The Best Cycling Computers

It’s a little frightening how much this solar-powered device can do. It’s an upgrade from the $600 Garmin 1040, using mostly the same design but adding solar power along with some other improvements. The upper and lower panels above and below the 3.5-inch touchscreen capture 100 percent of the sun’s rays, while the screen itself also captures solar power but at a less efficient rate. The extended battery life is impressive: While the battery-powered Garmin 1040 averages 35 hours and is capable of 70 hours in battery-saver mode, this solar version of the 1040 increases that average to 45 hours and extends battery-saver mode to 100 hours. That’s a game changer for ultracyclists who need to eke out every bit of battery power for their multi-day efforts. (Although I’d still pack an extra battery, in case of overcast skies.)

Storage has also doubled from 32 GB in the 1040 to 64 GB in the solar version. While the 1040 comes preloaded with only North America maps, the solar version is preloaded with maps for North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with room for more. (One surprising caveat for a unit this sophisticated: Maps cannot be downloaded wirelessly. The unit needs to be plugged in, which requires advance planning if you’re going to places with limited GPS access.)

Because the GPS is enhanced with GNSS technology, which determines location by measuring the distance to four or more satellites, the mapping is spot-on accurate, even in the backcountry. It also includes enhancements like Forksight mode, which displays upcoming forks in the road with surrounding geographic context that allows you to more easily understand where you are in a trail system; “turn-by-turn” direction mode that sounds alerts for each upcoming turn; and off-course notifications should you get sidetracked.

Like the earlier model, the 1040 Solar has safety features like live tracking and incident detection. The former allows a third party, when given permission by the cyclist, to track the ride; the latter sounds an alarm to emergency contacts if a blunt-force action like a crash causes it to go off.

I spent a month testing this computer and still didn't have enough time to properly investigate the seemingly endless number of training features. One interesting new one, however, is Power Guide, a tool (which requires an accompanying power meter) that helps riders map out their effort on a specific downloaded course. By crunching your FTP (Functional Threshold Power, or the highest average power you can sustain for approximately an hour, measured in watts) with the course’s elevation and the projected time of finishing, the device will map out a strategy to hit your target, sort of like a coach on your handlebars telling you exactly how fast and hard you need to be riding with every pedal stroke.

Additionally, riders can sync training plans with apps like TrainingPeaks; set nutrition and hydration alerts that remind them to eat and drink at time-allotted intervals; scroll to screens that assess how your body is holding up to variations in heat and altitude; track mountain biking metrics like jump count, jump distance, and hang time; and choose from daily suggested workouts.

I found a few glitches, namely that pop-up notifications like texts transmitted from smartphones are hard to read. Also, the waterproof device’s touchscreen seemed at times hypersensitive to sweat or rain. When inundated, the drops would cause the computer to switch screens.

Wahoo offers two solid cycling computers: the $300 Elemnt Bolt, a sleek, small, aerodynamic unit designed for racing; and the larger Elemnt Roam, about the size of a pack of Marlboros, that’s designed for way-finding. The Roam had been on the market for three years when it was updated in October 2022. I've been testing this new version. 

The newest iteration of the Roam, which looks exactly like its older sibling, offers dual-frequency GPS. The oversimplified explanation: dual frequency allows the GPS unit to operate on two frequency bands instead of one. Single-frequency GPS devices offer accuracy within 15 feet. Dual-frequency GPS devices offer accuracy within centimeters. 

Where can this make a difference? Say you’re bikepacking on poorly maintained singletrack through an aspen forest in the Rockies. With single-frequency GPS, objects like towering trees can block or confuse the signal, which can create route inaccuracies, which can get you lost. That might not be a big deal in an urban setting where you can stop at the local coffee shop to ask for directions. But in the wilderness, getting off track by 15 feet might mean making a crucial error. 

With the strengthened dual signal, turn-by-turn navigation prompts for all maps of any file types—either preloaded or uploaded via apps like Strava, Komoot, or Ride with GPS—are spot-on accurate. Should you somehow make a wrong turn, there’s a rerouting feature that will quickly get you back on track. If you’re really lost, the “breadcrumb” feature navigates you back to your starting point even if the device is offline. 

Also new:  “The Summit,” color-coded gradients in the grade data field and elevation chart when riding a third-party route or Strava segment. No wonder that Forest Service mountain road seemed ruthless and endless: You can now see that it had a 13 percent grade.

