Wahoo ELEMNT vs. Garmin EDGE (as E-Bike GPS Displays)

[Stefan Mikes]

Having owned a Wahoo ELEMNT Roam v1 then Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt v2 and now Wahoo ELEMNT Roam v2, I have now bought a Garmin EDGE 540. Reasons?

GPS Bike Computer E-Bike Compatibility
While all Wahoo ELEMNT computers worked perfectly with my Specialized full-power and SL e-bikes (Vado and Vado SL, including rented demo e-bikes such as Tero or Tero X or Levo SL), Wahoo turned out not to be fully able to connect to a Yamaha powered Giant Trance E+ 2 Pro (the e-bike battery level and Range data were not available). My source tells me Wahoo cannot extract the Cadence value from a Shimano powered Merida e-bike. As I knew Garmin EDGE worked with the Trance E+ (and I'm starting in an e-bike race soon), I needed a display for the Giant e-bike. (Trance E+ has no display but only LEV ANT+ compatible Ride Control handlebar remote).

No GPS e-bike computer supports any Bosch E-Bike as Bosch refuses implementing LEV ANT+.

Why Wahoo ELEMNT is so fantastic (when it works with a given e-bike model)?

• The device setup, configuration, software updates, maps, and navigation routes (from Strava, Komoot, RideWithGPS and many other systems) are all served from a smartphone. For instance, it is enough to authorize Komoot on a Wahoo to get all the routes synchronized automatically! The sync can be also done from a computer via WiFi
• Every operation on the device is done using six large rugged buttons. The buttons have their labels on the screen, and these labels are context sensitive.
• Wahoo computers also have rows of horizontal and vertical LEDs that can be configured to (for example) show you navigation directions or illustrate your effort/speed or even visualize Garmin Varia Radar!
• The screen is non-reflective
• Wahoo ELEMNT is the only computer to recognize the Range Extender battery.

The only cons of Wahoo:

• While the Dual GPS is accurate, its initial fix takes many seconds. (After the satellites are found, no issues)
• The thermometer is off up to 3 C or 10 F for low temperatures (to some 10 C or 50 F).

If your e-bike will work with a Wahoo computer, there is no reason to buy anything else.

Garmin EDGE computers are pain in the ass to set up and configure

Garmin is an old company and it shows. While Wahoo believes in software solutions and connectivity (same as Specialized does), Garmin is a device oriented company (similarly to Bosch E-Bike). Garmin Edge 540 is operated by seven flimsy buttons (higher models use a touchscreen and buttons). As Garmin has been developing its GPS computers for many years, the device is loaded with literally hundreds of features a normal rider does not need, and the menu structure is as nested as finding anything is hardly possible. Examples:

• You need a Temperature field in one of your data screens. In which category would you like to find it? You look for a Weather category to find none. Where is Temperature then? In "Other". Now, where is the "Time of Day"? You have guessed that right! It is not in "Time" but in "Other".
• You are configuring your Map data screen. There is an ugly high banner reading, for example "Riding in Main Street". This banner takes a lot of precious space. You look around to find the correct option to hide that banner. No, it is not where you are, that is, in Activity Profiles -> E-BIKE -> Data Screens -> Map. It is in Activity Profiles -> E-BIKE -> Navigation -> Navigation Prompts.

The setup of a Garmin is a real pain. For instance, after long time spent on the device setup, I got a message I needed to apply a software update using Garmin Express. What Garmin Express even is? Shouldn't the software update be transferred Over-The-Air from the smartphone (as in Wahoo)? Not. You need to connect your Garmin to a computer by a USB-C cable. Then you install Garmin Express program on the computer. As the computer and Garmin are connected, you can do the software update.

Then, I noticed my device displayed no map. Using Garmin Express, I determined I should update and manage maps. Turned out I needed to delete West Europe and Central Europe maps and install East Europe map. Guess what. According to Garmin, Czech Republic and Denmark are located in Central Europe but Poland, Sweden and Norway are in East Europe! (It is necessary to mention Wahoo comes with almost all world maps preinstalled. You rather delete maps you don't need than install them).

East Europe according to Garmin. I always thought Sweden, Norway and Finland were North Europe...

So I look at the navigation screen and can see the map has almost no details! Exasperated, I turn to my colleague who knows Garmin very well. "Delete all maps. Download the OSM map for the country you need (it is a huge IMG file). Download to your computer and copy that file to Garmin via USB cable. Restart Garmin". Yes it worked. Now my map of Poland has all the details.

Next: How to get all your Komoot routes? Just authorizing Komoot on the device was not enough (it only brought my 2025 routes). No, I needed to install a Garmin Komoot app and authorize it!

Summary of setup and configuration
I was working on my Garmin from 12:45 p.m to midnight, using help from two experienced Garmin users. To compare, I spent less than an hour on my first Wahoo and didn't need to ask anyone for help!

