Last night Wahoo Fitness unveiled the next edition of their bike computer – the RFLKT+ (pronounced Reflect Plus). The RFLKT+ builds upon the previous RFLKT unit that was announced about a year ago by adding in native ANT+ bridging functionality (meaning, it connects directly to your ANT+ devices). In addition they added a barometric altimeter and temperature sensor – thus allowing for elevation and climb data. However, unlike all previous products Wahoo Fitness releases, this isn’t available from their store or your local bike shop. Instead, it’s on Kickstarter. Wahoo isn’t sure whether there’s demand for such a product, so is turning to the crowd-funding site to see if there are enough buyers for an initial production run. If so, it’ll become a regular staple in their product lineup and at local bike shops.
Wahoo sent over a prototype unit about three weeks ago, and therefore I’ve been using the unit for a bit now – luckily all on plenty of recent mountain rides. So I’ve got a good feel for how things work. Eventually the unit will go back to them (including the nifty prototype sticker I saved), like all units that I test out. In the meantime, I’m able to give you some first thoughts on whether or not it’s worth the $135US (or $100 depending on how quick you are).
Unboxing:
Ok, I lied. There’s no unboxing – mostly because there was no box. Like most prototype units it came in a simple plastic bag.
Inside the plastic bag you’ll find the unit itself, and in my case, a bunch of mounts.
Note that the Barfly mount won’t normally come with it, but was included to demonstrate the quarter-turn mount.
While the unit had a bunch of mount backing plates, the one I’d be most interested in was the quarter-turn compatible mount. Also known as the Garmin Edge compatible mount. This means it works with any of the slew of 3rd party options out there on the market today, like the Barfly lineup.
It also includes a standard mounting system as well, should you want to use that instead.
Size Comparisons:
When you look at the size of the unit compared to other leading units on the market today (Edge 500, Edge 800/810), you’ll see it’s a touch bit smaller than the Edge 500. And obviously a fair bit smaller than the Edge 810. However, when it comes to screen-size, it’s actually a bit bigger than the Edge 500.
The Edge 500 is the unit it’s most likely to be compared to, and from a competitive standpoint it’s the closest match. Well, minus the lack of GPS part. But from a functional standpoint they are very similar. The areas of differentiation include more advanced features like downloading courses, workout support (i.e. predefined workouts) and virtual partner functionality. Ultimately, these are areas that I believe Wahoo will need to implement in their app (available to all their fitness products) if they really want to compete on the same field as dedicated devices. On the flip side, keep in mind the Edge 500 can’t upload workouts to online sites, nor can it talk to Bluetooth Smart devices. So there are tradeoffs to consider.
From a thickness standpoint, the unit is the thinnest of all units I know of in this market.
When you compare it to the existing RFLKT unit, cosmetically, you’ll note it’s pretty much exactly the same. The only difference being a slight change in the background pattern and the little “+” up top.
The ANT+ Bridge:
The ANT+ bridge is probably the most important feature in the RFLKT+. The bridge allows you to get ANT+ device data into your iPhone/iPod/iPad without the need for a separate Wahoo Fitness adapter, ultimately then displaying it on the RFLKT+. Previously, if you wanted that data in the Wahoo App (or corresponding ecosystems of hundreds of apps), you had to attach a little adapter to your iPhone. Unfortunately, that 30-pin adapter became more of a pain with the iPhone 5 (it worked with the Lightning adapter however). The RFLKT+ effectively takes the place of that adapter – and from a programmatic standpoint, it looks identical to it (which is good for 3rd party apps).
To find your ANT+ devices you’ll simply dive into the settings for a given sport profile (i.e. cycling, running, etc…). You can create your own sport profiles as you see fit. From there you’ll add a new sensor type and select the type of sensor. These could be ANT+ power meters, ANT+ heart rate straps, or ANT+ speed/cadence sensors.
Once you’ve done that it’ll go off and search for the sensor, ultimately returning with the ANT+ ID once found. At this point it’s paired and saved for future use.
From here on out the RFLKT+ acts as a middle-man between your ANT+ devices speaking ANT+, and your phone speaking Bluetooth Smart. It’s effectively bilingual.
Later, while riding, data from the sensor is passed seamlessly from your ANT+ power meter (for example) to RFLKT+, then relayed to the iPhone for recording before being displayed in the data fields you’ve selected on the RFLKT+. Using that example, below you can see data from the Garmin Vector being displayed below.
Or, from the ANT+ heart rate strap:
I’ll dive into all the data pages options and configuration a bit more later on.
Barometric Altimeter and Temperature Sensor:
The RFLKT+ contains an internal barometric altimeter, in conjunction with a temperature sensor. These provide the RFLKT+ with new metrics the original RFLKT didn’t have, such as: Temperature, Altitude, Grade, and Ascent.
Today in beta form, the RFLKT+ doesn’t yet have a barometric altimeter calibration procedure determined (as far as calibrating the current altitude). Wahoo is working on deciding amongst a few different options prior to implementing one for the final product. For example, they could calibrate off of GPS (like most non-phone units do today), or they could calibrate off of a known value (such as you providing data from a trail marker/sign), or via a few other methods. In the meantime, the unit reads the pressure and makes an educated stab at the current elevation. In my testing, I found it was pretty close to other units despite the lack of calibration in the beta version.
While riding, I’m able to easily see not only current elevation, but also fields like total climbing ascent and temperature. In case you’re wondering why I have it on my top tube – I had four other other Edge units I’m using for power meter collection, and this just worked easiest down there (on a simple quarter-turn rubber band mount).
And post-ride, this data is fed into your recorded files, so if you upload to the slew of different partner sites (Strava, Garmin Connect, TrainingPeaks, etc…), you’ll see the data there as well:
Note that you can also export out files in standard formats such as .FIT, .TCX, .CSV, etc…
Temperature data is also recorded, though in the beta builds this wasn’t implemented until last night. So I haven’t had a chance to test that yet, but will in the coming days.
General use:
The RFLKT+ is identical to the Wahoo RFLKT in terms of general operation. The RFLKT (and RFLKT+) both use your iPhone’s GPS for determining location, while displaying that data to you. This means you’ll need to have your phone in your jersey pocket, but the display doesn’t need to be turned on. Instead, that information is passed via Bluetooth Smart to the unit wirelessly and continuously. The unit uses a simple CR2450 coin cell battery that lasts a year of normal use. From a phone battery standpoint, Wahoo claims up to 9 hours of use feeding RFLKT+. I haven’t had to go on a 9 hour ride, but on a 3.5 hour ride last Sunday it burned through 2/3rds of my battery (GPS on, WiFi on and connected, screen off). And in that case, I actually had other data logging apps on as well burning battery – so that’s well beyond a worse-case scenario.
The unit pairs via Bluetooth Smart to your iPhone/iPod/iPad, and the iPhone ‘drives’ the initial setup experience of the device. For example, you’ll configure all of the data pages of the RFLKT+ using your iPhone. You can create separate ‘profiles’ that you can activate, each containing different pages. For example, you could create a mountain biking profile with different RFLKT settings than a road cycling profile.
Then, within each profile you can create numerous data pages (appears the limit is about 14 data pages). Data pages can have multiple data fields on them, and you can customize the look of them.
And finally, within each data page you can set the applicable data that you want to see. For example – altitude, grade, or data from your ANT+ devices.
Once the data pages configuration is complete it’ll be sent to your RFLKT+ unit the next time you connect to it. In addition, you can also configure buttons. I prefer my buttons to be configured somewhat similar to the traditional GPS bike computer I most often use, so I’ve set it up that way:
And finally, you can invert the whole screen (black and white flipped), as well as just leave the backlight as always on. Obviously, that burns your battery a bit more.
When it comes time to ride, you’ll crack open the Wahoo Fitness app. In doing so it’ll connect to the RFLKT+. As it does so it’ll send the unit your configured data pages.
Shortly after that, it’ll connect to any ANT+ (or Bluetooth Smart) devices you’ve configured:
Then you’ll just go ahead and start the workout. As I do that the display fields will start enumerating data from my sensors and my ride. The unit will use the GPS of the iPhone to provide distance (and speed), while pulling data like heart rate and power from my ANT+ heart rate strap and power meter. Note that if you connect to ANT+ speed/cadence sensors, you can specify if you want the speed data to come from the GPS, or from the sensors.
If I press a button to switch data fields, it’ll go ahead and display my altitude and climb data, as well as my temperature data. These fields are unique to the RFLKT+.
Beyond that, the unit largely works the same as the original RFLKT from an overall functionality standpoint.
Prototype Odds & Ends:
Obviously, this isn’t a finished product. It’s considered beta…err…prototype. They are still months away from a retail availability product (dependent on Kickstarter). That said, I do want to cover briefly any odds and ends I saw. Which isn’t to say that I expect a perfect product – in fact, far from it (again, it’s beta).
From a hardware standpoint I’m not seeing any issues. This makes sense. The reality is that the ANT+ chip has been in some RFLKT development units for over a year now (including an early prototype regular RFLKT unit I had). They’ve made no secrets about the fact that eventual ANT+ inclusion was down the line. The additional component here is really the barometric altimeter (which includes the temperature sensor). Beyond the internal guts – it’s really the same external case with a slightly different pattern on it.
Looking at the software side of things, I’ve seen a few oddities – many of which have already been addressed over the past few weeks in updated beta builds (of the Wahoo app, not the firmware). The real outstanding item on the list is pretty much how they’re going to handle the calibration of the barometric altimeter. Right now that isn’t complete in the software, and I can see the variation here and there (not massive, but noticeable). They’ve got a few options on the table, but they haven’t quite decided which one yet. Thus it’s possible they could choose the “wrong” one, and the barometric altimeter data could be useless. And by “wrong” choice, I mean any choice whereby the barometric altimeter data isn’t accurate. My definitions are simple that way.
From an ANT+ bridging standpoint, everything is passing the initial sniff test. I haven’t run it through a complex series of ANT+ tests to validate accuracy there (eventually, I would). Wahoo is pretty much known as one of the most detailed apps out there when it comes to correctly recording data, so I’d be surprised if that was hosed up. Especially given the programmatic side of it uses the same calls that the previous Wahoo iPhone Adapter used – so nothing has changed on that end.
Again, I’m sure there are bugs I’ve not yet encountered – but I’m not seeing any reason at this point to stay away because of outstanding beta items.
How Kickstarter Works:
Kickstarter (or crowd funding sites in general) allows one to ‘back’ a project in an effort to get enough funding for the project to bring it to market. It’s just like signing a fundraising pledge form to buy Boy Scout popcorn…except you pay in advance.
In most cases (for hardware projects anyways), these are startup companies looking to break onto the scene with a new product idea from a generally unheard of company. In order for a project to get fully realized enough backers have to pledge money to meet whatever threshold the project specifies (in this case – $100K). As a backer, you only pay if the funding level is met. If it’s not met by the funding deadline, you’re money is refunded.
In the case of Wahoo and the RFLKT+, this are a bit different than what I usually see on Kickstarter. First, they’re an established company. Second, they’re essentially pitching a modification of an existing product. Third, they’re open about the fact that they’re looking to see if there’s enough interest to offer it.
When I look at Kickstarter (and similar) projects every week in my ‘Week in Review’ post, I caution rather heavily that the Kickstarter motto is “Be late and under-deliver”. Thus far, all technology projects I’ve backed have fallen into that camp. Will the RFLKT+ be the first to avoid it? Well, on timelines I think things are a bit tight – though I do think they could make it. On the ‘under-deliver’ part, I’m not seeing any issues there. Functionally speaking almost everything in the unit today is working for me.
My general policy is that unless a Kickstarter project sends me a functioning unit to test with, you’re relegated to the Week in Review post. Obviously, in this case, Wahoo was able to send over a fully functional prototype unit that I’ve been using for a few weeks now – so that plays out well for them in that if I’m not seeing any major issues, it’s definitely a more real product than most Kickstarter devices.
Summary:
Overall, the unit works pretty much as expected. With the addition of the elevation data and dongle-free ANT+ connectivity, the RFLKT experience has moved much closer to where I think it needs to be to be truly competitive. And at the end of the day, almost all of us are taking cell phones with us on most training rides (races are a different problem), so for the $100 that this costs, it’s a pretty solid deal for what it delivers.
Note that the unit does require that you have an iPhone 4s or higher (must have Bluetooth Smart in it), or, an iPod with Bluetooth Smart. You can connect to a 3rd generation or higher iPad as well – I just suspect you won’t want to take that in your back jersey pocket. On the Android side, they are working on support for that – but it won’t come immediately. So if Android is in your pocket, your best to wait (and e-mail them about adding you to their Android beta).
There are no doubt areas and directions I’d like to see a future RFLKT (+ or otherwise) go in. But some of those ideas would likely mean moving away from the coin cell battery that powers the unit. Today you only have to swap out that $3 battery once a year, whereas moving it closer to a traditional GPS bike computer would likely mean recharging. Outside of the physical design, I’m optimistic that the Wahoo team can focus engineering efforts on the software platform around their devices, specifically on adding features that make it competitive with other more fully rounded GPS units (i.e. workouts, courses, etc…).
As for whether I would back the RFLKT+ on Kickstarter – that answer is pretty easy. I already did it yesterday. I think it’s a product that has a clear market and at a good price.
FOUND THIS POST USEFUL? SUPPORT THE SITE!
Hopefully, you found this post useful. The website is really a labor of love, so please consider becoming a DC RAINMAKER Supporter. This gets you an ad-free experience, and access to our (mostly) bi-monthly behind-the-scenes video series of “Shed Talkin’”.
Support DCRainMaker - Shop on Amazon
Otherwise, perhaps consider using the below link if shopping on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot. It could simply be buying toilet paper, or this pizza oven we use and love.
Do you know if they have any plans for an Android API?
Maybe re-read the article, 3rd last paragraph.
The beta on the facebook page is referring to an Android beta for your App. That is very different from an Android API so I could make my app (IpBike) pick up your bridged ANT+ data or drive the display myself. Of course if you do things correctly then your App will go though your API for both these functions but it’s not clear that is what you are doing or that you will make the any API public. From your IPhone products I expect you to do the right thing.
I don’t know what genius decided to start with iOS and has been sitting on a no-Android product package for so long, but there are 6 times as many potential customers on Android.
Not really. That’s a bit of a twisted reality. That number includes budget handsets in the middle of China which would never be a target audience for a product like this.
As an interesting stat, for mobile readers of DCR (which is basically Wahoo’s target audience to a ‘t’), the ratio of iOS to Android is 10:1.
In response to Nick. iOS customers are also far more liable to pay over the odds. So if your out to sell something you can look at considerably better margins. Look at the pricing for HR sensors, BTLE ones are considerably more expensive than ANT+ ones. Technically I don’t know of any reason for the difference.
I’m not sure where you’re getting your HR monitors Ifor, but I can get much cheaper BLE ones.
Unbranded ones from China available in places like AliExpress are especially cheap.
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the great review. I think Wahoo has a great product here. I will definitely back it up even if they don’t have a working Android app yet (I will sign up for the Beta as well).
Andre
So since they are now producing a device that is an ant+ bridge, should I expect the fitness app to be fully functional with my Viiiiva HR monitor ?
No it doesn’t, Different bridging methods. We do have plans to support other methods, just not sure when.