I liked the Roam’s easy-to-read screen, which uses an ambient light sensor to auto-adjust the LED backlighting. Instead of a touchscreen, there are three bottom buttons that let you scroll between customized screens like the main map, nearby Strava segments to tackle, and the home dashboard. That dashboard includes miles per hour, miles ridden, clock, ride time, heart rate (when paired with a heart rate monitor), revolutions per minute (when paired with a power meter), and average miles per hour. By pushing the button on the lower right, you can zoom in or out on the dashboard, an excellent feature for aging eyes. 

Battery life is 17 hours on the newly upgraded Roam, roughly the same as on the old model. That level of stamina pales in comparison to the Garmin 1040 Solar, but the Wahoo is still a solid choice for any endeavor under that time limit. With an expanded 32 GB of memory, there’s more room to save favorite routes, detailed maps of new places, up to five structured workouts from Wahoo, as well as planned workouts from partner apps like TrainerRoad, Training Peaks, and Today’s Plan.

One of my co-testers found the included handlebar clamp too hefty, with the Roam locking into a plastic frame almost as big as the device itself. The computer is unlikely to break or slip out of position while riding, but the extended plastic bracket feels like it could snap in half in a crash.

Hammerhead was born in 2013, the brainchild of CEO Piet Morgan who, on a 3,000-mile ride across the US, realized that his cycling computer was falling woefully short of his needs. The key two factors of the company’s Karoo 2 is that its touchscreen is as intuitive as the one on a smartphone, and that the device is designed to get dirty, with features like “droplet rejection” that, when enabled by double-tapping a button, will lock the touchscreen to stop interference from mud and rain.

At 4.6 ounces (without the mounting hardware), the Karoo 2 is slightly larger and heavier than the Elmnt Roam, but it also has an impressively anti-glare 3.2-inch color screen that I found was the easiest to read of all the devices—a key feature, especially for cyclists with aging eyes. In addition to basics like speed, distance, and elevation, the Karoo 2’s graphic data fields include dynamic heart rate and power zone, upcoming and historical elevation, and electronic gearing (if the computer is connected to the appropriate sensors on your bike).

Another key element to the Karoo 2 is on-the-clock biweekly software updates that are accompanied by detailed emails explaining what each update accomplishes. For example, I got an update back in August that was an Improved Tire Pressure Sensor Configuration, which allows riders to configure front and rear wheel target pressure and target pressure range straight from the device. Some of these updates may not seem essential, but it’s good to know when new features flow in so you don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s outdated.

With 12 hours of battery life and 32 GB of storage, the device has plenty of juice for long efforts and enough room in its brain to download plenty of map data. One feature that my enduro-racing tester appreciated was that it “has all the bells and whistles of other similar devices,” like integration with Strava, “but it has a much simpler, intuitive, overall feel.” One issue he encountered: While out riding, the unit randomly reset to factory mode a few times. It could have been the result of accidentally pushing a few buttons, but a frustrating endeavor nonetheless because the day’s data was lost, and resetting the computer required a good Wi-Fi connection and additional time.

Ebikes already track your battery status, assist level, and range. But their onboard computers aren’t smart enough to route you the best way home before you burn through your battery. For cyclists riding an ebike compatible with Shimano Steps or ANT+ technology, that’s where this handy device comes in: The Explore 2 has a dedicated ebike status screen that gives smart routing and range alerts based on battery status, assist level, and your planned course.

The device, which weighs 3.7 ounces without the mounting hardware, tracks your whereabouts with GPS. It also has many of the standard features found in Garmin’s higher-end models like the 1040 Solar and 1040, including a touchscreen color display and a multitude of safety and tracking features, including live ride tracking and incident detection. It also has weather alerts, bike alarms, and compatibility with an InReach Satellite system for emergency text communications in the backcountry. Something city commuters will find handy is that the Explore 2 is compatible with Garmin’s Varia rear-facing radar, which allows cyclists to view on their screen the real-time distance of an upcoming vehicle. The computer can also control Garmin’s powerful lighting system, which can be turned on and off automatically via the GPS device if you want.

There are a few advanced features in Garmin’s higher-end models that the Edge Explore 2 does not offer: the ability to sync maps and data over Wi-Fi, support for Strava Live Segments, downloadable workout support, and some training and recovery metrics. Its battery life is also limited to 16 hours. Lastly, I found that while the device is impressive overall, its 3-inch screen was harder to read than units of comparable size.