Wahoo ELEMNT Rival Gets 2 great new features and another one that’s less wowwy

I like WOW features. You like WOW features. We all like WOW features.

It’s just that, as time passes, there are fewer and fewer WOW features left to invent and perhaps we get more easily impressed by a little something that might have gone under the radar 5 years ago.

I get a little bit excited when there’s a new feature that I can see being used by lots of other people even though I probably won’t use it much myself. But I get VERY excited when there’s a feature that I will DEFINITELY use and even more so if it’s a running feature that could very well make it onto every running watch.

It’s usually the obvious features that are best. You know, the ones that are obvious with hindsight.

Must Read: Wahoo Rival Detailed Review & Tips

Let’s Talk About Coros Track Mode for a minute

Coros are good at novel features and good at mimicking features too. Their track mode for running was obvious. So obvious that no one else had previously done it! Garmin and Wahoo quickly followed suit.

Whilst I don’t use any vendors’ track mode that much it strikes me as being a feature that fills the credibility gap. Any self-respecting running watch just HAS to have track mode to be seen as credible, unless it is specifically NOT targetting track runners.

The same principle applies to power meter support for a performance bike computer. Probably FE-C trainer control also would fit the must-have-for-credibility criterion?

Wahoo Pin Page/Screen

Anyway, Wahoo has just added a new feature that I think is brilliant. I want it on every sports watch I have and on every bike computer I have. Even better…it probably won’t be too hard for any vendor to implement as it’s a relatively simple concept.

In a nutshell: In any given sports profile you have a favourite page/screen. When you are working out and change screens, a certain period of time passes and then the sports computer automatically reverts you back to your favourite screen.

Wahoo’s Specific Implementation: On the Rival, you hold down the bottom two buttons mid-workout and your current page is forever assigned as the PIN PAGE…until you change it.

I suppose it’s similar to how an autolap summary might show a temporary screen for 5 seconds before disappearing.

Why is this good?

For me, it’s good because I only need my 4 or 5 metrics most of the time when running and when cycling with my Wahoo BOLT I mostly use one screen. On the occasions when I do want other info it’s usually a mild faff to press various buttons to get to that screen and then a further faff to get back to where I started. That’s just slightly inconvenient when running but when cycling this can introduce an extra element of distraction and danger even if using the Di2 buttons on your hoods.

Wahoo Race Running Sport Profile

Suunto recently introduced a feature whereby your displayed/recorded distance and track are both snapped to the expected distance of your progress over a course (race). There are numerous, subtle pros and cons here but the bottom line is that this is a useful feature for some of the people some of the time. Suunto’s feature worked best in areas of unreliable GPS like forests or cities.

Wahoo was probably inspired by Suunto and realised that they could re-use some of the functionality they have already delivered on the Track Running mode.

In a nutshell: Press the lap button to end the last KM/mi and store it as 1km or 1mile.

Why is this good? It lets you perfectly align your watch’s distance & pacing with trackside distance markers.

There are two extras as well, Firstly you can disable autolap popups and you can also set your button presses to match the method used on race day (KM or miles) even if you prefer to use the other method for your own pacing.

 

Wahoo Find My

This is a standard two-way find feature where your smartphone Wahoo app can find the Rival by playing a sound and vice-versa.

Opinion

I really like how Wahoo implements features that are directly useful for the athletic elements of races and training. Sure music and smartphone notifications might be important but I love my sports tech to help me perform better. That, after all, is why I started using it in the first place. I let my Apple Watch 6 do the 24×7 smart stuff.

Wahoo is clearly making the Rival better as each month passes. Better in a sporting way. I love the triathlon hand-off feature and the new Pin Page makes me happy!