I remember the early days of Wahoo Bolt Gen 1, when I fell in love with simplicity, functionality and the unit not locking up on a route, but now… what is happening?… really?
Here are a few pictures of the new Roam 3, launch date has not been released. But on the ticket of improvements are multi touch touchscreen and longer battery life.(25hrs)
We can see the profile of the Roam 3 turned into a bit of a chunky boy, maybe for the larger battery and controllers for the touch screen. The instinctual feel is the touchscreen seems like a step backwards, a little like a Microsoft kitchen sink upgrade. The beautiful things about Roam 1,2, Bolt 1,2 were no poor technology touch screen to be frustrated with yet high functionality- a better user experience. Wahoo state that the touchscreen gives the “explorers” better features to remap, There is of course the point that Wahoo have reached the ceiling and all the software features of the product demand a touchscreen to allow a user to navigate. Maybe so, but did Wahoo give up on a better User Experience?
But wait… street names?
Now, lets address the elephant in the room, the real feature that would make Roam 3 better to explore with would be…. street names on maps, for on the fly real time navigation and certainty. Let’s admit this elephant is what Garmin have always had.
Look closely at the Roam 3 press image below… notice anything strange? yes ….STREET NAMES. If this is true and not just a rendering mistake, this is FANTASTIC for navigation and the aspect that Wahoo have been missing all along. Fingers Crossed
Could this just be a graphic design mistake or actually some new and great in the works?
Tell me what you think in the comments below… always struggled with street names?
Launch date May 6th – Proposed Price $450, check out teh Wahoo site for details: https://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/bike-computers/elemnt-roam-buy
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I just purchased a Bolt 3 and it only shows names on seemingly random streets, not main streets. It isn’t useful for self navigating.
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I found, if I use the zoom, it shows the name on every street, I think its being selective at different zoom levels.
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Thanks for that info. I tried zooming all the way in so only that street is on the map and still didn’t see a name.
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