Originally Posted by
njkayaker
A lot more people use Garmins and have done so for longer than anybody using Wahoo head units. So, it should be surprising that you hear more negative comments about the Garmins.
The Wahoos seem like fine units.
They have the same basic functionality as the 520 (though, Wahoo might implement that basic navigation in a bit nicer way).
Garmin's problems have been systemic for a decade.
I put up with "features" of Edges 205, 305, 705, and 1000. The first three all eventually had the Edge Narcolepsy hardware design flaw (a battery spring that over time lost its spring resulting in intermittent contact over bumps, hence the computer shutting down, hence "narcolepsy")...In addition to the Public Beta firmware. The Edge 1000, took 2 years after release to not suck--a firmware update for it broke Garmin's OWN HRM straps; not joking they didn't even QA their own HRM straps....and even after 2 years you still read complaints about smartphone pairing bugs, weekly posts about iPhones not talking etc.
Then we could all sing praises about Garmin Connect. The warhorse that barely worked to start...THEN Garmin re-invented to "Modern" Windows design and the thing loaded slower than a cruiseship.
Garmin's support of its own software and standards was so awful for so long, and computers so unstable and losing so many rides...
finally a random German programmer had enough and created an MS Access tool to fix corrupted Garmin ride files...since Garmin could
never be bothered to.
Who remembers needing Bike Route Toaster and the half a dozen mapping/ride tools to make routable ride files, because
Garmin never bothered to make a toolset to do it?
OH RIGHT-and you had to BUY City Navigator for $100 to make your computer worth a damn. They made the computers capable to follow routes--but as with FFT, left it to random people on the internet to properly support their own tech. People now are absolutely pampered with Strava or routing Edge computers...in the 705/305/205 days it was a nightmare to make route files.
Who hasn't dreaded that "UPDATE AVAILABLE" announcement on their Edge right before a bike ride....because you know if you take it something will probably break like say the above E1K update that killed my HRM pairing, or like all those 3rd party ConnectIQ readout screens.
Wahoo...they made a touchscreen-less bike computer the way Garmin should have all along. Easy programming with a paired smartphone, no fussing with 3 buttons like on a VCR to set it up. The thing just worked. You didn't need to buy extra software, or use an unwieldy broken web portal...and after a rough start it "just works" (see the original RFLKT and ELEMNT reviews from DCR to hear him grump about bugs...then see his review about the Bolt).