No, it’s not a typo, the device is actually called “Elemnt.” The Wahoo Elemnt Roam is a bike computer. Why do you need something like this? First of all, I had to switch from running to cycling. Secondly, I realized on my first bike trips that an iPhone battery drains very quickly when using Komoot for navigation, not to mention that the route doesn’t automatically recalculate if you want to take a different path. And the iPhone display reflects in the sun. And yes, I enjoy riding routes I haven’t explored before.
The Wahoo Elemnt Roam comes in a very nice package. There’s very little documentation included, but the online-help and support are extensive. I didn’t read either until I encountered my first problem. With the Companion App, the Roam is set up quickly. The only thing that bothered me during the setup was that it recommended updating the maps, but there wasn’t enough storage space available for that. I had to delete a different region before an update was possible. For nearly 350 euros, I would have expected a bit more storage space. On the bright side, I liked the greeting on the app’s home screen, which refers to you as a “data junkie” 🙂
Transferring a route from Komoot to the Elemnt Roam was simple, especially since I had watched a few YouTube videos beforehand. After charging the battery and about 15 minutes of setup, I was ready to go, including installation.
The Roam beeps and flashes constantly, and some of the signals were immediately understandable even without reading the help guide. However, it quickly became apparent that the Roam doesn’t always show the upcoming route in detail. In the photo above, it wasn’t so bad, but when the last triangle ends at an intersection, well, that’s unfortunate. Most of the time, though, the navigation is extremely reliable, and it’s fun to observe the performance data on the other data fields. After 90 minutes, only 5% of the battery had been used. The evening sun also didn’t affect the display. Overall, I’m very satisfied with the Elemnt Roam. However, it was suboptimal that the route from the Roam back to Komoot didn’t work at first. I tried everything—syncing, restarting, etc.—but my first ride (by the way, a very beautiful route through Billerhuder Island) couldn’t be found anywhere. The next day, after trying it with a short route, everything was suddenly there. I hope it now syncs automatically going forward.
A nice feature is the automatic detection of when you’re stopped and when you’re riding. This makes the average speed calculation more accurate.
For those who own more than one bike: Although a fixed mount and a zip tie mount are included in the package, I still bought a fixed mount for my second bike.