# Issues with NEWEST version ELEMNT BOLT



## BigStatiK (Jul 26, 2020)

Just got the “new” ELEMNT BOLT, the one that just came out. 

During steepish climbs when going 2-5mph the speedometer goes to zero 
(Which isn’t that uncommon with gps) but then it never recovers and stays at zero,
sometimes for miles. This happens even with with strong GPS signals. 

The gaps in the log cause lost segments, no map, and for example a 32 mile ride to be logged at 25 miles. Using strava on iphone7 on the same rides and it works just fine. (Proving its not poor gps signal)



It’s updated to latest firmware. For $300 after tax, I’m thinking about sending it back. 

Anyone else using this thing?

Update:
Opened a support ticket with Wahoo.


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## SB Trails (Sep 14, 2012)

Any updates? I just got the new bolt v2 yesterday.. Went for a ride today and had very much the same experience you did... I thought i was updated but went into the head unit and hit the power button(settings) and went down to "system info" and clicked on check for updates and there was a update to be done.. Funny part is the phone app didnt show any updates... Weird... Im going to try this for a few more rides to see if these updates helped.. But if not-- ill probably just go back to my edge 130 which worked great... Smaller screen-- but worked great...


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## BigStatiK (Jul 26, 2020)

SB Trails said:


> Any updates? I just got the new bolt v2 yesterday.. Went for a ride today and had very much the same experience you did... I thought i was updated but went into the head unit and hit the power button(settings) and went down to "system info" and clicked on check for updates and there was a update to be done.. Funny part is the phone app didnt show any updates... Weird... Im going to try this for a few more rides to see if these updates helped.. But if not-- ill probably just go back to my edge 130 which worked great... Smaller screen-- but worked great...


no updates, I crashed REAL bad a few days after that post. 😞
13 broken bones, concussion, etc
and stacks and stacks of hospital bills.


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## SB Trails (Sep 14, 2012)

Ugh... THUMBS DOWN!!!.... Sorry to hear about the crash... Heal up... bikes and computer and everything else will be here waiting once your all mended up...


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## WR304 (Jul 9, 2004)

I hope you're feeling a bit better now a few months on from that big crash!

With the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2 I got mine when it was first launched at the start of June 2021 and the initial GPS reception and accuracy was terrible. On the original firmware it shipped with it couldn't get a GPS lock at all indoors in the house and struggled to maintain a stable outdoors lock too. It was shockingly bad.

When you were riding with it did you have the GPS accuracy data field or the map screen open to show if the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2 was losing satellite reception? On the GPS accuracy data field a --- means there is no GPS lock whilst an "Acquiring GPS" message on the map screen also means there is no GPS lock.

The other possibility, related to that, is if you had auto pause enabled in the settings. On the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2 the auto pause threshold can't be set manually and it seems to be very high at as much as 6mph! If you were going below that threshold speed, or the wonky GPS readings thought you were going below that speed, then it might have been stuck on permanent auto pause.

Writing this in August 2021 and now on the WA20-13301 firmware the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2 is quite a bit better than it was when first released. It boots to the map screen in 39 seconds from pressing the power button, gets a GPS lock outdoors 1 minute 30 seconds from pressing the power button and gets an elevation reading 2 minutes 40 seconds from first pressing the power button. Tha's almost exactly the same time now as for a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V1, rather than taking ages to get a GPS lock as it used to.

I use my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2 with a speed sensor on the front wheel (tyre circumference measured and entered manually) and with auto pause disabled which seems to work ok as the speed sensor gives proper speed values, even when going slowly or under tree cover.

The new device still can't get as good a GPS accuracy reading as the older device though. The picture below shows the GPS accuracy reading in Feet outdoors after both Wahoo Elemnts had been sat with a good view of the sky for over 5 minutes. The lower the value the better the GPS accuracy is.










Some things I felt helped with the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2:

It comes with a full set of world maps preloaded on the device. I removed all the maps except for just the ones I use (England and Wales) which leaves 10.3gb of onboard storage free and seemed to make it all load and work faster, as though it was loading all the maps into memory and not having them lets the device work a bit quicker.

For the Wifi the older Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V1 only works with Wifi 802.11N so I made sure the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2 was connected to the router at home via Wifi 802.11N as well and all the sync and download functions work properly.

When connecting to the Wahoo Elemnt phone app it took a couple of goes for the phone app to see it as a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2, rather than a V1. If it shows as a V1 removing the device from the phone app and reconnecting should get it showing as a V2. It needs to be connected as a V2 before the colour coded heart rate and power data fields can be selected for the display.

The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2 screen is glass like a mobile phone screen, rather than plastic like the Elemnt Bolt V2. The downside of this glass screen is wiping dirt or water off it with a glove or bare hand smears the screen badly making it even harder to read. When riding I try not to touch the screen at all if I can possibly help it and use a microfibre cloth at home to clean it between rides.


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