Test of the new Wahoo Roam GPS meter

After the Elemnt, the Bolt and the Mini, here is the Roam, the new GPS counter from the American brand Wahoo. New features include a color screen and several smart navigation features to make your life easier. before you get on your bike and while you ride. After six weeks of tests, here is our verdict in detail.

By Pierre-Maxime Branche. Photos: 3bikes.fr

No more monochrome, make way for color! After the Elemnt, the Elemnt Bolt and the Elemnt Mini, Wahoo launched its fourth bike computer at the beginning of May, its third GPS (the Mini does not offer navigation) and its first with a color screen. Above all, this new Roam has several new intelligent navigation features to, for example, automatically return to a planned route when you get lost, create a new route while you're cycling, route, or find the fastest way home. This Roam has accompanied and guided our training outings for the past six weeks. A detailed presentation of this new American GPS counter, available at a price of €349,99.

Design and ergonomics
For those familiar with the brand, this new Roam is smaller than the Elemnt, but it is larger than the Bolt and the Mini… of course. It is not a big computer like those seen at Garmin or Sigma, its dimensions (89×54,4×17,8 mm) allow it, for example, to pass easily between your extensions if you use a time trial or triathlon bike, for a weight of 93,5 g. It offers an aero design, signature of the Wahoo brand, especially when combined with its offset front support. The stem mount works with rilsan collars (provided in the box) which is not practical if you use several bikes, not to mention the possible damage they can cause to the stem.

As for the buttons, there are the same six as on the Bolt: on/off and menu access on the left, three buttons on the bottom for start, pause, stop, record an outing and switch between pages, and the last two on the right for zooming in or out on a page. An adaptation time while driving is necessary, especially for the three buttons at the bottom. Despite their width, it is much easier to press them with your fingernail than with your fingertip. Similarly, the zoom buttons on the right side require a firm and unhesitating press, otherwise you may have to try several times..

Screen
Although its footprint is slightly smaller than the Elemnt, the Roam offers the same screen size, a diagonal of 68,6 mm (2,7 inches). It uses a thin and light (non-touch) Gorilla Glass in crystal clear, like on high-end smartphones. This color screen with a resolution of 240×400 is perfectly bright because it has an ambient sensor that automatically adjusts its brightness as well as that of the Quicklook LEDs (5 at the top and 7 on the left) which allow you to monitor at a glance the essential parameters (speed, HR or power) that you have previously set. This screen is large and readable enough to have a maximum of information on the same page, from 2 to 11 data fields at the same time. And this data is visible regardless of the viewing angle on the glass.

Connectivity
The Roam has a USB charging port. For the rest, It is 100% wireless via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ANT+ connections to sync your routes, sessions to the apps and platforms of your choice, download maps and even for software updates.. Connected to your phone, it has incoming calls and texts if someone tries to reach you. Finally, for home trainer sessions, it can take control of non-Wahoo devices equipped with ANT+ FE-C technology.

GPS
Many satellite systems are supported by the Roam: the traditional GPS (USA) and Glonass (Russia), to which must be added the European Galileo system, Chinese with BeiDou and Japanese with QZSS. This multiplicity of systems gives it excellent precision once the satellites are caught because it can take a little time before locating you. Once this operation is successful, no worries. The tracks of your route are very clean, we have never seen an approximate route. On the other hand, the integrated altimeter, which is based only on this satellite data, lacks precision. At sea level, it always indicated a gap of 20 to 30 m. A gap that was found at the top of various passes climbed and then, after the various synchronizations, during training analyses.

Interface and data
Once you understand the Roam universe, this meter is very easy to use, and moving between the different pages is quick. There are three main pages: the data pages, another with the live altimetric profile of your outing at the bottom, and the mapping/navigation page. This is more than enough and, above all, they are fully customizable. In our opinion, it is not necessary to create several pages of data fields because the zoom buttons on the right allow you to select the information you want to focus on (from 2 to 11 data).

Fans of cadence and power calculations will be the most frustrated. The pedaling cadence requires the addition of an external sensor. For power, this is indicated, or rather estimated, via the Quicklook LEDs using a color scale. To do this, you have to integrate your FTP value into the application (i.e. your maximum power threshold over a 1-hour effort). Conclusion: if you know it, you then benefit from an estimate by a color code; if you don't know it, which is certainly the case for most of us, there is no indication of power. Or, you have to perform one of the following: tests training proposed to have, there too, an estimate. For the rest, all the classic data is present and largely sufficient.