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the detailed write up as always!! Quick question, Can the RFLKT+ gather data from a combination of ANT+ and Bluetooth devices. What if you have a Wahoo Blue HR or a Wahoo Blue Speed and Cadence sensor?
Thanks
All the data collection and recording is done on the iPhone, RFLKT+ has 3 functions:
1. Receive ANT+ signals and retransmit over Bluetooth Smart.
2. Transmit Altimeter and Temperature data over Bluetooth Smart.
3. Behave as a 2nd display for the iPhone.
You can connect any combination of ANT+ and Bluetooth sensors to your phone, the phone then retransmits this data to the RFLKT+ display.
I personally use RFLKT+, BlueHR, BlueSC and a ANT+ Powertap.
I am an owner of the original RFLKT and would like to upgrade to the RFLKT+, does Wahoo offer some sort of a trade in program if I back the kickstarter project?
No trade in program but if you back the Kickstart project you get the RFLKT+ at a great price.
What does this do to the battery life on the iPhone? Assuming the iPhone 4s is fully charged when you start your ride, how long can you ride b/f the iPhone battery is drained – say down to 30%?
This is a bit of a complex question, at least for me, since so many other aspects impact that. For example, on my Sunday ride I had the RFLKT running – but I also had another GPS/WiFi data logger running for power meters testing on my phone. With all that running, I dropped by roughly 2/3rds over the course of a 3.5hr ride (iPhone 4s). But I think that’s much lower than normal. Wahoo is saying closer to 9hrs – likely when you don’t have other battery-heavy stuff running.
Great to see – I pulled the trigger on this last night as soon as I saw it – $125 for even a basic RFLKT shipped to the UK is pretty good. Still on an iPhone 4S using the Wahoo ANT+ case but an upgrade is due soon so the BLE bridge should offer a good way to keep using my ANT+ sensors.
This is a near-perfect product for me as my new bike will have Trek’s SpeedTrap which is ANT+ and I could use Trek’s cadence sensor. BT for heart rate and I am good to go.
Now Wahoo just needs to deliver a BTLE foot sensor for running.
How did this work for you? Did you have to get the + model for it to work with bontrager?
I’m liking what I’m reading and want to go this route.
Thanks
Is there anyway that the RFLKT+ unit can replace the Wahoo key to calibrate a Quarq crank using Qalvin?
Not out of the box, but Quarq could update their code to understand the RFLKT.
Is there a “stand alone” race day configuration for situations where phones are not allowed? More specifically, can the RFLKT+ be used to display cadence and power information from my ANT+ power meter without an iPhone?
No, it has to route to the iPhone as there’s no processing/recording capability on the RFLKT itself.
It’s too bad that the RFLKT+ can’t act as a stand-alone ANT+ display device. In this regard, it’s less useful than the $99 CycleOps Joule. I really want the option to just get on my bike and not mess with my phone or apps if I don’t want to, and still have a working display. Of the two, I think I’m better off with the Joule.
Regarding “phones not allowed in races”, I posed this question specifically to USACycling officials at InterBike two years ago; Is a phone permitted on the rider or bike if its being used for data transmission, not telephonic communication (i.e. talking on it), and they said yea, no problem. Subsequently our app has been used to transmit live telemetry from riders in the Tour of California and other events. In a race situation, you might just want to put the phone in a sturdy case for crash protection.
Technically speaking, phones doing tracking aren’t permitted for USAT (triathlon) races. I asked this as part of my Edge 510 and Edge 810 reviews, and got back some pretty detailed answers from the USAT Head official (included in those reviews).
Even as a RFLKT MK I owner I think this is worth backing (and have).
Good news on the Android beta too – with 4.3 now including support for BT 4 it must be a no-brainer. The platform is crying out for some of these top quality, device compatible apps.
Make an arm wrist band to wear it like a clock!
You can do that with the $10 FR310XT/910XT quick release kit. And since the Wahoo app allows you to specify Pace, it works just fine.
Because it uses the same mount orientation as the Edge computers, and not the Forerunner watches, using the RFLKT+ on the FR310XT/910XT quick-release wrist strap, it will be 90 degrees off on your wrist, or “sideways”, to what you would expect it to be.
I had the same idea some while ago when the Rflkt came out, but found it to bulky to wear it on my wrist. And the orientation is wrong.
So I baked the Kreyos, cause I think that will do the same trick. For Ant+ bridge I have the 4iiii Viiiiva.
You could also wait for the Magellan Echo.
That’s pretty disappointing news. Are there any other quick release strap that will allow the RFLKT+ to be used in the correct/ideal orientation?
Hi,
Does the rflkt+ clip on parallel with your arm if you but this watch clip on? So not overhanging your arm vertically?
Just wanted to check it’s practical to wear it like this when running
Thanks
Thanks for the information, looks like a fair offer from Wahoo.
I’m currently using the Wahoo ANT+ key in combination with the iPhone 4S (in the back pocket for live timing including HR, cadence from the ANT+ sensors). A Garmin Edge 705 is my headunit on the bike. Old yes, but still very much functional.
$125,- (incl. shipment to Netherlands) is a good offer, especially because it means I won’t need the key anymore and as a bonus also get a temperature sensor (which the 705 lacks).
The one thing which keeps me back from dropping the 705 as headunit is the fact that I’m reguarly following a pre-mapped course (using BikeRouteToaster). This is where the mapping feature of the 705 has its value and the RFLKT+ obviously won’t help here.
This looks really solid: they may have nailed a small niche in the head unit market (one which exists only because GPS is relatively expensive).
Q: Can it record multiple power meters, like WASP? If so that would be useful for tandems, who finally have a solid power meter option in Vector.
It’s really up to the App to support it. RFLKT+ technically can support multiple power meters but I am not aware of any apps that support multiple Power meters. A few apps support Multiple HR.
The RFLKT can display the weather, but how does it respond “TO” weather? Can I ride in the rain with it?
It’s IPX7, so yes, you can ride with it in the rain.
And I can validate that. A lot of rainy rides. In fact, most of the photos you see up there are shot in the rain – just wiped off, but the roads are dark and wet.
Awesome. Thank you.
Excellent review Ray Although I’m more of a runner rather than a cyclist I am getting the itch to get a more sophisticated bike computer. I’m Android person though so I gotta wait… 🙂
Train Healthy Be Wealthy
I’ve been an owner of the RFLKT since the day it was released. It’s a great product, however, even with the first version, I still end up wasting so much time just dealing with the cutting edge-ness of it all. There are some rides where I’m delayed up to 15 minutes just trying to get everything to connect and work. I’m never sure if it’s a hardware issue, a battery issue, or a software issue … with the device, the app, or the iPhone itself. Lately, I’ve been having to reset the RFLKT multiple times during a ride to get it to re-connect with my phone, usually at the most inconvenient times, like when I’m trying to get a Strava KOM. 🙂
As much as I’m really excited about the upcoming barometric altimeter and thermometer (I could care less about ANT+ since all my accessories are Bluetooth), I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about just switching to an alternative device like the Garmin, especially when I just want to get out there and ride. I just need something that consistently works, all the time. I’m a “tech guy” and sometimes almost can’t imagine “mere mortals” trying to use the RFLKT some days with all the little idiosyncrasies.
Am I alone here? Are there certain things that will be done different to solve these issues in the RFLKT+?
This is a really important subject which I fear is too often overlooked. The majority of my rides I’m in a hurry: to catch a train, to squeeze in a ride @ lunch before my meeting, to make a group ride, or at an event because I have other stuff competing for my attention. Every extra button push is detrimental to me using an app or accessory. Strava app, for example, started coming up in a dashboard mode with version 2, requiring me to select “record a ride” and then start, while earlier it came up in the record mode. This little change has made it significantly less useful to me, as I typically used the app for commute rides where I’m always in a rush. Hopefully Wahoo got the kinks ironed out with this version.
I haven’t seen any issues with multiple reconnects on the latest build. I saw some earlier, but not in the last week.
From my standpoint – once configured the first time it’s just as quick as a Garmin. My phone is already on, and gets its GPS fix in a second or three. The BT pairing takes a few seconds, but no less time than it takes to press the workout button on the Wahoo App. So if you were to go from Garmin off (and RFLKT off, but phone on) to pedaling, I’d guess the RFLKT would just barely edge out the Garmin by a few seconds (looking at a recent model Edge).
@Boyd you are not alone. I love the concept of the RFLKT and when it works consistently it is a joy. My most recent debacle involved it draining down the battery because it did not shut itself off as promised from the latest firmware update. Consequently I discovered this on the morning of a big ride and had to stare at a blank unit for a few hours. Can you imagine that might have contributed to my general sense of irritation when raging on an 11% climb?
I believe I have an extraordinary willingness to tinker and a tolerance for inoperable or difficult technology. I’ve spent too much time trying to get the RFLKT to pair consistently with the iPhone 5. My recommendation to Wahoo engineers is to spend any available time on making these systems easier and more reliable. And yes, I recognize we’ll all be clamoring for additional features at the same time. But, hey, I’m not the one building an consumer enthusiast’s electronic product. Good luck!
@Rainmaker, glad to hear that you haven’t had connection issues with the latest stuff. However, just as a note, I would gladly spare a few extra seconds to connect at the beginning of each ride if it meant that the connection would actually work near 100% of the time. Since I’ve never owned a Garmin device, I don’t know if it suffers from the same issue, but if it connects with all the accessory devices in only a few seconds more at the beginning of a ride and does it 100% and stays connected … that should be THE goal.
The RFLKT’s latest firmware update has made this situation even worse. It used to be that I could squeeze and reset after about 5 seconds and it would automatically turn back on and reconnect. After applying the latest firmware update, I have to squeeze for around 10 seconds … and instead of resetting, it powers off. So … I have to wait for a few more seconds and then press another button to get the RFLKT to turn back on and reconnect. Quite scary during a screaming canyon descent (doh!).
I’m excited for the proposed progress. I just hope, like bsteacy mentioned, that the Wahoo engineers will consider adding in more fault tolerance logic. A solid, reliable connection is king! 🙂
I have had similar problems with the RFLKT freezing so that I have to reset it to get going again. When I spoke with Wahoo about this they suggested that the BT signal can get blocked by my body. So I started putting the phone in right back pocket with RFLKT mounted to the right of the stem. No more freezing up.
@tim, I carry my iPhone in my back right jersey pocket as well. It didn’t used to be a problem, but seems to be happening a lot more. I’m going to check the battery percentage on the RFLKT tonight to see if I can rule that out as what’s going on.
Same here. Bought RFLCT first day it was offered. When it works great, it’s awesome. Seems like every other app / firmware “upgrade” the thing goes buggy and my rides don’t work quite right. In fact, today am on vacation w my brother, we did a 27 mile ride, and I made the mistake of “upgrading” the app this am right before the ride.
The unit froze at 12.x miles, and had me at 10.3 mph. My brother has a low tech old school cateye computer that recorded us at 27 miles and 16.4 mph. I was embarassed to post my “short” ride to strava today, not to mention the fussing on the ride trying to figure it out.
Oh, and I had been boasting to my bro that he needed to get into the modern age and ditch his cateye. He laughed at me after the ride.
I am using rflkt with cyclemeter. Never had connection issues. Did 7 hours ride and came with 40% battery. Just closed all others apps and lte.
Hey Everyone,
We have had a few issues with data updates freezing over the past few releases, I think the latest firmware and Wahoo Fitness app is a nearly perfect combo and should fix any remaining issues.
The RFLKT and RFLKT+ puts high demand in a uncertain wireless world. I have worked hard over the last 6 months getting the RFLKT as stable as possible but over that time it required me to rethink and design some of the communications, thus each release has had some teething problems.
Give the latest release a go, keep the iPhone in your back side pocket and drop us a line at support if you keep having any issues, give lots of details of your issue and normally you will just get forwarded directly to me.
We are 100% commit to RFLKT and want to make the experience simple and clean.
Thanks
Just wanted to give an update. Unfortunately, my theory about not moving to any other screen didn’t hold up on this morning’s ride. About half-way up my climb, I had to go through the reset process (after having never switched to a new page).
Hi everyone, I just wanted to follow-up to my original comments. I updated to iOS 7 early (developer access) and had a beta version of Cyclemeter which incorportates Wahoo Fitness’ latest RFLKT SDK. Since updating to that, I’ve had ZERO problems connecting or resetting mid-ride. I’ve gone on at least 8 different rides of varying lengths now with NO PROBLEMS! (YAY!!!!)
The new Cyclemeter app with the updated SDK is also available to everyone on the App Store now. Wahoo Fitness obviously has the right direction and has drastically improved connectivity, so kudos! So yeah, I’m on board for getting a RFLKT+ when it releases (congrats on the Kickstarter project funding).
Confused….at some point I remember a discussion about Bluetooth being only one to one pairing. Clearly this is incorrect if Wahoo Murray is using both blue HR and blue SC….where did I get lost?
The Blue HR/Blue SC pairs directly to the iPhone in a 1:1 configuration. The data is then funneled over a separate Bluetooth channel to the RFLKT. Think of the RFLKT as another sensor in this case (because technically it is).
Imagine a daisy flower. Each center can connect to multiple petals simultaneously, but each petal can connect to only one center at a time. Your phone is a center; the heart-rate sensor and the stride sensor are each petals.
This is a great product. Any idea if wahoo will release just a bluetooth/ant+ bridge? I’m holding off on buying the dongle as the adapter makes it stupid big and I’d hate for a lightning dongle to come out after I bought the other one.
You could take a look at the look at the In-Dept review Ray did on the 4iiii’s Viiiiva ANT+ to Bluetooth Bridge. This is doing just what you want (and the size of a Heart Rate sender)
(link to dcrainmaker.com)
yeah that’s a good point. i just wish wahoo made the dongle with a lightning adapter. or if they just had the bridge solo. but i guess an extra $20 for the 4iiii isn’t a bad deal over the wahoo fitness key.
We don’t believe we have a big enough market to build a standalone unit. We think most people that will want to use a bridge will be ANT+ power meter owners and RFLKT+ is a perfect solution for that.
We don’t see someone spending $70+ on a ANT+ bridge for a $60 ANT+ HR monitor, you would just be better to buy a new BlueHR. Even if you have a ANT+ HR and SC, its still cheaper just to replaces the sensors.
Not saying we won’t have a solution, but at this stage with think the market requirement is very small.
Okay… things get more and more complicated. I’m a runner primarily and have added cycling as mainly a cross-training sport this year. I expect just a couple of months of serious training and one or two metric century or full century rides each year.
Currently I have a Wahoo Bike case for my iPhone 4S working with ANT+ speed/cadence sensor (Bontraeger) and ANT+ HR strap (Garmin), but with a planned move to the iPhone 5 (or 5S) later this year, was looking toward the future.
I purchased a RFLKT back in July as a planned future display when I get the new phone and have used it on several rides, but the ANT+ to BTLE bridging was what has been holding me back. I had planned on the 4iiii Viiiiva as my bridge, but this RFLKT+ now has me up in the air again.
The “killer app” feature that is supposedly “coming soon” according to the Viiiiva in depth review is to use the ANT+ bridge to download from the Garmin 610 watch to an app on the iPhone. Being PC-free for workout downloads has been one of my favorite features of the Wahoo ANT+ radio for iOS.
Any idea if that sort of ANT+ download functionality is going to be available via the RFLKT+?