After all my efforts. The Climb Pro screen will appear when real hills appear on the route or nearby.

Wahoo ELEMNT Roam, which is the mid range computer from the brand.

P.S. Even the Wahoo labels are better! It is "DIST NEXT" and "DIST. AHEAD" on Garmin while it is "TO CUE" and "KM TO GO" (or MI TO GO) on Wahoo. The weakness of Garmin as an e-bike display is obvious. Assist Mode (sorry: ASSIST MD.) as a number such as 2 or 5? Wahoo reads the assist mode names from the e-bike, and it is ECO, SPORT, BASIC, AUTO, SMART, NORMAL or MICRO: exactly how it is named in the e-bike (on a Specialized or Giant; it doesn't matter).

During a Ride, Real Life Impression
PITA to set up and configure, Garmin works very well, is reliable and readable as well as looks very well in real life! Tested on a Vado SL as its display today with GPS navigation.

 

[Aushiker]

[1] Garmin offers various models. Purchasing an advanced model, then complaining that it has too many features for the 'average user'? Maybe do not buy it then. I do not use all the features, but still have a 1030 at present because what I use it for, it works well. That is just the nature of the beast. I have looked at their alternative models which feature wise would be more than adequate for me, but I want the larger screen and better in sun performance.

[2] As an early Wahoo adopter, I dumped it after one tour and went back to Garmin. Have not seen any reason to try Wahoo since. From what I have seen of the latest versions, I am still not convinced to give them a try again. Each to their own, of course.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Purchasing an advanced model, then complaining that it has too many features for the 'average user'?

Edge 540 is the least advanced model. Do I need to be informed for how many hours I need to rest post-ride? Or, how much water I should drink? Or, am I obliged to wear a HR monitor? These are three of a hundred features no regular e-biker ever needs!
Wahoo ELEMNT ACE is a mistake from its maker imho. Too big in the first place.

The important thing Andrew is you cannot use either with a Bosch E-Bike anyway. I don't think you could find a review discussing Bike GPS computers as e-bike displays elsewhere.

The weakness of Garmin can even be seen on the e-bike side. Assist Mode (sorry: ASSIST MD.) as a number such as 2? Wahoo reads the assist mode names from the e-bike, and it is SPORT, BASIC or MICRO: exactly how it is named in the e-bike.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

During a Ride, Real Life Impression
PITA to set up and configure, Garmin works very well, is reliable and readable as well as looks very well in real life! Tested on a Vado SL as its display today with GPS navigation.

 

[jabberwocky]

I've never found them to be difficult to setup, just tedious. The touchscreen ones are simpler for sure (I've had both 500 series and 800 series, currently running a 530). The good news is you setup your activity profiles once, when you get the unit, and then probably never touch them again unless you get a new sensor or something. On the touchscreen models, you can just hold on a data field for a few seconds and it pops up a selection screen to change it. If you're someone who plays with data fields a lot and wants a Garmin I would definitely get a touch screen model. I've pretty much settled on what fields I want to see for my various activity profiles and set them up when I get the unit and don't change them ever again.

Garmin is slow to adopt new tech; the fact that it took until the -40 series circa 2023 to drop micro-usb and adopt USB-C illustrates that. Their phone app is fine but they could definitely add the ability to do setup on the phone and it would make things a lot easier. They've been making edge units since before smartphones were a thing and still have a "device is standalone" mentality.

I actually prefer assist as a number (eco vs sport vs whatever is meaningless to me). Oddly I do think it displays the actual assist mode name on my shimano-powered emtb.

Some of the annoying after-activity notifications can be disabled by turning off Training Effect (menu->my stats->performance notifications).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I could set up a new Activity Profile "Specialized" as a copy of "Trance E+" a way easier than the first profile. However, I had to do several changes (actually 4 of them) as it turned out "Distance Ahead" from the Distance category was not what I wanted (I needed "Distance to destination" from Navigation).

During a ride, Garmin becomes pleasant, useful and intuitive. I had no slightest issue to select a course, start the ride recording, and enjoy Auto-Pause. Even if the display of 540 is tiny everything was readable (it is not quite the same on a Wahoo Bolt).

I could return to the ride start by "the same route", very nice.

I appreciate the possibility of multiple data screens that can even be automatically scrolled.

Their phone app is fine but they could definitely add the ability to do setup on the phone and it would make things a lot easier.

Aye. That would make Wahoo not that competitive! See how it works. Once, Garmin had Climb Pro no one could match. Now, Wahoo has Summit because the brand competes the hard way. Garmin should try harder!

I actually prefer assist as a number (eco vs sport vs whatever is meaningless to me). Oddly I do think it displays the actual assist mode name on my shimano-powered emtb.

