PROS

  • Beautiful screen
  • Turn-by-turn navigation
  • Live tracking
  • Smart bike trainers support
  • Easy to use

 CONS

  • Large size
  • Lacks integration with third-party devices

The ELEMNT ROAM is Wahoo’s latest GPS bike computer designed with navigation in mind and comes with a 2.7″ color screen and 17 hours of battery life.

The ROAM is fitted with a new anti-glare Gorilla glass; a much tougher glass with an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the brightness of the screen based on your surroundings. So whether you are outside or training indoor in a dark room, I found it to be just bright enough and easy to read.

But the most significant upgrade to the ROAM is its improved navigation. The Elemnt Bolt and Original Elemnt all have navigation but the ROAM has a set of features that are only available on the ROAM and I went into a little more details in the video above so make sure to watch that.

NEW NAVIGATION FEATURES

  • Get Me Started​ : Navigates cyclists to the start of their route. When your cycling friend send you the route for their Wednesday night group ride and you are new to town or just need some help getting to the start location, the ROAM will ask you if you want to create a route to the start location.
  • Back On Track​: Navigates cyclists back to their route if they take a wrong turn or run into construction.
  • Take Me To​: Allows cyclists to select a location on their ROAM using the new pan and zoom functionality, and get directions to that location. Or you can use the ELEMNT companion app to search for a specific location by business name or a specific address. You can also import routes from third-party apps such as Strava, Best Bike Split, Ride With GPS, Komoot, and MTB Project.
  • Saved Locations​: Save a location, like your home, Airbnb, or hotel if you are traveling. You can then easily generate turn-by-turn navigation to your location.
  • Route To Start​: Find the shortest route back to the start of your ride.
  • Retrace Route​: Reverse your route to navigate back to the start along the original route.

EASY TO CONFIGURE & EASY TO USE

Like all Wahoo ELEMNT bike computers, the ROAM can be configured using the Wahoo ELEMNT companion app on your smartphone and integrates with the entire Wahoo Fitness Ecosystem, including KICKR smart trainers, TICKR heart rate monitors, and RPM Speed and Cadence sensors.

The ROAM is ANT+ and Smart Bluetooth compatible. It works with other ANT+ and Bluetooth sensors such as speed and cadence sensors, heart rate monitors, and power meters. The ROAM also supports muscle-oxygen sensors as well as cycling dynamics when paired with Pioneer’s power meters.

Just like the ELEMNT and ELEMNT BOLT, the ROAM is compatible with the KICKRs smart trainers, and other ANT+ FE-C smart bike trainers such as trainers from Tacx, CycleOps, Elite and others.

Here is a list of fields and metrics supported by the Wahoo Elemnt.

SMART TRAINER CONTROLS

  • Level Mode: Allows you to set your resistance level (0 to 9). Just like riding on a fluid or wind trainer, the faster you go, the harder it gets.
  • Resistance Mode: It allows you to set resistance (0% to 100%).
  • Passive Mode: In this mode, the ELEMNT will not control your smart trainer. Passive mode is good when you want to use your trainer with a third-party app like Zwift or TrainerRoad and use the ELEMNT to record your ride data.
  • ERG Mode: Allows you to set a target power and the trainer will adjust resistance and keep you at your target power regardless of your cadence.
  • Sim Mode: Allows you to select a route, and re-ride it.
  • Workout Mode: You can sync your ROAM to your TrainingPeaks or Todays’ Plan account to automatically send workouts to your ELEMNT. It will sync the next 5 days and the last 2 days of planned workouts. The ROAM also comes with a number of pre-loaded workouts.

Just like all Wahoo’s bike computers, the ROAM lacks integration with third-party devices such as bike lights, and Garmin Varia for example. Also, other than Pioneer’s powermeters, currently there is no support for cycling dynamics available from other power meters. According to Wahoo, this should be coming soon. It’s unknown how soon but hopefully we will see it coming before the end of the year. I am also hoping to see support for third party apps such as Xert and TrainerRoad.

For the complete review and comparisons with the ELEMNT and ELEMNT Bolt, make sure to watch the full video above.

WHERE TO BUY

The ELEMNT ROAM retails for $379.99 and is available at CleverTraining. If you purchase using the link here, you will help this site out and also you will get some reward points when you become a VIP member.

You can also check out the ROAM at WahooFitness.

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