If so, then I still may be interested even at the ~$50 price premium over the viiiiva – since this would add temperature and barometric altitude to my data being gathered.
Wow… just when I think I know what I’m going to do next, there comes along another product to make the decision even harder.
Indeed the PC free upload from my 910xt would have me trading in my current RFLKT in a heart beat!
Any word on this Ray, Murray?? if at a programming level the phone sees this as a wahoo dongle surly it can do the upload as the dongle dos at present?!?!
Sure i’ll buy it anyway hard to resist anything with Wahoo on it 😉
I just tried having it pull history from a Garmin watch. No dice. But not an error message either. It seems to initialize the ANT+ stack, but doesn’t find anything (either a FR610 or FR60 that always works). So, it doesn’t give an error that a Wahoo Key isn’t inserted (which is what happens if you turn it off). But it doesn’t quite appear to do pairing.
I’ll let Wahoo comment if that’s just a beta oversight.
It doesn’t currently work and actually would take a lot of engineering to get it to work due to the communication protocol used by the watches. We have an advantage due to the design of our bridge, but I can’t see us adding it any time soon.
So the answer today is No, it wont support Garmin Watch transfer. Sorry to disappoint.
Any chance this could be used to display power from the Kinetic In-Ride trainer “power meter” along with cadence and hr captured from ANT+ sensors?
The Wahoo app would also need to be able to record the cadence from the ANT+ sensor instead of In-Ride’s calculated cadence for later uploading. If these are possible, I’m in!
It should work just fine. The reason being the inRide app is really just the Wahoo App with a different skin. ;). And since the Kinetic inRide uses a BLE Power Meter Profile, it should work. Wahoo Murray is free to correct me however.
Yeah no problems at all. Capture power for the inRide and Cadence from a ANT+ sensor via RFLKT+. You could also choose speed from either sensor.
Is there any reason why the RFLKT+ bridge feature wouldn’t allow ant+ sensors to work with the tomtom multisport? You’d effectively be rendering all other RFLKT functionality useless if you did so? Will it function like that?
No, it doesn’t support (today anyway) going the other way (BLE to ANT+).
Would really like to see the quarter turn mount made available for the current RFLKT
It is. You just e-mail them and they’ll send out the backing plate to you. They announced it on Twitter/Facebook a while back.
Hey wahoo Murray– how about you email current users about this kind of thing? I don’t follow you on fb or twitter. I’m a loyal wahoo-er and would appreciate a heads up! (Not to mention: an email about the kick starter /$100 deal would have been nice too for your best customers!)
Hi Ken,
Sorry about that, not really sure how our mailing list works with customers that buy through our website. I will follow up with the marketing and sales team.
We announce and communicate a lot over social media, it allows us to post things as they become available without spamming peoples emails. Might be a good idea to follow us on at least one of them.
Thanks
Opinion… Don’t have any experience w/ RFLKT as I don’t own any iDevices, but have thought a bit about this kind of device and about using a smartphone as a cycle computer in general. Have done some comparisons using my Samsung GS3 (w/ external ANT+ receiver & IPBike app) vs. Edge 800. I was all excited this year to use my phone as a cycle computer as my old Cateye bit the dust. But then came along the excellent EOL rebate on the Edge 800 (thank you DCR for making us aware of it + relationship w/ Clever). It’s a complex set of tradeoffs when talking about a smartphone doing bike functions vs. a dedicated unit and at some point I’d like to write an article which explores the issues.
My testing… From a data accuracy standpoint the GS3 absolutely blows away the Edge 800. I’ve mapped GPS tracks on a dense overcast day on a rail trail with extreme tree cover. The GS3 was absolutely spot-on only occasionally phased by the poor conditions by a very small amount. The Edge 800 mapped all over the place while reporting an accuracy level 2 to 5x worse than the GS3. The ride was a round trip over the course of an hour or so with the GS3’s internal barometric altimeter coming back within 3ft of it’s starting altitude. The Edge 800 which also has a built-in altimeter was 38ft off. Other side-by-side comparison rides have duplicated the overall trend with the Edge 800 often performing even worse. The GS3 has an awesome GPS/GLONASS and altimeter. A couple months later, which do I use on a daily basis… the Edge 800. As a smartphone junkie of the other religion I couldn’t believe I’d say this, but there are other considerations besides accuracy and the convenience of having everything in one device. Not having the need nor desire to have “fans” track me, nor the real time need to upload data to a remote coach my needs are different than a performance-racing cyclist where real time data connection might be an advantage. I’ve been coming to the realization that just because a smartphone can be purposed in a vast number of ways doesn’t always make it the best option. FWIW, in this case the GS3 has a built-in altimeter whereas the iPhone 4s/5 doesn’t. If the 5s/6 gets one, does that change the value proposition of the RFLKT+? I like Wahoo as the KICKR is just awesome and look forward to testing any Android releases which might come out, but reserve judgement on a “bridge” sort of product like the RFLKT/RFLKT+ given its prerequisites (i.e. the right type of phone with enough battery charge available) at a price within striking distance to excellent standalone GPS cycle computers (e.g. Joule GPS, Edge 800, O_Synce…) and maybe even more expensive than a very basic GPS unit like the Cateye CC-GL50. I just don’t get the value proposition at $150+.
Please see Rule #27 – Ankle socks are suitable only for female tennis players.
To each their own! 🙂 I love ankle socks for riding, especially mountain biking. Keeps all the dirt out of my socks!
Dear Wahoo Murray – how about all non US-citizens who want to pledge this interesting Kickstarter project.
(I understand that Amazon Payments does not support non-US recipients and their bank-accounts.)
In The Netherlands, Belgium, Danmark, France, Germany etc. are lots of bike enthusiastics. Thanks.
Well it took my funding from a UK account just fine!
I didn’t know that. I checked on amazon.uk and amazon.com: Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Spain United Kingdom United States. No other countries are mentioned, such as The Netherlands, Belgium, Danmark, Luxemburg, Swiss, etc. with lots of bike enthusiastic. Thanks.
Anyone in the world can pledge to Kickstarter projects. I am in Australia and throw my money at them all the time.
The restriction you are talking about is hosting a project, to post a project on Kickstarter you must be in the USA.
Okee, so a credit card is needed to pledge a Kickstarter project. (Who has no credit card?)
But if a pledge is canceled (e.q. project failure, a refund etc) and you have no US bank account (or perhaps a UK bank account …) an Amazon Payments account is impossible to withdraw. Nice.
The only way I have been able to get a consistent connection between RFLKT and iPhone5 is to carry the phone very close to the RFLKT by means of a top tube “Bento Box”. I thought the latest firmware had solved this problem, but it resurfaced.
I have lost track of the number of times I have had to “reset” the heart rate strap by removing the battery and discharging the unit. Both my Polar H7 and my Wahoo BlueHR heart rate sensors have made trips back to their manufacturers for service. Also, some apps display a “till death do us part” reluctance to disconnect from the heart rate sensor. I have been forced to delete the app in order to free the sensor for use with another app. Power cycling the phone did nothing.
RFLKT is not a set and forget solution.
Have you tried to use the devise to bridge with the Tanita BC100 scale or another Ant+ scale?
I’m not aware of any today. Apps might be able to do that, but Murray would have to comment for sure if an app could do it (Wahoo doesn’t).
Ray/Murray –
How will RFLKT+ work with Strava? This is assuming no native support in Strava which I’m a little surprised hasn’t happened yet. Any inside info on why? 🙂
My scenario is:
iPhone 5
Wahoo ANT+ Speed/Cadence Sensor
Wahoo ANT+ Heart Rate Monitor
Wahoo Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor
Is it possible to configure it so:
RFLKT+ shows Wahoo Speed/Cadence and Heart Rate.
RFLKT+ shows distance and time from the Speed/Cadence.
Strava uses just the Heart Rate monitor (which one should I use?)
Do I need to run both Wahoo and Strava apps at the same time? Does that work ok?
Thanks!
Bruce
You could upload to Strava. No need to run both apos
Yeah, but I prefer using the Strava app over the Wahoo app when going on rides.
Yes, Wahoo Fitness and Strava can run in parallel, and each can access your BLE sensors. (Yes, both can get your heart rate and speed/cadence/power.) WF would drive the RFLKT. You just need to manage from which of these apps you use to upload to Strava, but you can decide that after the ride.
There’s some fragility in all of this crud, though. For example, auto pause can sometimes get triggered if the speed/cadence sensor gets knocked out of alignment. Even though the GPS, power meter and HRM are going strong — the data stops being collected. And if I have a rest that’s too long, my Stages power meter decides to shut down — and I have to stop one ride and start another to get power data again. I chalk it all up to the wild and wooly nature of trying to integrate things from several different companies… I’m sure I’d be better off just using a Garmin or something, but this is a lot more fun.
Thanks for the nice preview, as I have both HR and SC sensors (though they are from other brands) and my Polar CS200 starts to let it’s spirits less than after 12 month of use, I’m thinking if I have to get RFLKT( or RFLKT+), however I saw negative feedbacks on reliability- frozen screen, lost data, low visibility-hard to read screen.
Have you encountered any problems like these? Is it worth to buy RFLKT or just pat again and get Garmin 510 as set and forget- no disappointment with lost records?
Also, seems that kickstarter projects will not have enough money to starts ( I was too late for 100$ backers, and will not pay for socks etc.) so most likely we will not see RFLKT+ in near future.
1. You lose nothing if rflkt freezes.
2. I use all sensors. Never got any problem.
3. Used rflkt under rain/ sun. Again no problem.
4. I don’t use wahoo app – cyclemeter is perfect
Well, I meant when RFLKT freezes, I can not see my progress anymore, who cares what is in a pocket? In that case I probably have to stop and reconnect?
What about the screen readability? It does not look as sharp as Garmin/Polar
I can’t compare with garmin. For me rflkt is fine. But I couldn’t use wahoo app, I find cyclemeter worked much better and always working
I will try Cyclemeter, however still consider if Inhave to wait for newer RFLKTD iteration or just get existing model
Oleg, new model is not going to be ready for long time. I like rflkt now and very happy how it work. My iPhone battery on 100 miles ride was only 60% down.
Shlomo, thanks for reply
Just don’t want to buy “old” model when new is almost announced. Also altimeter will nice addition to my training.
Can you check with Cyclemeter what is on RFLKT screen when you run intervals (can you see how much to go current interval and which HR zone you are?) or when you go “race” against yourself or somebody else.
Also, can not find if Cyclemeter supports auto pause/start function with CS sensor?
Thank you
Oleg,yes, you could create a screen with any info, very easy. Laps, competitions etc. You could pause RIDE. I think in cyclemeter much more option to be shown on rflkt.You could see elevation, grade, direction
Does anyone know the rate the Wahoo app records ANT+ data? Will it record every ANT+ packet sent over the air?
We have 100% lossless data. Our database stores the raw accumulative values sent over ANT+. This is different to most head units that take samples at a given frequency.
When we export, we normalise the data over a 1 second sample rate, this method is particularly important when looking at power data as sampling instant power can give very different values.
Murray-
It’s fantastic you record the actual data stream. What is the reason for downsampling it when you upload? Is there any way to get to that data?
Mostly because most websites don’t handle non-normalized data. Most sites require all data streams to be on the same timescale.
The advantage of normalising it on export is that we don’t loose any of the data/energy. Although it can cause different Min/Max values.
You can get the raw data in the WF file export and a few sites are starting to support multiple data time series now (Strava for example) and hopefully we will add support for this in the future.
Murray
Where/how do you to the WF file export for a device such as the TickrX?
Does the RFLKT get notifications for text messages or phone calls? Would like to see those in the screen to know when my wife is trying to get a hold of me on a ride…
I will soon be adding notification of incoming call, but due to hardware and software limitations we cannot do caller ID or message notifications.
Incoming call notifications would make me interested in this product. But caller ID would be really useful. I’d like to know if work are calling me out as I cycle home.
Wahoo Murray
I think you need to add possibility to enter wheel circumference manually when pairing SC sensor, as one of the presets i.e. 700×23 – 2.096 is not same when I measure wheel on my bike.
with the rflkt+, is it possible to ditch my Garmin 800? out of 20 rides, i use a preplanned course on occasion to get to a specific location. i suppose i can use the Garmin 800 for that instance. has anyone gone from a Garmin 800/500 to a rflkt?
No, there’s no mapping functionality on it, nor any sort of routing functionality in the Wahoo Apps. I see that as the biggest single gap between the RFLKT units and standard GPS bike computers today (i.e. Edge 500/800/etc…).
thx Ray. although that may change in the near future. with the new iPhones with added M7 chip for fitness/motion…that can open up other doors for developers.
keep up the great reviews! much appreciated on very comprehensive details.
Ray,
I didn’t see mention of the Cyclemeter app in this review. In the RFLKT review, you said it was superior to the Wahoo Fitness one. Has the Wahoo app caught up? Does Cyclemeter work with Training Peaks? With RFLKT+? What are the best ios 7 cycling apps to consider that work with Training Peaks and RFLKT+?
Thanks.
Since writing that a year ago Wahoo has added all the same customization and data fields to their app. So I generally just use the Wahoo app. I prefer it because I know it’s stable, has really good data fidelity (for power meter testing for example), and exports out to everything on the planet (i.e. Training Peaks, e-mail files, etc…). And it’s free.
In previous videos one could observe a time lag between the display of measurements on the iPhone and on the RFLKT, ie heart rate or time was delayed by proximately 1s. How is this time lag with regard to ANT+ power data on the the RFLKT+? One could assume it is more than 1s since data goes from Power Meter -> RFLKT -> iPhone -> RFLKT. In contrast, using a native head unit such as the GARMIN 810 or SRM PC7 it is straight from PowerMeter -> GARMIN / PC7. Any clues? Thanks!
Hi Hannes,
Correct, its about a 1 second delay from the iPhone to RFLKT (normally a little less)
The round trip.. Sensor->RFLKT->iPhone-RFLKT adds a little more delay.
It should be noted that a regular head unit (Garmin etc) and even different power meters have their own delays from the actual data reading, so its never actually real-time.
During my testing, side by side comparisons with a Garmin 810 unit i noted about 1.5 delay in data between the units.
Hope that help.
Murray
Ive missed out on backing the unit on kickstart. When might the RFLKT+ be available online via Wahoo or other online outlets like Clever Training? I think its worth waiting for the + unit rather than getting the original unit.
Maybe Wahoo Murray can chime in.
+1
I am ready to buy the RFLKT, but would like to wait for the RFLKT+. How long am I going to have to wait?
I’ll defer to Wahoo foks (who watch these threads), for an official answer. But I’d guess late October/Early November.
Ray is right, should be the end of October. We will let everyone know via FB/Twitter/Ray once we know they are on the way to the warehouse.
Thanks
Ray or Murray,
I’ve been running the Wahoo Fitness and Cyclemeter apps to get a feel for them while anxiously awaiting for my RFLKT+ to come in October. Over several 30 to 50 mile rides I’ve done, they show different distances, as much as a mile different in fact. I’m starting and stopping them at the same place in my driveway. The Cyclemeter is typically pretty close to the distance that shows up on my basic Cateye (not that I know that the Cateye is accurate) and the Wahoo Fitness app consistently shows I’ve gone further than the Cyclemeter or Cateye. How is it that the Cyclemeter and Wahoo apps could show different distances if they are both reading GPS? Is there a way to calibrate either app? Will running the speed/cadence Wahoo sensors on bike (when I get them as part of my Kickstarter package) be more accurate than the GPS?