Cartography and navigation
Maps of North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and South America are preloaded in the device. Maps of Russia, Asia and Africa can be downloaded for free using Wi-Fi. To speak only of France, the routes are extremely precise and faithful for easy navigation. The indications appear in large on the screen, the map zooms in on the intersections, the LEDs flash… everything is done to not miss a preloaded route, especially since the navigation is clearly indicated by large black or blue chevrons when you have made a mistake. route to join your route. This is where we find several new navigation options:

- Go to the course, to join a route imported from a third-party application;

- Back on the course, to put the cyclist back on the right path if he has taken the wrong path route, although with a slight latency time encountered several times;

- Take me to, which allows you to select a location on the map and navigate there, a very practical option to use before leaving but also and especially in the middle of training. To do this, a target placed on the map moves from top to bottom and from left to right to find the location of your choice;

- Saved places, to remember locations you pass regularly to save time;

- Directions to departure, The Roam then finds the shortest way to return to the starting point of your outing;

- Finally Go back, an option that reverses your route to return to the starting point. And when we say "reverse", we must take it literally, that is to say that it happened to us that the Roam told us to take routes in the wrong direction since they were one-way on the way there… In several situations, the Roam took a while before offering us an alternative route. Too bad and surprising.

While these different options are interesting and practical, they have the disadvantage of imposing a route without being able to indicate to the Roam that we want to make a detour at such and such a point, or to favor such and such a point. route. The ideal would have been for the Roam to offer a choice of several routes to reach the targeted location.

Creating routes
Wahoo has worked on navigation by offering multiple possibilities to reach a specific point, to find your way or to return home. Even if, as we have just seen, these options are not totally optimized since they constrain you and do not offer you alternatives. Unfortunately, The other black point of this new Roam is the creation of itineraries which is simply impossible or almost. Wahoo focused on pure and simple navigation, with clear and effective instructions and information, but the brand has completely neglected this aspect which is very important today. It is impossible to create a point-by-point route on the map via the application. It is impossible to ask the Roam to offer you a 3-hour, 90 km route heading west. We were told that the Roam is not intended to compete with a Garmin 1030 or a Sigma Rox 12 for example. Its price positioning limits its offer. To create your route, you must therefore use an external application before importing it into the Roam. How frustrating! For us, this is a real disappointment for an option that, at a price of €349,99, should still be offered, even in a simple configuration such as point-to-point, via the Elemnt Companion application.. In the sections: Training => Routes => Go to… it is possible to set waypoints, but after a few points, the Roam will optimize the route and override the points previously noted. A puzzle.

Connected apps
The Roam is compatible with many applications that allow you to either create routes or plan workouts: Strava obviously with Strava Live Segments if you have the Premium subscription (now Summit), but also Ride with GPS, Training Peaks, MTB Project, Best Bike Split, Komoot, Today's Plan, Singletracks… The integration of routes or sessions from these applications and their synchronization are instantaneous. On the other hand, unlike Connect IQ for Garmin, Wahoo does not have its own application to customize the environment of your meter.

Autonomy
According to Wahoo, the Roam's autonomy is announced at 17 hours, which is the same as the Elemnt and 2 hours more than the Bolt. This estimate is true for us, we pushed the Roam during the first full charge to 16h15 and during the 2nd charge 16h, asking it to search for several routes in the middle of each outing to make it work. In simple use, without changes or searches for new routes, the 17 hours would have been largely exceeded.. That said, the charge indication is not visible on the main screen of the Wahoo when it is running. You have to go into the menu to find out what percenttage charging is still available or in the app. In addition, the Roam only warns of a lack of charge when it is almost ready to give up the ghost, which caused us to find ourselves without navigation and without data on two occasions. Nothing serious, of course, but integrating the device's charging on the main data screen would have been a nice touch.

Training
Interval sessions are preloaded into the Roam, as well as sessions inspired by Team Ineos coaches (sprint, montag(ne or mixed). Enough to train like a pro and fly in the percents.tagare like Egan Bernal and others. You can also sync them from Training Peaks or Today's Plan, or do one of the two tests FTP available. Nice and fun, these sessions have the merit of being there, but they are not numerous and are not customizable. Nothing beats a good session designed by yourself to import from a third-party application (again).

Price
The new Wahoo Roam is available for €349,99. At this price, the pack contains the Roam unit, two mounts (a front offset handlebar mount and a stem mount with three rilsan collars) as well as the USB charging cable. If you want a cadence sensor, you will have to pay an additional €39,99 (RPM Cadence) and €79,99 for the Bluetooth and ANT+ optical heart rate armband. That is €470 if you need or want to equip yourself at home.

Conclusion
We're not going to lie to each other, we were impatiently waiting for the test of this new meter, but in the end, small disappointments prevail. Certainly, the color screen is pleasant and the effort has been put into the navigation tools, but we are left with an impression of unfinished business. These navigation tools impose routes while they should offer alternatives and it is impossible to create your own route without going through a third-party application. It's not insurmountable, of course, but in our eyes, it's a real shame because there are many good points. However, when we talk about "freedom to explore" or "making every bike ride a new adventure", there is a feeling of restricted freedom.

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