LEV ANT+ transmits both Travel Mode Name and the number.

Specialized: 0 - OFF, 1 - ECO, 2-SPORT (or TRAIL), 3 - TURBO , 4 - SMART, 5 - MICRO
Giant: 0 - OFF, 1 - ECO, 2 - BASIC, 3 - NORMAL, 4 - AUTO, 5 - SPORT, 6 - POWER.

Now, start a Giant e-bike. The default mode is AUTO. How would you know it is 4?

 

[stompandgo]

As a Bosch e-bike and Garmin 630 owner, it's frustrating not to have the connectivity I need in order to run one display unit. I've had Garmins and Wahoos, and when I was racing, I had to change back and forth between manufacturers to chase my bike technology upgrades, rather than wait for the manufacturer support. Both are good. Wahoo are more minimalist but quick to update functionality after release. Garmin is like Bosch, an old, stodgy company whose products are loaded with bugs and are slow to adopt any kind of change. Wahoo technical support is very good, whereas Garmin technical support is abysmal.

Right now I have my Kiox set up with the four data screens that cannot be sent to the 630: average power, my power, cadence, and battery remaining. I have a Garmin wheel speed sensor on the front wheel, so I have the 630 set up for everything else. I have my Wahoo Tickr HRM paired to the 630. My bike is a System 2 so there is no hope for change until I change the bike. I use the 630 for navigation using files from RidewithGPS.

It works, but it's just unfortunate. I got what I paid for, nothing more.

 

[jabberwocky]

Now, start a Giant e-bike. The default mode is AUTO. How would you know it is 4?

Auto definitely confuses it. I never use auto so its not really an issue for me. I've had my giant for 5 years and the only assist mode name I can actually remember is eco. The little giant emtb controller I put on my Revolt has 5 lights for mode as well (they light up from bottom to top for 1-5 and illuminate the middle light only for auto). I have assist mode as a field with my e-gravel profile, but my use of it is mainly to confirm I clicked down to eco after starting the bike, and occasionally pop up to 2-3 for fast road segments and back to 1/eco when I'm off them.

I assume how it displays is dependent on the way that info is transmitted over ant+ or interpreted by Garmin. I know Garmin has a fancy data screen for Shimano Steps when you have one of those synced. Presumably Shimano and Garmin worked together to come up with that. Shame they can't do the same for every manufacturer that transmits ant+ data.

Personally I'm happy as long as assist mode and battery percentage are sent to my computer. The fact that Bosch refuses to implement that is a huge negative in my book.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Garmin and Wahoo look both excellent systems. Ive also being seeing quite a bit about this Chinese rival the Coospo CS500 which is similar size to the Garmin 540, is quite a bit cheaper and has excellent battery life.

Another option perhaps.

Here's review & comparison of the Garmin Edge 130+ from a no nonsense ebiker living in Catalonia who has a YT channel I watch.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Here's review & comparison of the Garmin Edge 130+ from a no nonsense ebiker living in Catalonia who has a YT channel I watch.

Ras, to save me 21 minutes of life please tell me what the e-bike in question is and whether Coospo can recognise the SL Range Extender.

Thank you!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Meanwhile, I did a lot of testing.

Wahoo

• Can recognize any Specialized e-bike
• Will display the SL main battery and Range Extender in 100/100% format
• Will recognize a Trance E+ but will not be able to access the LEV Battery % or LEV Range data (it will, however, display the named LEV Travel Modes).

Garmin

• Will recognize any Specialized e-bike
• Will display all the e-bike data except the Range Extender Battery Level %
• Will display all e-bike data from Giant Trance, only the LEV Travel Mode name will be a number.

I was suggested to try independent data field apps from Garmin Connect IQ store: E-Bike Field and E-Bike Edge Multifield. Each of these apps requires disconnecting the E-Bike sensor from Garmin, as each of these apps provides own connection protocol to the e-bike (because of Garmin limitations) and will pair E-Bike sensor to the data field itself. (The Cadence/Speed and Power e-bike sensors stay connected to Garmin).

E-Bike Field

• Will connect to a Specialized e-bike
• Allows giving own names to LEV Travel Modes (such as ECO, Sport or Turbo)
• Will not recognize the SL Range Extender
• Will not pair/connect to Giant Trance E+

E-Bike Edge Multifield

• I have had issues using it and connecting any e-bike to this datafield.

The summary is:

• For Specialized e-bikes, Wahoo is the only Bike GPS Computer that can work as a full capability e-bike display including the SL e-bike line.
• Garmin can work with Specialized full power e-bikes, especially using E-Bike Field app (E-Bike Field gives the "80% ECO" format).
• For Giant Trance E+, only Garmin can work with this e-bike, and only in the native e-bike mode.