Thanks.
Hi Steve,
Each app is going to use different GPS filtering. I can’t speak for Cyclemeter, but we don’t really do any filtering for cycling, so our data is basically direct from the iPhone, Apple does do some filtering before sending it to the app.
A mile seems a lot, but you will find many apps and websites will report the distance a little different. Each site has their own way to filter the GPS data.
Speed and Cadence sensors are great as they bring consistency to the table, the accuracy can depend on setting the correct wheel size but these sensors are very consistent.
I missed out on the Kickstarter offer so need to decide whether to wait or buy the original.
I had considered the 4iiii Hr strap to get my Quarq to talk to my iPhone, both for recording and calibration, and I also have a Garmin Ant+ Hr Strap an an Ant+ cadence sensor on my Computrainer and Ant+ speed sensor on my Cervello.
Will the RFLKT+ take the place of the 4iiii for calibration of the Quarq or will I need just the RFLKT original and the 4iiii?
Is there an update on when the RFLKT+ will be available from Wahoo for non Kickstarter customers?
In some photos the RFLKT+ case looks slightly blue. Is this just the photo or is it really blue in colour?
As always, many thanks for the great reviews, Ray.
The front of the case is indeed Blue, the backing of the case is black.
Any update on the availability of the RFLKT+? I love the Wahoo products (I have the SC & RFLKT) and apps. After reading these great reviews I want to pick up the KICKR and RFLKT+. Unfortunately Amazon has neither and we all know the Clever history. Too bad I didn’t discover this website a month ago because the Kickstarter deals would have been perfect for me.
I am in Atlanta but can’t find a store here that carries the KICKR. I ride a Trek and the DuoTrap makes it difficult to mount the SC. The RFLKT+ solves this problem. Also using the Mio Alpha which works great with the Wahoo apps. Bontrager has not announced plans to support BT 4.0. I would be happy to come by the ATL office and pick them up.
They had specified in their latest Kickstarter update a couple weeks ago that the first run of units should ship to users on October 31st: link to kickstarter.com
I would expect that once that occurs and all units have been shipped, they’ll start retailing them on their site.
You can also get the RFLKT+ on Amazon by clicking through the Amazon link in the right column near the top of the DC Rainmaker page. This is a way to thank Ray for doing all the work to turn us on to this product with a little slice of Amazon’s action.
Amazon does not have this device as I mentioned. It was kind of the point of my post. Wahoo does not have it on their website either.
I was hoping one of the Wahoo folks could give an ETA and location to pick it up.
I should have said “you will be able to get” the RFLKT+ on Amazon through the link on the DCR page … It hasn’t been released yet so Amazon doesn’t have it. Those of us who funded it through Kickstarter are still waiting too. Check back in a couple of weeks. They sell all their other Wahoo products on Amazon so I expect they’ll sell this one too once it’s in.
I’ve been doing some thinking about this product in light of the previously mentioned freezing issues. I know that Wahoo Murray said that the issues should be largely addressed now but I just have a couple of concerns.
Unlike using the regular RFLKT which simply loses your display when it freezes, this RFLKT+ is also relaying the ANT+ data to the phone. In the event of a freeze, would this data be lost? This is my primary concern.
Also, anyone know if Clever Training is planning to carry the RFLKT+?
Thanks for any input.
No, at present Clever Training will not be carrying any Wahoo products. Hopefully in the future something can be worked out.
Oh, and to answer your other question – if the RFLKT+ loses it’s connection, data is indeed interrupted. That said, I haven’t seen that be an issue during my rides.
FWIW, since the latest Wahoo Fitness app update everything has been MUCH more stable. I was never able to finish a 2+ hour ride without a restart of the app. I don’t know whether it was their app update, new RFLKT firmware, new Stages firmware or sunspots — but everything is humming right now.
Very much looking forward to getting my kickstarter RFLKT+ award…
I see the latest Strava iOS app update now supports RFLKT – would I be right in assuming it will work just fine with the RFLKT+ too? OK, probably not the altitude yet but the rest should just work, shouldn’t it?
At this stage it wsupports the RFLKT+ as a display and ANT+ bridge out of the box, I am working with the developers on adding support for the Altitude data.
Yay – just got a shipping confirmation email – my RFLKT+ is on it’s way – OK it is VERY late October but well done to the guys at Wahoo for delivering as promised. 🙂
Ah, it was an order confirmation not a shipping one – still I’ts good to see things are moving in the right direction! 😉
I think biggest con for RFLKT comparing with Garmin Edge is lack of audible alarms, eq if you configure in Cyclemeter to notify you every 10 minutes (to drink water), you will get this alarm on the iPhone but not on the RFLKT? Same as you preconfigure intervals to ride and when you have iPhone in front of you get a voice notification, but again, not with RFLKT? It may be big limitation to use RFLKT (+)
For those of you who, like me, funded the RFLKT+ through Kickstarter, wanted you to know that I just received my RFLKT+ in the mail today. Will mount it up and give it a go tomorrow. Thanks again Ray for educating me about this product.
Yeah, finally got mine today although if TNT Express were in any way competent I’d have had it 5 days ago… No matter, only had a chance to do a quick test so far but my ANT+ HR strap is playing nice with my iPhone 4S via the bridge in RFLKT+ Hopefully get out on the bike over the next few days to see how it performs in the real world.
The Wahoo fitness website now shows that the RFLKT+ is available for $149.99: link to wahoofitness.com
I placed my order with express 3 day shipping this evening!
I noticed on the updated website that the Altimeter is mentioned, but not the temperature sensor. Has that feature be removed or disabled for now? Anyone know?
Hey Miles,
Thanks for pointing this out. We are working on revamping the RFLKT+ page to better point out the new features. You are correct. There are temperature and altimeter sensors and an ANT+ Bridge (allows your ANT+ sensor to connect to your Bluetooth 4.0 phone).
Best regards,
Brad
Temp and altimeter working fine on the RFLKT+ I’ve been using this week. Need to make sure to set up a screen that shows these so they’ll record during your workout
My RFLKT+ was in the mailbox when I got home yesterday. Took five minutes to replace my RFLKT, and it works beautifully. I haven’t used any ANT+ devices yet.
And, YES, it has a thermometer. A thermistor is necessary to generate the altimeter readout, so displaying it is just a freebie. I can verify that Strava isn’t displaying the temperature during the ride (I upload from the WF app directly). If I stopped being lazy, I could go look at the files to see if temp is tracked along with the other data — but in any case, Strava isn’t letting you see it.
I dug into the files put out by Wahoo Fitness. They’re obviously storing altimeter and thermistor readings for each datapoint, but the various export formats have limited support for them — or at least WF isn’t exporting them.
A tour of the various files…
CSV: Has temperature, and both altimeter and gps altitude for each tracked point:
disp_altitude disp_temperature gps_altitude
11.818063 23.75 6.245884
11.601931 23.805962 6.099688
11.196348 23.809999 5.495628
11.241141 23.809999 5.337483
GPX: No mention of temp…
6.096768
2013-11-14T16:51:22Z
132
83
TCX: Also no temp…
2013-11-14T08:46:50-08:00
32.771483
-117.211664
3.714072
13764.237305
138
78
8.069043
206
The WF file doesn’t have it…
Device,fisica,model,key,version,1,AppVersion,3.4.0
Year,2013,Month,11,Day,14,Hour,8,Minute,17,Second,38,BatteryUsage (%),5.000001
comments
File created by Stages iPhone App.
sensor,present,smrec,zeroavg,model
pwr,yes,no,yes,n/a
spd,yes,yes,no,n/a
cad,yes,yes,no,n/a
hr,yes,yes,no,n/a
footpod,no,no,no,n/a
gps,yes,no,no,n/a
workout,starttime,runningtime,pausedtime,wheeldist,cadavg,spdavg,pwravg,pwrPedalContribution,hravg,striderateavg,stridedist,gpsdist
,0,2627.795389,0.000000,20287.990234,63.411678,7.748611,199.907791,0.000000,130.000000,0.000000,0.000000,20256.412109
…
sensor,time,accdist,acccrankrevs,accwheelrevs,acctorque,pwrPedalContribution,accheartbeats,altitude,lat,lon,accsteps,accstepdist,interval,paused,accuracy
…
hr,2483.330679,,,,,,5385.000000,,,,,,1,0
…
gps,94.701517,635.270993,,,,,,4.329502,32.772393,-117.213072,,,1,0,5.000000
…
pwr,338.775,,416.000000,0.000000,10141.656250,0.000000,,,,,,,1,0
…
spd,2126.136526,16695.000000,,7950.000000,,,,,,,,,1,0
…
cad,1234.988533,,1568.000000,,,,,,,,,,1,0
…
And finally PWX:
472
130
8.035124
221
27.312500
77
3603.731934
32.788022
-117.217171
2.887918
Arghh! The blog software sucked in the XML and parsed it. Apologies… If you could have seen it, it would have backed up the points I made. I’m not retyping it!
I just swapped out my Wahoo Blue SC for an ANT+ duotrap. The RFLKT+ worked perfectly. I thought it wasn’t working at first, but it turned out to be a simple problem. The (plural form of a bad word) at Trek/Bontrager don’t include a 2032 battery in the duotrap package. Luckily I had one around the house; otherwise, there would have been a mushroom cloud over Pacific Beach CA this morning!
Hi Richard,
What was your reasoning for swapping out the Wahoo BlueSC for an ANT+ duotrap?
Thanks in advance.
Hi, I have recently received my Rflkt+ after subscribing via Kickstarter and also received my Kickr which I love. My question which may have already been asked is this:
Currently I am training on my Kickr (obviously indoors) and trying out the various virtual training apps which are now available such as Virtual Training by CycleOps or Kinomap trainer.
My problem is that apart from my bluetooth Kickr, all my other devices (HR monitors, Cadence etc) are all Ant+, I was hoping that the Rflkt+ would enable me (as advertised) to just connect these devices to my Virtual training app of choice (i.e.: take the place of a Wahoo key), but to no avail. So far the only apps that seem to work are the Wahoo app and maybe Mapmyride, but I have not found any virtual training video app that will also allow me to use my Rflkt to connect Ant+devices!
Is this just because the app makers have yet to catchup, or am I missing something. I have connected my Rflkt+ to my phone using the Wahoo fitness app, but as soon as you switch to another app, the Rflkt+ powers off.
Any help would be appreciated, I may be trying to do something thats yet to be built, but I thought the Rflkt+ could act like a Wahoo key and be my middle man between Ant+ devices and any iPad apps.
Thanks
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
The App needs to support the RFLKT in order for the bridge to work. For most, its just a matter of using the latest API, others might be a bit more involved.
I will reach out to Kinomap and Virtual Training and see where we are with integration.
Thanks
Hmmm. One thing to try — although I’m not sure it’d work. On the same iPhone or iPad, run both Wahoo Fitness and your trainer app. Now, start a ride with Wahoo Fitness (make sure it’s using something for the speed feed that won’t cause it to auto-pause or shut down — the BLE KCKR feed should work). Make sure you press START to record that ride, even though you’ll discard the results.
Now Wahoo Fitness is happily running in the background, and happily running the RFLKT+.
Next, start your kinomap (or whatever) app on your iWhatever. Do you see your ANT+ devices? You should… That’s the loophole in BLE’s many-to-one restriction — multiple apps on the same device can see the sensors simultaneously. Hopefully this extends to the bridged devices, but this is the part I’m not sure about. I *think* it should work, but am too lazy to verify it.
Thankfully, the only ANT+ device I have is my duotrap SC sensor. Since that’s dormant when I’m on my KCKR, i’m in all-BLE world.
I have a garmin 910xt that uses ant + but doesn’t have any Bluetooth capabilities. I want to be able to transfer a ride , run or swim to strava using the iphone 5 at the completion of an activity using the iphone, rather than doing this much later at home using the computer. Is this possible with the rflkt ?
I have a garmin 910xt that uses ant + but doesn’t have any Bluetooth capabilities. I want to be able to transfer a ride , run or swim to strava using the iphone 5 at the completion of an activity using the iphone, rather than doing this much later at home using the computer. Is this possible with the rflkt +?
Hi there, I have a 910xt also and upload my rides/runs/swims immediately afterwards using the wahoo ant+ key and the wahoo fitness app. Then, i use the wahoo app to send the file to training peaks, strava and whereever else. The whole process takes about 5 minutes. I use an ipad mini, i know you can use the iphone 5, and i think you can use an iphone 4s.
Hey John,
The RFLKT+ does not support data transfer to the iPhone. As Bill mentioned below, you can use the Wahoo Key and an Appl Lightning-to-30Pin adapter.
Best regards,
Brad
@Wahoo Brad – How about upgrading the basic RFLKT to
an altimeter and thermometer?
Sorry LV Bob,
The regular RFLKT does not have the necessary components to gather this data.
Best regards,
Brad
Have had mine installed for two rides, and so far not good. First test ride (60 miles, lots of good climbing to test everything): Read outs seemed to be working on first half of ride, with cadence, heart rate, elevation, speed, all tracking true and reading out on the RFLK+ unit very nicely. But then everything went south from there. First big problem: the calculated total amount of climbing as indicated on the app and the RFLKT unit was about 50% greater than it should have been (determined by reference to riding partner’s Garmin, which is proven accurate). It appears to be calculating descent in the total, which of course is wrong. Second bigger problem: after stopping for a short break in which the iPhone and app lost contact with the RFLKT unit, I was able to reconnect to the unit and restart the ride, but the cadence/speed combination sensor could not be reestablished despite everything else (iPhone connect, HRM) all working. This left blanks in the display in these two areas. After fiddling to no avail, I had to continue the ride without these. I know there was not an adjustment problem (sensors too far away or something like that) both because the sensors worked before, and because the sensors magically came to life near the end of the ride. I could conceivably live with this, except for the fact that without those two sensors, the app did not log the miles (I would think it could revert to gps for speed and distance, but that doesn’t appear to be the case). Those two problems caused the ride to be recorded incorrectly in two central ways (total climb, and distance and related data) – both unacceptable. Second test ride (45 miles): RFLKT unit totally dead and unresponsive. Pushing any of the buttons for any length of time does nothing. Had to revert to using Strava. Never did come back to life, and unit is now just sitting dead on the bike. Even if this is just a dead battery problem, this and the earlier errors have caused me to lose all faith in the product.
Looks to me like Wahoo needs to go back to the drawing board. Hoping to get a refund, but so far Wahoo support has simply offered to replace the RFLKT unit.
I have had the same experience..but I think one should expect teething problems with advanced technology..I hope Wahoo sends me quickly a new unit that works correctly..r
And I ust got an emailthat a replacement is on the way..very responsive ..r
Thanks Bill for your response. Since I have an iphone 5, I think I also need to the 30 pin to lightening adaptor that the wahoo ant + plugs into. It is reassuring to hear you have also used the 910xt and have been able to upload successfully on the road.
Have you had success uploading swims to strava?
Thanks also Alex and Roger for feedback on the rflkt +
I have a couple of point that I have noticed on the RFLKT+ front.
1. works great with the Wahoo fitness app although it isn’t my app of choice.
2. Works great with Cyclemeter my app, even the ant+ bridge works 🙂 they have also said they will add support for Temp and Altimeter.
