for my poor joke earlier. We were serious that it wasn't a problem you asking in the photos thread (but then again, I'm not admin).

[alanroy17]

thank you i will buy one

[Lazarus]

I would strongly advise some sort of backup.option, I have memory map on my phone, some use Os app, some koomoot.etc

[whitestone]

I'm not a Wahoo user but it's worth checking the actual battery life you get - a couple of years ago on the BB300 the AA batteries in my Garmin died so I replaced them with...

another set of dud batteries Yeah, great.

Most of us have some form of powerbank - a 10,000mAh is sufficient - to charge things up. Looking at the blurb for the Bolt they claim 15hrs from the batteries. It's a 1600mAh battery so a 5,000mAh powerbank would be more than sufficient and you could have it wired up from the off.

Obviously have a play with it before the BB200 so you aren't panicking about what to do at 2am!

[Boab]

I'm not a Wahoo user but it's worth checking the actual battery life you get

Which is a lot less that the claimed maximum, if you have turn-by-turn navigation on. If you just have the breadcrumb trail, then the battery lasts longer. Always best to carry a power bank anyway.

[redefined_cycles]

Good point that Bob (Whitestone) and Bob, make there Alan. My Bolt v1 or v2 in either (ROAM or BOLT) would last about 15 hours tops. Hence I carry a powerbank of about 10,000mah.

It's worth noting that the older devices (IME) seemed to last battery wise slightly better than the newer units. Though the BOLT v2 has probably the best battery out of all of them (contradiction, I know, I retract my earlier statement, sorry). I always turn off turn by turn and have breadcrumb on and also have bluetooth in my phone off so it won't keep trying to connect!!

Most battery life on the BOLT/ROAM units is lost when turning them on and downloading a route. So good idea to load up the routes in advance as well as charging the unit soon after turning it on to get back to 100% or so.

Erm... one last thing... Get used to how the app and the device work side by side (a most excellent system, though in the V2 you can actually make new routes directly from the device) and get used to using it a few times in advance of the big day (well, you probably already know that 'failing to prepare is preparing to fail... and all that jazz!).

Enjoy and say hi when you ride past

[Hyppy]

I would strongly advise some sort of backup.option, I have memory map on my phone, some use Os app, some koomoot.etc

OrganicMaps is a bloody good and genuinely free back up option that makes use of OSM data.

My primary nav is TalkyToaster on an eTrex 32x, with Ordnance Survey and Organic Maps on the phone as back-ups, with any maps likely to be needed downloaded for offline use.

I've used a Wahoo ELEMNT too for multi-day stuff, and while I find it great for following breadcrumb arrows don't find it so good for really understanding where I am.