Note: The full e-bike capability is necessary for any LEV ANT+ compatible e-bike with no display. Specifically, Specialized SL Gen 1 (TCU and Mastermind) as well as Giant Ride Control e-bikes.

@DaveMatthews: I need to thank you very much again for recommending a Garmin Edge 530 to my brother four years ago. Jacek could successfully use his Garmin with the Trance E+ for all those years!
@Jeremy McCreary: If you ever consider using a bike GPS computer for navigation and as a display, learn Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt and Roam 3 have been just released

 

[stompandgo]

Do you think E-Bike Field would work with Bosch?

 

[jabberwocky]

Do you think E-Bike Field would work with Bosch?

The issue with Bosch (as I understand it) is their system flat out doesn't output ant+ data. So theres nothing for Garmin/Wahoo to read.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The issue with Bosch (as I understand it) is their system flat out doesn't output ant+ data. So theres nothing for Garmin/Wahoo to read.

Yes. The Bosch blockheads only think of themselves and do not plan implementing the LEV ANT+ protocol, which is necessary to work with Garmin, Hammerhead or Wahoo. That's why Bosch has implemented GPS navigation in some units in their futile hope they could be as good as Garmin or Wahoo...

Bosch e-bikes have always got a display so at least the user can see the battery level or assist mode. A bike GPS computer will work on a Bosch E-Bike like a regular one with no e-bike connection.

The best cooperation so far has been:

• Between Specialized and Wahoo
• Between Shimano STEPS and Garmin.

 

[jabberwocky]

Yes. The Bosch blockheads only think of themselves and do not plan implementing the LEV ANT+ protocol, which is necessary to work with Garmin, Hammerhead or Wahoo. That's why Bosch has implemented GPS navigation in some units in their futile hope they could be as good as Garmin or Wahoo...

I've seen rumors over the past few years that Bosch is working on ant+ or it will eventually be included, but nothing has come of it. I kinda assume those are reps or shop owners blowing smoke up potential customers butts to try and sell bikes. I do find it perplexing; the customer base for Bosch computers is completely different than the customer base for Garmin units (Bosch is selling to OEMs as complete systems, Garmin is selling to people who already have a bike). Hard to imagine that allowing sensor data output would dry up the market for Bosch computers in any measurable fashion.

 

[stompandgo]

The thing with Bosch is, they deliberately close their system for use with aftermarket bike computers, then they make their own computers obsolete prematurely. I'm stuck. C'est la vie.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stompandgo, you still have an operable display, and it gives you all the e-bike information you want (unless it is a Purion...) A bike GPS computer is still a good thing to own for perfect navigation and ride recording. No leg power output or calories, though.

My big Vado has a display with five data screens, so I technically could have my Wahoo not connected to the e-bike. The benefit is I can see all the parameters I need at a glance.

Wahoo Roam v2 has a single Workout screen with up to 11 parameters. A Garmin Edge 540 (as all Garmins) allows multiple data pages. I put an app called Garminfly Wind on an extra data screen together with vital Navigation data (such as ETA at Destination). Garminfly Wind connects to the smartphone's weather forecast to show the relative wind direction and its speed (a point for Garmin!) On the other hand, the new Wahoo ACE (which is very big) can calculate the relative wind speed from a sensor by calculating the difference in air speed entering the sensor and the cruising speed of the bike.

 

[jabberwocky]

Lots of MTBers downgrade whatever Bosch computer comes with the bike to the Purion 200. Which is similar to the Steps 7000 display my eMTB came with (super minimal, clamps to the bar just to the right of the stem). My only complaint with the Shimano display is it only shows battery as 5 bars (instead of a granular percentage) which I hate. Connecting to the Garmin is necessary to actually get a battery percentage. I would probably be fine with a Purion 200/400; the only data I care about is assist mode and battery percentage. But I would definitely prefer to just have the data on the Garmin since I'll have that anyway, and its nice to have it recorded in the .fit file.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Lots of MTBers downgrade whatever Bosch computer comes with the bike to the Purion 200. Which is similar to the Steps 7000 display my eMTB came with (super minimal, clamps to the bar just to the right of the stem). My only complaint with the Shimano display is it only shows battery as 5 bars (instead of a granular percentage) which I hate. Connecting to the Garmin is necessary to actually get a battery percentage. I would probably be fine with a Purion 200/400; the only data I care about is assist mode and battery percentage. But I would definitely prefer to just have the data on the Garmin since I'll have that anyway, and its nice to have it recorded in the .fit file.

Perhaps you would like to see your Cadence and Power on Garmin...

 

[jabberwocky]

Perhaps you would like to see your Cadence and Power on Garmin...

If I don't run them on my non-electric I definitely don't care about them on the ebike. I do run a wahoo cadence sensor on my trainer, and the trainer itself does power. I've never bothered with them on my actual bikes even in my roadie days though.