3. Works with Strava but the ant+ bridge doesn’t. It will find the sensors via the bridge but no data recorded?
4. As I am a UK resident and we still haven’t decide if we are a metric country or not .. lol. Can we have an option in the Wahoo fitness app to display the Temperature in Celsius but keep the distance in miles:)
Got replacement unit today, booted right up and ant+ pairing went well, will do ride in the am..impressed with quick support on replacement shipping
I am having problems pairing my RFLKT+ with my Duotrap speed/cadence sensor using the cyclemeter app. The wahoo fitness app recognizes the Duotrap just fine. Cyclemeter does not. Has anyone encountered this issue? Any suggestions? Thanks a ton.
I found I had to delete and re-pair my devices with RFLKT+ as I previously had them connected with the Wahoo phone case ANT+ adaptor. Also make sure you have closed down the Wahoo app before starting Cyclemeter, they don’t always work well together. Good luck!
Niall, thanks! Forgetting all devices worked for me!
Hiya all,
I have a RFLKT+ and think I have found a problem.
When I first got my hands on it and connected it to the Wahoo Fitness app it showed my currect elevation as about 285ft but thats it. Every time since then it shows me at -30 ish? Thats not right!
I have also connected it to Cyclemeter and it shows as -30 ft ish but has an option to manually set it so I change it to 285 but the next time I open Cyclemeter it shows -30 again even though manual settings are on and at 285?
Though the eleveation is wrong the ascent and descent does seem to work great.
Any ideas?
Hey Kevin,
In the Wahoo Fitness app, during a workout, you can click on the upper right corner to find some in-workout settings. Here you should be able to recalibrate the RFLKT+ elevation. This recalibration should hold true the next time you open the app, but it is best to recalibrate each time to account for atmospheric changes.
Best Regards,
Brad
Cheers Brad,
The calibrate settings work great, doesn’t hold it next time though.
Will have to get used to calibrating each time before I set off. 🙁
Recalibrating altitude before each trip is normal, really.
I am a private pilot and that’s what every pilot does before they take off. The reason is altimeters measure altitude as being the difference in atmospheric pressure where you are compared to the current atmospheric pressure at sea level. ‘Calibrating’ is simply telling the altimeter (directly or indirectly) what the SL pressure is that day.
In fact, since pilots cover so much ground in a single trip, air traffic control will periodically give us a new pressure reading and we adjust accordingly. The old pilot saying is “High to low, look out below”, because if you fly from high pressure to low pressure and don’t adjust, your instruments will report a higher altitude than what your actual altitude is. Thus, if you see mountain goats between the clouds, it is best to check your altimeter settings. 🙂
Anyway, calibrating before each ride makes good sense.
Surely, for cycling, all that’s important is rate of climb and total climb rather than absolute altitude.
I don’t mind if I start at 0m or 200m as long as, at the end of the ride I know I’ve climbed 1000m. Wether the data shows the altitude as 100m or 1200m is kind of irrelevant – unless I’m surveying, of course.
The Wahoo Fitness app will auto calibrate with GPS after starting the activity and once the GPS elevation accuracy is within the limits, you don’t need to manually calibrate elevation to GPS via the quick settings, the manual calibration in the quick settings is mostly for people that want to manually enter the exact elevation if they know it or want to calibrate before the workout has started.
I’ve been on the fence about this product since it’s announcement. I have been reluctant to buy because if I had low battery on my cell phone I would not use it and thus be without a computer. It would be GREAT if you had a choice – a standard wireless computer or smartphone connected. Then this product would be a no-brainer!
This being my first post I have to first thank Ray for this outstanding blog. Amazing, and very much appreciated. In fact, This thread is a perfect example of how valuable this site is. Thank you!
My dilemma is this: I love the promise of the Wahoo platform, but the last thing I want is a suite of products I have to continually fuss with.
I currently use a Garmin 810, Vector for power and cadence, and Mio Alpha for HR. I love the 810, but my problem is that the Mio is BT, not Ant+, so my HR data doesn’t get into my ride data.
The obvious solution is to use a Ant+ HR monitor? Believe me, I have tried. No matter what I do none of the HR chest straps work. (yes, I have done everything suggested on this site and others to no avail — I think it is my right branch bundle block causing a weird signal the HR monitor cannot deal with — just a theory).
So, in theory, Wahoo would solve my problem, but I am worried I will end-up with a boatload of stuff that almost works.
Suggestions welcome.
I also have the Alpha Mio, and also cannot use regular heart straps. And, yes, occasionally the Wahoo ecosystem is maddening. (They just pushed an update that caused havoc until I deleted, reinstalled and re-paired everything. Grrrrrr.) But it generally just works, and the rate of improvement is quite high, e.g. the RFLKT+ really is neat. Also, there are a lot of fun apps that spice up you rides.
So: bottom line, I’m jealous of the stability of the Garmin universe, but am happy I’m out in the wild and wooly world where 3rd parties get to frolic.
And, FWIW, I think in a few years we’ll chuckle at how primitive we were “back in the day.”
Richard:
Thanks for your response. What percentage of your rides are problem free versus something freezes, or needs repairing, or doesn’t record, etc.?
Since iOS7 I have had only one failure out of ~30 rides — and that was a Wahoo Fitness update that caused problems. Uninstalling, reinstalling and repairing fixed the problem. Other than that, I did have the usual boneheaded “the damned magnet moved” problem with my speed sensor today, but oh well…
With Christmas around the corner, I thought I’d save some of you from possibly going through the headaches I’ve been encountering with the RFLKT+ and BlueSC (+ a replacement). I’m also curious if anyone else is experiencing my long list of issues.
To give you some background, I’ve been holding off since February from buying an Edge 510 or 810 since reading/monitoring all their issues (ie. Navigation problems, Under-reporting Distance/Avg. Speed while following Courses, LiveTrack Disconnects, and more) on the Garmin Forum that have still not been addressed. They only seem to add updates to their software to sell more hardware (ie. Vectors, Touring, Virb). I decided it was time to move on, read this review, did some more homework and decided to place an order for a RFLKT+ and BlueSC. I didn’t have too high expectations since it’s reasonably priced, essentially just a “dummy” display and knowing the hardware was not going to be too aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Well, after 20 days with the RFLKT+ and using the device for 2 outdoor activities (kind of) and 16 indoor activities I must say I’m disappointed for the most part. Winter and the cold weather rolled in just after purchase and I wish I got to test it with more outdoor activities. Normally I don’t ride this often, but from the get go I’ve been encountering bugs and trying to debug them. I don’t want to be stuck with a faulty system. I’ve reached my limit with testing these products and the RFLKT+ and BlueSCs are on a one-way ticket back to Wahoo this week. My first BlueSC had cadence dropouts/spikes one or two times an hour for one minute each for practically all my rides. The battery would also only last 4 hours of riding. My second BlueSC also has battery issues. At no point have I ever seen cadence dropouts on the RFLKT+. Where the problem lies Wahoo Fitness App/BlueSC is anyone’s guess.
Issues I’ve encountered with the RFLKT+ within an hour never seem to be brought up in online reviews. I read another review on the RFLKT where the author said there were too many factors (App, RFLKT, BlueSC, iPhone) in play to debug problems. This didn’t hit home until I started trying to eliminate potential factors myself. I’ve gone around my house and unplugged/disabled all Bluetooth devices. It becomes a pain to ride for an hour every day to see if the issues show up. I realize Ray’s review is based off a prototype and beta software but some of the issues I talk about below would have been deal breakers for me if it was more apparent. Hopefully the issues I’ve come across can help some of Ray’s readers on making their decision. This blog seems like the only playground to discuss issues with Wahoo products. None of my issues I submitted to Wahoo have been made public on their Support forum.
[B]RFLKT+ CONS:[/B]
– [B]Button Assignment[/B]: This is a major selling-point issue for me. One of Ray’s other reviews talk about how you can use a double click on each of the buttons to perform an additional function. This is [B]ONLY[/B] within the Cyclemeter App which costs additional money to use with the RFLKT+. I purchased it for testing purposes only. For some reason, I thought the button assignment would be on a ‘Per Page’ level within the Wahoo Fitness App, or at the very least equivalent to the Cyclemeter App. Apparently this is in the works, but essentially right now you only have four buttons to work with! This basically eliminated the Music Feature for me as the Play/Pause option, Next Track option, and Previous Track option would take up three buttons right there. My top four buttons choices would be Start/Pause/Resume Workout, Previous Page, Next Page, and Backlight On/Off (or Lap). Really disappointed by this being the current state.
– [B]Screen[/B]: The screen is pretty poor in moderate indoor lighting. I changed all my lights in the basement from 60W to 100W bulbs in hopes of seeing the screen without the backlight but unless the light is directly above you, it’s really hard to see the screen (at any angle). I also was really shocked to see the backlight to be red and not glow white. I have seen no reviews, pictures or videos mentioning this on any websites. A lot of car dashes are going this way, as apparently it’s easier on the eyes. Indoors it’s fine but outdoors I found it hard for my eyes to adjust to the backlight color especially with street lights playing a factor. The Wahoo website states that it will drain the battery significantly leaving it on, so that makes it a drawback for night riding. If you toggle between keeping the backlight OFF/ON within the Wahoo Fitness App Settings, there seems to be a bug when you hit any of the four buttons, it flashes the backlight either ON or OFF quickly like a glitch. It stops doing this on its own eventually. I haven’t had a problem outdoors seeing the screen in sun, overcast, or tree cover conditions, which was comforting.
– [B]Indoor Cycling Workout Type[/B]: One more issue I encountered is a bug where the RFLKT+ won’t pair with the Wahoo Fitness App if the Workout Type is set to ‘Indoor Cycling’. The App will crash if you switch to it when the device is paired. You will end up having to use ‘Biking’ as the Workout Type and shutoff GPS. This is a big pain because I already made the mistake of not turning GPS back ON before an outdoor ride. I probably would of remembered to switch the Workout Type from ‘Indoor Cycling’ to ‘Biking’ but totally forgot about GPS being off which would require delving into the ‘Biking’ Workout Type configuration.
– [B]iOS Battery Level field[/B]: A minor issue is a discrepancy between the battery level percentage that the iPhone 5 reports and what the RFLKT+ ‘iOS Device Battery Level’ data field shows. The RFLKT+ always shows significantly less battery left and it’s not off by any fix amounts. Overall though with the iPhone 5 battery I’m more than happy. After an hour and twenty minutes riding outdoors with my music at full volume I was left with 86% battery left. If I remember to reboot the phone before a ride indoors, it sometimes doesn’t even drain the battery [B]at all[/B] with GPS set to off and no music playing.
– [B]Pairing[/B]: Another questionable bug is if you have the RFLKT+ paired with the Wahoo Fitness App and don’t have a Workout running, then minimize the App to go to the Music App, the RFLKT+ turns off. It does not do this if you have an activity running though. For the most part I haven’t had any issues with the device not pairing instantly unless the battery is dead.
– [B]Packaging[/B]: Packaging for the RFLKT+/BlueSC is at a bare minimal. Wahoo has gone green and not included any instructions whatsoever. In the case of the BlueSC, a simple schematic would go along way and you don’t have to worry about translating a hundred languages. Be prepared to hit the pause and rewind button on their Youtube videos. I lost my multi-size allen key tool a while ago and its been haunting me ever since. No allen key/tiny screwdriver included for either the RFLKT+ (needed for out-front mount/getting to the RFLKT+ battery from the back) or the BlueSC sensor, which both use a different size allen key. Why on earth any company ships their products with the battery already installed is beyond me. While looking at the Cyclemeter App to possibly solve some headaches, the battery percentage on the BlueSC out of the box was reported at 39%. So, judging by Wahoo’s estimate of a year battery lifespan, it sat on a shelf for 8 months.
[B]Battery Life[/B]: There’s also no RFLKT+ data field for battery level of the RFLKT+ or any of the connected sensors, which would be [B]EXTREMELY USEFUL[/B]. According to support a digital multimeter is the only way to get an accurate level on coin batteries. So I went out and bought one and have seen significant battery drain on both BlueSCs and the RFLKT+ batteries. Also, the other day I was already to go for a ride and the RFLKT+ wouldn’t turn on. After carefully taking off the 4 tiny screws (would it hurt to send extras in case you strip them?), I did the old TV remote trick and rotated the battery. The RFLKT+ has again worked for the last two rides (2 hours). So far I have about 22 hours of ride time (1 hour of backlight usage) on the RFLKT+ and approximately 6 hours of setting up Pages in the various Apps. The point I’m trying to make here is that I’m not too confident on battery life and if you’re an avid rider, a rechargeable device is probably the way to go. I’ve already spent about $30 on batteries for the two BlueSC devices that have had severe battery drain issues and cadence dropouts/spikes.
[B]Customer Support[/B]: Customer Support is great in terms of getting a quick response but sometimes they never answer your questions and you repeatedly have to ask them. I’ve had a couple unrelated tickets merged and some just closed off even though it should be on-going until fixed. I thought they were sending me more batteries to try in my BlueSC and I ended up getting a replacement BlueSC (with a battery that lasted only 4 hours) in the mail. I have to pay to send the old one back which is fine had I known it was on the way. With all the factors in play, I have no idea why I seem to be the only one having issues with the BlueSC. Perhaps, the RFLKT+ could somehow be causing problems with the Bluetooth signal strength? Perhaps people are using ANT+ sensors? None of my support tickets to Wahoo for bugs or seeking answers to questions ever has been shown publicly on their Support Forum. I think some of the bugs and questions stated above might be useful to others to know their current status. Strava is pretty transparent on their forum when a bug shows up. This leads me to question how many other bugs are being reported and common questions are being asked.
[B]THIRD-PARTY PROS:[/B]
– [B]Cyclemeter App[/B]: Seems to be ahead or on par to the Wahoo Fitness App. Not only does it have the double-click functionality but you can adjust the font/thickness when creating the Page data fields. There’s also some insignificant additional and missing data fields between the Cyclemeter App and Wahoo Fitness App. Nothing that would be a concern. Cyclemeter also shows the battery life of the RFLKT+ and BlueSC, but it’s questionable how accurate it is. This is not a data field though!
[B]THIRD-PARTY CONS:[/B]
– [B]Cyclemeter App[/B]: I used Cyclemeter 3-years ago for a full year. Unfortunately I’m a full-fledge Strava user and really have no plans to going back. You have to export your ride file via e-mail (.TCX/.GPX) and then import it into Strava, which can be tedious and inconvenient. Obviously they’re competitors and we probably won’t ever see a direct sync from one to another.
– [B]Strava App[/B]: If you have hopes with using the RFLKT+ with the Strava App directly, don’t bother. The more I think about it, it’s somewhat pointless in re-creating the Wahoo Fitness App within a third-party App like Strava. Unless perhaps you have a Premium account and use real-time segments. The Wahoo Fitness App uploads to Strava directly seamlessly. Any of the Page Displays you create in Wahoo Fitness App do not carry over to the Strava display. The first page on the RFLKT+ when the Strava App is running is basically a Start/Pause Welcome page where you can’t even Finish a workout. The second page is Clock Time, Speed, and Distance. The third page is Activity Time, Speed (might be avg), and Distance again. The fourth page shows Power (Wattage 3s), Cadence (RPMs), and Max Wattage. The data display is spread out over way too many pages. It basically could be under one page. There is [B]no grade/elevation detail[/B]. Besides Cadence, I [B]couldn’t get Speed or Distance working on an indoor trainer[/B] (I don’t own any power sensors). Perhaps it’s cause you can’t turn off GPS in Strava? I also encountered a screen on the RFKLT+ when trying to pair with Strava that stated ‘No Config’. I had to reboot my iPhone 5 because the RFLKT+ was essentially frozen on that screen (I came across a source later stating if you hold the top 2 buttons for 6 seconds it will shutoff the RFLKT+). I ended up having to toggle my sensor/RFLKT+ settings in the Strava App to have them connect again. Yet another issue is if you have the RFLKT+ paired with the Strava App and decide to use the Wahoo Fitness App instead. There is no way to unpair the RFLKT+ and you end up having to reboot the iPhone or RFLKT+.
– [B]Strava Website[/B] : When you upload from the Wahoo Fitness App the device does not show up under the Strava activity on their website. I would have expected to see ‘Wahoo Fitness App’ or ‘Wahoo RFLKT+’, similar to how ‘Garmin Edge 510’ would show up. The Strava website is NOT using the RFLKT+ barometric altimeter readings for elevation. This is one of the major reasons I was looking into a Garmin or a computer with a barometer. From my outdoor ride with the RFLKT+, Strava showed 198m of climbing and Wahoo Fitness App recorded 319m. The average temperature reading is also not passed over to Strava. It’s a bit misleading how Wahoo states that it is compatible with all these other Apps. The current state where some of these Apps are with their integration may be very minimal like Strava with implementing features (field displays and barometer/temperature data import).
Well, as you can see I focused on “Cons”. There’s definitely a lot of “Pros” (or potential) and I’m sure a lot of these issues may be worked out over time. The clock is ticking on me getting my ‘30-Days Money Back Guarantee’ and I’m sure a lot of you are considering this for Christmas, so I decided to post this even before sending it back. The battery issues with the BlueSC and RFLKT+ are pretty major concerns for me. I’m back to square one on needing a Bike Computer. I also had high hopes of buying a Kickr but this has dashed that dream.
I got 2000+ miles before I needed to replace the wahoo speed/cadence battery
I too got over 2400 miles, but after a battery change connectivity started to become an issue.
Some days it would connect other days had to delete and pair it again.
3 battery changes (within a month) and the 1/4 turn door broke! wahoo replaced my Blue SC within a week.
Great product and awesome support.
Lets say you don’t use your phone or it crapped out will the ANT+ speed and cadence or other things ANT+ still show up on the RFLKT+?
The RFLKT+ is a reflection of the phone App. Without the phone on running a compatible App (Wahoo Fitness, Cyclemeter, Strava, etc.) nothing will display on the RFLKT+ screen.
If your phone craps out, none of the ANT+ devices will display on the RFLKT+ because the App isn’t running to gather/compute the data and reflect it to the RFLKT+. The RFLKT+ is essential just a “dummy” display like a computer monitor.
I understand your thinking in that now the RFLKT+ has a built in ANT+ chip but that’s just so it can relay the data to the phone App to do the computing.
This is exactly what I was saying…
—
I’ve been on the fence about this product since its announcement. I have been reluctant to buy because if I had low battery on my cell phone I would not use it and thus be without a computer. It would be GREAT if you had a choice – a standard wireless computer or smartphone connected. Then this product would be a no-brainer!
Why not just attach one of the USB rechargers to the phone? Like a Duracell Instant USB Charger. That would extend the life of your iPhone on your rides. I would think it would be pretty easy to mount on the bike.
I am thinking of doing the same for my new Virb.
@Lee C
I just bought a USB batter backup (in my case, the Powerocks MagicStick on Amazon for around $33). This works perfectly to keep your phone charged.
@Lee C
Unless you plan on being on a ride longer than 7 hours, I don’t think you have anything to worry about regarding the battery life of the phone. On the two rides I managed to get in before winter, the battery would drain between 9-13% an hour with music playing. Later on I discovered during my indoor rides if you remember to force-close apps running in the background than you will still have 99-100% of your battery after one hour. If I forgot to force-close the apps while indoors, it seemed pretty consistent with my outdoor results even with GPS disabled. Auto-lock is set for 3-minutes.
On the flip-side this summer, I was on a number of back-to-back group rides where riders would forget to charge their Garmin devices and would have shutdowns because they were so use to having the battery last so long.
More of a concern to me is the battery life of these coin cell batteries in these devices (RFLKT+, BlueSC, etc.). There’s no indication when the battery is going to die. Even if development can’t figure out a consistent way to show the percentage left of the coin cell battery, it would be nice to get a “low” warning when the battery might only have 20 hours left or less. It would take some effort to test but it would be interesting to see a blog post of how well the battery level for sensors in the Cyclemeter App actually works.
@LV Bob
Thanks for posted that universal battery backup device.
Thanks Ray for a great site.
I’ve ridden about 2000 km with the Rflkt including now last few hundred with the Rflkt+ I also have used the Blue HRM for the same period. Have had zero issues with either product, have had as expected 2-3 month battery life, and easy as can be connectivity with ant+ power meter.
All in all I’m a very happy customer — and I even ebayed my old Rflkt for $90–which shows it’s holding it’s value pretty well. I hope Wahoo can fix the issues some users are having, because it’s been so good and economical a solution for me and I’m sure many others.
But I wish altimeter and thermometer data was uploading to Strava. Suppose one day it will.
Will the RFLKT+ work with an iPhone at the same time as the iPhone is sending music to Bluetooth headphones?
Yes, no problems.
Your question is more bluetooth related and is answered by Ray, but since Music is probably a factor in your purchase you might want to know about the following. It may also save you some time and troubleshooting.
You should consider buying the Cyclemeter App for $4.99 for the upgrade for the RFLKT+ integration. It’s not quite apparent on the Wahoo Fitness website, but you can only have 1 button assignment per button on the RFLKT+ in the Wahoo Fitness App. I assume the RFLKT has been like this for two years now. With that said, the Play/Pause, Next Track, and Prev Track button assignments would take 3 buttons. The Next Page, Prev Page, Backlight, and Start/Pause options are probably more important functions. If you use the Cyclemeter App you get a double-click button feature that will allow for 8 button assignments total. Cyclemeter will also show you the battery level of the RFLKT+. How reliable that is is unknown.
If you pair the RFLKT+ and then minimize the Wahoo Fitness App, it will unpair and turn off the RFLKT+. You either have to start your music first and then pair the device, or start/pause a workout in the Wahoo Fitness App will allow you to minimize the App and go to other Apps (such as Music) without turning off the RFLKT+.
You may already be aware of all this.
I ride with an hydration pack. If you need a lot more juice, or just want to make sure you have power for the rest of the day post-ride, you can get a cheap and light external battery back and have the battery charge (or at least maintain) during the ride… link to amazon.com is just the first one I saw on Amazon….
And headphones definitely don’t interfere with the RFLKT+, and with good phone protection, I bet the music will keep playing even after your car crash.
My RFLKT+ battery is dieing every 20 hours or so. 2 batteries in 2 months of riding on the trainer. I’m riding with the light off and closing out of the app when I get off the bike so the head unit is off. Using an iPhone 4 and the Wahoo ANT+ speed and cadence sensor. Ray reported Wahoo’s expectation of a 1 year life with a 2350 battery in his first look above. Mine has a 2450 (larger battery) and won’t last a month when I start riding outside in the spring. Otherwise, love the unit. But, the cost and hassle of changing the battery that often and with no indication of it about to go dead is a bummer
Is anyone else having this issue? Do I need to set it up differently? Replace it?
Thanks
My RFLKT+ also had a dead battery within a month of use without warning. I thought the device had bricked. But replacing the battery brought it back to life. I’ll continue to monitor to see if the new battery lasts longer than a month.
A VAM filed on the display would be super useful too…pleaaase!
I’m new to cycling apps and such, I have a cycleops pro magneto trainer and also look to start riding more this year. I have a Nike Fuelband + and have been looking a the wahoo line of products. In looking at the RFLKT and RFLKT+ not sure what would be good for a beginner rider. Also looking at the Wahoo Blue SC. Your thoughts?
many thanks!
chris
Have been using the Cyclemeter iPhone software for about a year now and I’m generally pleased.
This approach replaced a Specialized bike computer which featured altitude & grade display. Live in S.CA and ride some significant climbs – Fell in love with being able to monitor “real-time” grade (and understand the quantitative reason for my pain!)
Went Cyclemeter with the expectation of duplicating this capability.
Very pleased with the overall ride tracking and recording., but disappointed with the grade read-out accuracy. An e-mail or two to the Abvio folks taught me that this tracking has to be done indirectly through GPS/ a look-up table and interpolation.
Therefore have been looking for a simple integration of pressure based altitude tracking with GPS calibration.
Frankly, adding another (pretty expensive) display device to the equation, though it may be a great answer to those requiring multiple tracking device,s is way overkill for me (and I would suspect a lot of other people!?)
Is there a possibility of a simple external module, containing altitude (and temp) sensors with the goal of improving accuracy for the app.
Thanks
I have used the RFLKT+ for a couple months and both like and dislike it. 🙁
I have used it with both the Wahoo Fitness app and Cyclemeter. I have:
Wahoo BT HRM
Powertap G3 ANT+ power meter
Wahoo ANT+ Speed/Cadence sensor
When it all works, it is awesome. Both apps have a ton of configurability and you can set up the RFLKT+ to display just about anything you want.
The bad new is that ANT+ to bluetooth bridge functionality is really flaky. I would guess that a third to half of my rides has a problem with the bridge. At some point during the ride the speed, cadence and power meter data disappears from the screen. The HR data still shows so the RFLKT+ is still working to display the data from the phone. The ANT+ data just isn’t being recognized. It is difficult to tell if it is the RFLKT+ or the app that is having the problem. I have had it happen with both the Wahoo app and Cyclemeter.
Suffice to say, it is very frustrating. The only solution is to stop, save the workout, and start a new workout. After the ride I then combine the TCX files into one file before uploading to Strava. Given the frequency of this occurring, it has really detracted from the benefits.
Wahoo support has been nice but they don’t really know what is going on. I get that it is a tricky issue to diagnose. I would love to use a debug version of the RFLKT+ firmware or Wahoo Fitness app that can at least give some idea as to what is going on. You reading this Wahoo Murray? 🙂
My plan is to upgrade my speed/cadence and power meter to bluetooth. Unfortunately it isn’t clear if either Wahoo or Cyclemeter support bluetooth power meters.
Again, when it works it is awesome. When it doesn’t it really sucks. 🙁
I have exaclty the same issue, with my 3th rflkt+ device. I am pretty sure it is todo with the app (or api)
Because, when I do a reset, the device connects perfect. Showing all data, including the cadance and heartrate. But both are stuck.
When I the do a reset the app, finally the heart and cadance work.
I am goingto try it with cyclometer again, before I contact support again.
I too have issues with the bridge?
I use cyclemeter and one would assume that once paired with my ant+ SC and ant+ HR sensor that each time I start the app that the bridge would automatically receive a signal from them.
This doesn’t appear to be the case and I have to mess about for a few minutes in the app switching them on and off before they work? complete pain in the a$$
Once I get then working it works flawlessly.
Any ideas?
I had that problem with Cyclemeter. Sometimes the ANT+ speed/cadence would connect but only show 0 mph/rpm. I would reset the RFLKT+, kill/restart the app, etc. It really sucked. I also have the ANT+ stuff drop during the ride using Cyclemeter
I ended up going back to the Wahoo app. I liked Cyclemeter but figured things were more likely to work better with the Wahoo app. So far I haven’t had any problems getting to the devices to connect at the start of the ride.
As I said above, I’m going to change everything to bluetooth with the hope that I won’t have to deal with the ANT+ bridge stuff.
Maybe I missed this in reading through, could someone give their input please?
I have want to use this with a Mio Alpha HR monitor (Bluetooth), am I correct in understanding that my bluetooth hr will connect to the rflkt, and then the iPhone will connect to rflkt, all using Bluetooth?
I’m hung up on the part that Bluetooth can only connect to one thing at a time I guess. Any clarification would be awesome.
No, Mio will connect directly to the phone (via Bluetooth Smart), and the phone will send that data back to the RFLKT via Bluetooth (a different channel).
The one-connect thing is per sensor, not on the phone side. In other words, while your Mio Alpha is connected to your phone, it (the Alpha) couldn’t be concurrently connected to another Bluetooth device – such as a watch.
The phone meanwhile, is a player, it can be connected to multiple devices concurrently.
Thanks Ray. Appreciate the help
Has there been any update on the Strava altitude problem?
I have given up using the RFLKT+ until the correct altitude gain is acknowledged by Strava,,
anyone???
ok…Wahoo replied that Strava does not recognize the altitude data received form the Wahoo app….hence it does not work as advertised.
So what is the point??
I’d guess that not everyone uses Strava. It may be worth seeing if it’s fixed in the new version of the app, which should be released from beta any day now.
It will be fixed in our next major release. We needed to move to a new file type (FIT) in order to add support to Strava. Unfortunately this update has taken a little longer than expected.
Murray
Hi Wahoo Murray,
can you give us a an approximate date for the release? In addition to the original RFLKT I bought the RFLKT+ via Kickstarter and had hoped to be able to use the features by now.
Good to hear that you are working on it but I had hoped that the release would be out by now.
Ben
Hi Ben,
I don’t really like to give approximate release dates as people see them and then get very upset when we don’t hit them. With a small development team, things change quickly and sometimes that can delay our software.
We have been in beta for a little while and all working towards a release within the next 4-8 weeks. Our next major release will happen along side our TICKR Run product launch.
Thanks
Thanks Murray,
I understand the hesitation to give approximate release dates.
However, I am happy with this information because as a Kickstarter backer I encourage the development of the RFLKT+ and would like to hear the progress AND the struggles to get the improved technology available to us. No problem if there is a problem and if we have to wait a little bit longer. So thanks for the brief update.
Ben
Will this update also give support to temperature data in Strava? Not a big thing, but riding early season in Norway it is always cool to bra g about who has the coldest ride in the club.
Yes it will. We are moving to the FIT file format for most of our uploads and this supports temperature.
Can you provide any status update on giving support to temperature data in Strava? It seems as though this has been forgotten. Thanks.
Anyone else seeing high temperature readouts from the RFLKT+? I’m using Cyclemeter (highly customizable interface and screens). One of my screens shows the temperature, time, and battery percentage. However, based on all other thermometers in the same location as me, the RFLKT+ is consistently saying it’s 10-15°F higher than what it actually is. Being in direct sunlight seems to affect it too (negatively) during the ride. Is this normal for cycle computers? (RFLKT was my first, now RFLKT+).
Yes it is common for the temperature to be effected by direct sunlight, you are going to get that from any thermometer.
The temperature sensor is coupled with the altimeter and is used for calibration of elevation, it is the temperature inside the RFLKT+ unit. It is normally a little slower to respond to change but should be fairly close to what the temperature “feels like” as the RFLKT+ hardware is likely experiencing the same direct sunlight as you.
If you’ve been having a problem with your battery going dead on the RFLKT+ as I have been, I learned today there is a firmware update you should upload. Even though my screen was going dark after I finished my work out and closed the app, the RFLKT+ wasn’t going to sleep. The update 1.1.2.1 fixes this. If you download the Wahoo Utility app, hit the Test Bluetooth 4.0 Sensors, pair your RFLKT+ with the Utily app and swipe quickly between the RFLKT and smilely face icon, it will open to the firmware page. Download this firmware and you should be all set. Good luck
Please never install beta firmware without direct instruction from our support team. We regularly post firmware via that method that can and will break your hardware.
Once we have finished testing and are happy that the firmware update and the update procedure is safe we will automatically notify users of the new version. All apps have a automatic firmware update notification so you don’t even need to be using our software.
Again, please do not use swipe method to access beta firmware.
Thanks
Yikes! Murray, I phoned your support line and told them about my problem with the battery dieing repeatedly. (I’d previously posted about this issue on this site and heard nothing back about it from you) A member of your support team (Jonathan) e-mailed me the instructions I summarized above including installing the firmware update i mentioned using the ‘secret swipe’ method. It did say beta next to it and said it was about fixing the problem with the device not going to sleep, which would explain why the battery was going dead. Jonathan even took my address to send me a new battery.
I thought this was great customer service. After reading your post however, should I be concerned that my RFLKT+ will break? What do you suggest I do?
Hi Steve,
Sorry, didn’t mean to concern you, RFLKT+ v1.2.1 is very safe and I will likely release it to the public in the next couple days. If our support team gives you instructions, thats perfectly fine.
I was just trying to scare everyone away from using the swipe method in general, if you install unknown firmware it can cause issues. Although we do also password protect and firmware we think could be dangerous. We just don’t want people experimenting with different firmware.
Ok guys…the Cyclemeter app now sends a .fit file to Strava and Strava seems to report the altitude graph correctly…well done!
Cyclemeter is also a much more complete and customizable app than the Wahoo app…definitely worth buying if you own a RFLKT+
It now just needs a VAM customizable display field to complete the package.
nope…Cyclemeter still does not work correctly…[please Abvio can you fix this??
Based on your comment last week, I went ahead and purchased their annual Elite Support so I could upload directly to Strava, as well as, export the FIT file for backup/import if needed. I had already upgraded Cyclemeter back in November when I got the RFLKT+ to their one-time fee for Cyclemeter’s RFLKT/RFLKT+ Support. However, the convenience of uploading to Strava directly and FIT File export is missing from that purchase. Hope that info helps some people.
Yesterday I submitted a support ticket with Cyclemeter inquiring about whether or not Strava is still doing Elevation Correcting as my “Ascent” in Cyclemeter did not coincide with Strava’s “Elevation” on any of my rides. This is what Cyclemeter Support had to say:
Hopefully Wahoo can push forward with their FIT file support and pull some strings so that both Apps altitude readings are imported just like Garmin devices. It’s already been 5 months. I realize it’s out of there hands being a third-party.
Until that is resolved it would be nice to hear from folks what App is recording the elevation fairly correct? I realize Strava derives its Elevation from GPS signal and may not be an accurate way to judge or compare. I’ve only done a handful of rides since Winter is finally ending here and none of the rides have been the exact same route to do a comparison between Apps. I need to ride the same route with both Apps and see if there’s large discrepancies.
– The Wahoo App Elevation has been marginally higher than Strava in cases. ex. Strava is 196m and Wahoo is 220m.
– The Cyclemeter App Ascent has been less than half that of Strava. ex. Strava is 417m and Cyclemeter is 206m.
I think all the apps record the altitude data correctly from the RFLKT+…the problem is that Strava rejects the altitude data from the .fit file since it does not recognize the GPS unit as a valid one.
I send the .fit file recorded by Cyclemeter\RFLKT+ to Endomondo and Training Camp and the elevation profile is perfect.
I just got my RFLKT+ today. I considered it to be the missing piece in the jigsaw of bits ‘n’ pieces I need to get my ideal solution working. The problem I am trying to solve is getting some form of live power metric into my ear during time trials. On the face of it, the RFLKT+ is the missing piece, as it allows me to integrate my ANT+ devices (including Power2Max) with my phone and hence bluetooth earpiece.
The Wahoo fitness app looks like the best bet of the ones I have looked at (Cyclemeter, Strava) because it offers the most flexibility in terms of announcements.
Having spent the morning trying to set it up with the Wahoo Fitness iPhone app, it seems clear that there are some things missing. Things that are so fundamental that I keep going through the app looking for them. The app was updated to V4.0 yesterday, so I don’t know if these problems exist in previous versions. Problems I have found so far:
1) The RFLKT+ will not display average lap power, or indeed any power figure based on an average over X seconds. I can’t believe that this issue can have been present in earlier versions of the app, because I think these metrics are the most common ones that people will want to use with their PMs.
2) It will not read cadence from my Power2Max. This seems to be an app problem, because Abvio Cyclemeter takes cadence from the Power2Max no problem, via the RFLKT+. I have the Wahoo speed & cadence sensor, but I do not connect a cadence magnet as the sensor is not located in a place where cadence would be readable (due to the location of the rear brake on my TT bike, and the fact I use a disc and need to fit a speed magnet in an accessible place)
3) It won’t upload workout files to Dropbox. I get the message “Only a limited number of users can get an access token while this app is in development mode”. Exporting data (to Golden Cheetah) is critical.
4) Sometimes it takes up to 2 minutes to “see” my ANT+ sensors.
5) It takes about 15 seconds to auto-pause indoors, after the back wheel stops.
Any of the above will stop me using the app and the RFLKT+, sadly 🙁
A further problem is that the individual workout pages in the app itself (i.e. the iPhone pages, not the RFLKT pages) are not editable. If I wanted to use the iPhone as a headunit, I can choose between different pages, but I can’t customise the content of any page. I noticed this while looking for average lap power, which doesn’t seem to exist on any of the pages I can find. I stress again that I’m using version 4.0 of the Wahoo Fitness app, I don’t have access to earlier versions. Perhaps I need to wait for 4.0.1 😉
Hi Carl,
Thanks for the feedback, here are some responses.
1) Just an oversight. Just added AVG, Max for current lap and previous lap.
2) I will look into Cadence on the Power2Max but I will see if any of my beta testers have one.
3) I forgot to switch it over we did the final release, it will be fixed soon. If you have the dropbox app installed, you can use the “Open In” feature to upload files to dropbox.
4) Pairing can be a little slow to start, we are working on that but once they are setup they should connect quickly when you go to start a workout.
5) Strange, Is your speed and cadence ANT+ ? It should only take 5 seconds.
We don’t currently have the ability to configure the iPhone pages, but with the v4.0 update we have put things in place to add this feature sometime in the future.
What about 3s / 10s / 30s average power views on the RFLKT?
Instantaneous power values fluctuate far too much for steady pacing. I continue to be bummed as multiple releases go by and this isn’t added, nor has anybody responding to my support tickets seem to even acknowledge the value of the current avg power statistic.
Sure. Sounds good, I’m playing around with a few things today. Our default power is actually 5 second power.
Whats the issue with “acknowledge the value of the current avg power statistic.”?
The default power value is a 5 second smoothed average? In my experience (six months with a Stages) it’s not unusual to see successive values (1-2 sec apart) vary by 100+ W during “steady” efforts, which is not what I’d expect from a smoothed average.
Perhaps there’s something I’m misunderstanding about the power measurement process?
Whats the issue with “acknowledge the value of the current avg power statistic.”
That’s mostly me being a bit of a grouch and wanting to see more advanced training features in the Fitness app. Having various smoothed power stats and current lap avg / NP would be very helpful nailing down pacing for intervals.
Whilst I’m venting, any idea what’s up with NP / TSS metrics? Often times it seems like there’s a spike in the data and on the display they’ll jump up into the tens / hundreds of thousands.
5sec, 10sec, 20sec, 30sec, 1min, 5min, 10min, 20, 1 hour Averages, Sound Good?
Hi Murray,
How do you select 5sec, 10sec, 20sec, 30sec, power average options on the RFLKT+?
I am using a Stages.
thanks
Ron
When you tap on the cell it’s under
Power -> Rolling Averages
Hi Murray, I have a RFLKT+ and am looking at getting a Stages Powermeter. I have just been playing with the Android app and realized it does not seem to offer Rolling Averages for Power, only current power? Is that correct or am I overlooking anything?
Lars, Thats correct, we don’t have these available on Android at at this stage won’t be adding them in the near future. Sorry about that.
Thanks for the superquick reply! So just one more question for clarification: So the “current power” field in Android is not smoothed out at all? Or is it a 5s average like the iPhone power (I read that in some other comment above)? Thanks again
How about adding VAM? A very important statistic on the readout…cheers
@Wahoo Murray
A post from Aug 2013 mentioned you don’t have plans to display a text message / caller ID from the iPhone. Is this still the case?
I said it would be possible to alert someone is calling, at this stage we cannot do messages or caller ID.
Now that we have shipped v4.0 I am actually going to be turning my focus to some cool new RFLKT features, this is one that I will be looking at.
Thanks
@Wahoo Murry
Liking the new Wahoo Fitness app 4.0.0. Interface is clean, crisp and fresh. The new BTLE sensors signal strength is a nice feature. Wish it included battery level as well.
Would really like to get temp and altitude uploaded to Strava. I assume that will happen when the new FIT format is incorporated. Any updates on when that might occur?
Also, I do a stationary trainer workout once a week and when it uploaded to Strava it would report the distance from the sensor versus GPS. This was good as it added the miles to my weekly total. This week however, after the 4.0.0 update, it reported the GPS and instead of 24 miles it indicated 1.7. Messes up my training total milage. Any idea how to fix that?
After a ride today, the “Device” now shows up in Strava as “Wahoo RFLKT+”. Still awaiting altitude and temperature but making progress.
You probably should define a Workout Profile within the Wahoo App for Indoor Cycling and set GPS off in it.Then when you start an activity, swipe it over to that profile. That is to prevent this from happening in the future. I can’t say for certain when I upload directly from the Wahoo App to Strava on my Indoor Cycling profile but it shows up under “Ride Type Tagging” as “Stationary Trainer”. You can also manually set this in Strava and that may fix your issue on that activity.
To manually fix your file it would be tedious and I can’t say for certain that it would work but comparing my indoor files to my outdoor files it looks like in theory it would. You would have to export the activity in a TCX file from the Wahoo App and then open it in an XML program like FirstObject. Then go through and delete the Position tags (and everything within it LatitudeDegree, LongitudeDegrees & Data) and the AltitudeMeters tags. Save it and import it into Strava. Perhaps, someone has an easier method.
Hi Murray, thanks for the reply.
The cadence/power2max issue – it might be related to me having a (garmin) ant+ speed and cadence device, but without a magnet to read cadence. I can’t fit one for the reason described above. My edge 500 just automatically reads cadence from the P2M, but on the RFLKT+ when I go to data sources! for cadence only the speed/cadence sensor is available.
Perhaps this lack of cadence magnet is also affecting the auto pause too. I only care about auto pause outdoors, so I will test it properly there.
On your suggested power statistics, the most important too me is average lap power. But all the others would be useful too. If regular power is actually 5 second power then I’d generally use that with lap power.
So does anyone know if the new android wahoo fitness app, released today, supports the RFLKT+ ? I can’tseem to find anything suggesting that may be the case.
Our Android app does not currently support RFLKT or RFLKT+
Thanks for the quick response, even if it isn’t what I’d like to hear.
Do you have any time-frame for when it will be supported?
All I can say its on the top of the list and has been started but unfortunately I can’t give any timeframe.
Well I updated to the latest 4.0.1 version of Wahoo Fitness and all I can say is ‘well done’. The Dropbox integration now works flawlessly. The average lap power and average power for last X seconds features are great. I used the RFLKT+ for the first time in anger this evening, on a WattBike in the gym at work.
Before purchasing, I asked Wahoo Support if the RFLKT+ would support the slightly odd combined power, speed and cadence ANT+ signal (SPC&PWR) that the WattBike outputs. They were unable to confirm that it would. I can confirm that it does.
This unit is brilliant for those of us who train on many different bikes. I use my TT bike, road bike and any one of the 3 WattBikes at work. The maximum 3 profiles you can store on a Garmin Edge 500 is a big limitation in this regard. I’ve already created profiles for all of the bikes I can access and it worked no problem at all for the first time this evening.
There’s now just two outstanding issues I have:
1. The Wahoo Fitness app doesn’t take cadence from a Power2Max. It’s not a problem with the RFLKT+, because the Abvio Cyclemeter app when used with the RFLKT+ can read cadence from the crank-based Power2Max. The power meter just doesn’t appear in the list of sources for cadence in the Wahoo app, but of course power is recorded no problem.
2. The supported list of announcements aren’t quite what I need – the most important announcement for me is average lap power. In fact, the possibility of getting this metric into my ear in races was the main reason for purchasing the RFLKT+ in the first place, so it was a little disappointing to find that it wasn’t there. However, the Wahoo Fitness app in general is so richly featured that it’s just nitpicking that the special feature that I want isn’t there. But it would be nice to have all metrics that are available in the screens to be also available as announcements. And it would be logical.
I’m going to try the unit out in races. For this, I need to be able to transport my iPhone on the bike. I wear a skinsuit so I can’t carry it on my person. So I need a way of mounting the phone on the bike? Then I discovered that Wahoo make the PROTKT just for this purpose. Really, damn this company. The more money I spend with them and the more products I own, the more I need. It’s never ending 😀
Hi Carl,
Thanks for the feedback, we really love v4, its been a big job and lots of changes under the hood that are going to let us push out features much faster than previously.
1. Power2Max, Can you go back into the sensor manager and click on the sensor to connect. Does cadence appear in that list? Try removing the sensor and re-pairing. We had a bug in v4.0.0 that didn’t wait long enough before checking for cadence. I don’t have a Power2Max but I’ve just reached out to one of their engineers.
2. Will add it to our todo list, now the data fields are listed, its only a quick job for me to add them to the announcement configurations.
Murray
Carl, you highlight a significant kit conundrum, which I haven’t fully resolved; that is what to do in races.
RFLKT offers a great solution for training, when carrying a mobile device is generally no issue. However finding a home for that phone in a race is tricky. I fear slapping a smartphone, in a case, on a stem is going to negate many of the aero benefits that training and a skin suit will have brought to the table. In that respect difficult to beat a dedicated GPS unit.
Maybe bike manufacturers will consider mobile seat tube installations in the future, a la Di2 😉
Murray – thanks I will try that.
Liam – I think I can fit a PROTKT to my tri-bars directly in front of the armrests, using a Raceware Direct quarter turn mount. It would add virtually no frontal area save for filling in the 40mm gap between my armrests. The air going through that space is already compromised by the additional quarter turn mount and computer (currently Edge 500, but soon to be RFLKT+) that is mounted – also on the tri-bars – closer to my hands. So I doubt it will negatively affect CdA.
There’s a lot of other options that don’t seem as good. The next best being a Torhans VR bottle, opened out so I can stuff the phone in there.
Sounds like a pretty neat solution Carl.
My husband bought me one f these fr my birthday. We are very happy kickr users and i needed a wireless bike cmputer solution. I use strava anyways so always have my phone with me and this seemed like an ideal solution. Unfortunately it is pretty much a non starter. The first unit that arrived didn’t turn on. When we finally found a replacement battery for it (not that easy to get), upgraded the firmware, i got it t work – for one ride- and even then it was very difficult to persuade it to function with my ant+ speed/cadence… Worked on the wahoo app but not with strava. The next time i went to use it it was dead. Wahoo to their credit sent me out another device, same story, one ride and it is dead again. Beginning to wonder whether there is sone firmware isssue which runs down the battery. Birthday present fail 🙁
Hi,
My wahoo app has started quiting when I try to connect ant+ Sensors (cadence and HR) to RFLKT+. This never happened before but have just updated to 4.1.
Has anyone else had any problems or is it just me?
I am experiencing this as well. Latest update has made the setup very unstable for me. It might be that spring coming and moving to more tightly fitting clothes has exagerated the BTLE connection issues, but the ceash upon connect of ANT+ sensors seems unrelated
Hi Jim & Lars,
We had a few issues with ANT+ in our v4.0.x releases and hopefully they have now all been resolved. We have spent a lot of time the last 2 weeks trying to improve both the BT and ANT connections.
v4.1.0 is currently waiting for App Store approval and hopefully should resolve any issues and ensure the RFLKT+ maintains a rock solid connection. If you still have any troubles after this update please let us know via support.
my RFLKT original jumped off my standard wahoo mount while descending, and I was unaware of where it had come off until 10k later :(. Wahoo kindly gave me 30% off a RFLKT+ arrviing today 🙂 , but would people recommend the barfly type mount over the wahoo mount which is a bit on the light plastic side. IE after you have inserted and removed the RFLKT a few times the connection point starts to look a bit less secure.
Also.. had a hilarious moment in a nz 4 day race where my iphone was accidentally put in my day bag and I was able to locate it in the day bag vehicle using my RFLKT as when iphone was close enough it reconnected to the RFLKT and started showing data again!
RFLKT also is quite good as an iphone finder 🙂
(and I nearly got the KOM on the hill that the day bag van had just driven up! )
I note that when I upload my data from RFLKT+ to Strava from Wahoo App, it does not use the RFLKT+ altitude data , but uses the GPS altitude. This is unfortunate as it would seem that the RFLKT+ is getting a much more accurate measure of altitude, when you look at the number displayed in the wahoo app. And from loading a tcx file generated out of wahoo there is only one altitude number in the file.
Hi Kiwi Tim,
Strava now keeps all sensor data sent from our app that comes from a RFLKT+, although at this stage they are re-calculating the total elevation data. We are working with them to get it supported and we have a long discussion over on the Strava support forums talking all things RFLKT+.
I have had a RFLKT+ for a while and never thought to check this. I have been treadmill running and taking a Wahoo ANT adapter bike case for my iPhone 4S so I can connect to an ANT+ foot pod…
The RFLKT+ bridges ANT+ foot-pod data to bluetooth! e.g. not just bike stuff.
Not only does this mean no clunky case but it saves on phone power (as the screen can be off) and the RFLKT is small enough to hold in my hand. The Wahoo App seems to automatically convert stride data into cadence so you don’t need to change the RFLKT screens for that. I’ll need to test a bit more for speed.
I’ve had a google and not found this info (at least not easily and ctrl-F isn’t helping me find it on this page)
In retrospect, given the format an ANT+ communications it would actually take more effort to block some forms of data types, but this is still awesome.
RFLKT+ will bridge any ANT+ device, its basically a wireless serial port.
An update on where I’ve got to with my testing of the RFLKT+. I have been using it exclusively for my indoor training sessions across 3 WattBikes in the gym at work. It’s great for this, because it allows you to have far more (not sure if there is a limit?) profiles preset into the system than my Garmin Edge 500. I have one for each WattBike in the gym, I select it and go.
I still have some problems with the unit and using it with the Wahoo Fitness app, some of which for the time being will prevent me from trying it during a race. So at this point it’s kinda disappointing because that’s the main reason I bought it, but I am finding it useful for training on indoor bikes. The issues I have are:
1) Auto-pause doesn’t seem to work either inside or outside. At least not in any timeframe I am prepared to wait!
2) Unless you have some kind of ticking elapsed time field, it’s difficult to know if the workout is paused or not. There is no visual clue (e.g. a flashing pause symbol would be good) or audible notification. The Garmin has an advantage here, since it bleeps when you stop or start, so you know whether it is actively recording.
3) If you have more than one page setup, and auto scroll between pages switched on, when the display moves from one page to another, it temporarily seems to show the values it was displaying the last time that page was visible, before refreshing after a second or so. To explain, I might have two pages setup. Each with 4 fields. Two of the fields are the same on each page (average power, 5 second power) and two are different (e.g. TSS and lap time on one page, HR and cadence on the next). So I always see the power figures regardless of the page that is displaying. Now what I’ve found is that when it switches pages, the power figures are the same as they were the last time the page was displayed, which means that the numbers jump around annoyingly. This is a problem at the start of intervals – you see a number that is a few seconds old, and you over-react to it.
4) It won’t display cadence from my Power2Max, but it IS recording it. So while riding, the cadence display is always zero, but when I export the TCX or whatever to DropBox and import it into Golden Cheetah, cadence is there. Odd!
5) Twice I have had to remove the RFLKT+ as a saved sensor from the Wahoo Fitness app and re-add it. Otherwise it just doesn’t detect my ANT+ devices, it never connects to them.
6) It’s a bit flaky around the sensors config pages – Wahoo Fitness often crashes.
7) It’s quite slow to connect to ANT+ devices, usually takes at least a minute to find them when you want to start a workout. This is only a minor annoyance, though.
So I AM finding it useful for training, but it’s quite a way off being at a point where I’d trust it for races. My race data is very important to me, it’s the OCD!
Hope this info is in some way useful.
Hi Carl,
1) Auto-Pause – Should only be 2-3 seconds max. What speed source are you using?
2) We have discussed this. What do you think about inverting the colours every 2 seconds?
3) Interesting. I thought I had nailed this case in the v4.x release. I will check it again.
4) When on the sensor screen, make sure it lists cadence as a data type. You might need to spin the pedals.
5/6) This should be fixed in v4.1?
7) This should only be slow after you have gone into the sensor manager. If you open the app and go into the start workout straight away it should be 5-15 seconds.
Please, if anyone has problems just contact our support. I know most people here are more advanced than most users, so please feel free to ask for Murray and they will pass it directly to me.
Hi Carl,
I think some of those problems relate to the Wahoo Fitness App rather than the RFLKT+.
I use Cyclemeter and:
Auto pause is ok. I go fell running and sometimes it auto pauses when I’m clambering over a fence, which is a bit annoying as my clamber speed reflects my fitness, so I have it off.
It gets cadence from my power2max.
I’ve never had problem with ANT reconnection, with the exception that devices the phone already knew from an ANT+ bike case had to be deleted and re-taught to it so it could see them via the RFLKT+ (wahoo app and cyclemeter)
Not had any crashes, althought the App has an annoying habit of forgetting my self designed power zones. The App only has five in-built.
Seems to connect straight away to the devices. I have to turn it on by pressing a button.
I’ve never had auto-rotate pages on but I’d imagine that was App related too.
In short I’d experiment with some more Apps. I like the runmeter/cyclemeter app as it does everything I need for cycling and running. It doesn’t have foot pod, but it does use the in-built M7 chip. The only reason I use other Apps is because it doesn’t allow downloading of off-line maps.
Hi EB,
Yes sorry, to clarify, I am talking specifically about the RFLKT+ integration with Wahoo Fitness. I had earlier posted that I hadn’t experienced the same issues with Cyclemeter, hence the cadence problem specifically must be app related.
To recap, the reason I chose Wahoo Fitness is because the voice prompts are better. Voice announcements is actually the reason I bought the RFLKT+, although it is proving very useful for my indoor training.
I do think its reasonable to expect that Wahoo Fitness should be the reference app, and to work better with the RFLKT+ than any 3rd party app. And I think it will, because Wahoo seems to be very responsive.
I am starting to really regret the purchase of the RFLKT+
I am now on my 4th battery in 3 months…all brand new Duracells.
I do use it 5-6 times a week [about 12hrs a week] but this is simply unacceptable battery usage…
So taking into account the bad altitude interface with Strava and the battery question this product so far is a disappointment…
Hi Guido,
I know we are having a split conversation here and on Strava forums….
4th Battery in 3 months isn’t normal. RFLKT+ has a life of about 150-200 hours, so for most people thats 12+ months. 12 hours a week isn’t anywhere near normal but you should still get 3 months.
I’m 100% committed to fixing issues with Strava and working directly with the developers at Strava and Cyclemeter to fix any issues.
Please email our support and just let them know you needed to talk with Murray. We can make sure we sort out the issues you are having and if your still not happy we can sort something out. Last thing we want is any unhappy customers, we are a small team and just want to help.
I have also used 4 battery in 4 months, I will estimate the battery life time to 15-20 hours.
I ran into a situation last week where the battery on mine acted like it had run out. There was nothing I could do to bring it back to life (holding down the top two buttons to try to reset, pressing other buttons). The RFLKT wouldn’t come back on. Of course this happened right when I was to head out on a ride. Fortunately, I had ordered a couple replacement batteries, so I quickly just replaced it and went on my way.
Later that night I did some testing on the battery I had removed and it seemed completely fine. I put the original battery back into the RFLKT and it’s been working fine. Makes me wonder if I should have tried the same thing when this happened last year instead of just replacing the battery. Not sure what would cause the RFLKT to do that. I’ll keep an eye on it though.
Wahoo Murray — I am really liking the v4.x of the app with RFLKT+ Like a couple of other people here, I have had one issue that I was hoping would be resolved with v4.1, but which seems to be persisting.
I am using Powertap SL+ and the App is “recording” Cadence fine, but it does not show as an option when I pair the power meter, and hence cannot be selected as the source for cadence. I have tried un-pairing/re-pairing, but have not been able to get it to work.
Any hints would be appreciated–or adding it to the backlog of issues to be resolved.
Hi Andri,
By default, cadence is disabled for power meters, it won’t enable until spin the pedals when its on the sensor settings screen in the sensor manager. Once its detected there, it should show up everywhere.
Its a little confusing and we are reviewing how the new cadence source is detected. We think we will just go back to enabling speed and cadence for all power meters regardless of what data is received.
Wahoo Murray. Thank you for the reply. I played around with it and got it working.
Not sure if this is technically possible, but maybe the issue for recognizing cadence was that I had the bike on a stand and the cadence was too smooth/even to be recognized. When I re linked the Powertap while riding the bike it picked up the cadence.
Andri
…
New version seemed to fix the connectivity issues, yesterday no HR or cadence, today both were recording.
We had a few issues in our initial v4.x release with RFLKT+ and ANT+ connections. We spent a lot of time fixing these issues in v4.1 and I think we have the connection reliability better than its ever been. If you do have any issues, just contact our support.
I’ve been following these comments regarding issues with the RFLKT+ for months now since before I bought mine. I’ve had zero issues with it as it has been worked flawlessly, so I thought I would counter some of these comments with a post on how great mine has worked. That is until today…..
I was towards the end of a weekly PerfPro trainer workout at my local cycling center and about 17 miles in it stated pausing and going active and then pausing and going active over and over again. Then it would pause and it would it a button to make it active and it would keep pausing. It did this for about 5 minutes. The workout was high watts (90-100% FTP) and high cadence (85-100 rpm). I stopped the peddling, pulled out my iPhone from my right side rear jersey pocket and had to begin a new workout as the prior had finally stopped and saved on its own. Very frustrating.
Is it possible that the phone had become active in my pocket and the motion of my peddling caused my jersey to “press” the screen? Or perhaps the Wahoo Speed/Cadence sensor could not keep up with the high cadence for so long that Wahoo Fitness could not read it and paused thinking I had stopped?
Auto Pause was activated and I have since turned that off and perhaps that will solve it. However, I am still curious why this happened as I don’t want to have to deal with it on the road.
Any thoughts?
I had the exact same thing happen to me this morning. I too have been very happy with the RFLKT+ and was experimenting with the auto pause since I was in stop and go traffic. Will disable it for now and see if Wahoo can see if it’s a bug.
For reference, I am using the most current version of the RFLKT+ firmware and the recently released v4.1 of Wahoo Fitness.
Ray and others, I’m shopping for a new bike computer and have posted on the Edge 1000 board. I had been debating the 810 or the 1000. I don’t actually use my computer for mapping or routes that much and always ride with my phone. Other than mapping what do I give up by going with the RFLKT+?
The majority of core non-mapping features from the Edge units are found on the RFLKT, but not directly via a single app. Instead, they’re kinda scattered about different apps. So there’s not a single cohesive comparisons. For example, you can’t program a custom workout into Wahoo’s default app, but you can into a few 3rd party apps (like CycleMeter). On the flip side, some of those 3rd party apps have more flexibility than the Edge does with things like uploading direct to 3rd party services.
There’s no mapping apps for the RFLKT+ that illustrate maps on the RFLKT like the Edge 800/810/1000.
The biggest disadvantage that you would be giving up over Garmin devices to me is a rechargeable battery and battery indicator in Garmin devices. The claim that the CR2045 battery in the RFLKT+ lasts approximately a year is a far cry from the truth in my opinion. I get about 2-3 months out of the battery and I do not use the backlight at all. My last battery I got 45 hours, 18 minutes “Moving Time” and 51 hours, 5 minutes “Elapsed Time”. So somewhere in between those two figures the device was “on”. It’s happen to me twice now that I’ve shown up to a group ride and the battery is completely dead. It’s not too quick to change the battery as you need an eyeglass screwdriver handy to take out 4 screws to get to the battery. The Cyclemeter App has a battery level indicator for the RFLKT+ which fluctuates under load. I have found that when it shows between 20-30% battery level you’ll start to get horizontal lines in the screen, a faint screen, and the odd freeze of data. It’s best to change the battery below 30% in this App IMO. Testing the battery with a multimeter, it’s completely dead at 2.80V. The only reason I bring up this issue is the CR2045 is a bit hard to find in Canada and it’s 3 times the price ($8-10). If you live in the U.S., it’s not a big deal as you can find it anywhere (Walmart, Wegman’s, etc.) for $3.
The Edge 510/810 are only ANT+ compatible for sensors where as the RFLKT+ is ANT+/Bluetooth compatible.
The month of April/May have been really windy and with the device completely “level” on the outreach mount, the Wahoo Fitness App is ridiculous off (recording 450m when I only did <50m) on multiple rides. The Cyclemeter App seems much more accurate as the developers have stated they do smoothing/filtering on the raw elevation data. Strava still does not use the elevation data from the RFLKT+, where as, Garmin devices do. If you don't use Strava, not a big deal.
I assume this issue would be fixed with a Speed & Cadence sensor and would affect both the RFLKT+ and Garmin but on long rides (50-100km) the average speed is always high by 1-1.5km/h and distance under reported by 10% on the RFLKT+. Again, this issue only affects Strava users, otherwise you would never notice the discrepancy when uploading your activity to Strava. This is probably an issue relying on GPS for speed/distance. If anyone can confirm that speed and distance are spot on when uploading to Strava when using a Speed & Cadence sensor that would be great.
Those issues aside, I have found the device to be "good" for the price. I hold it in my hand when I use it for running and it's great for that activity as well. If you can find an Edge 500/800 in the ballpark, I might take that option over the RFLKT+ as I never hear complaints on group rides about those devices. The Edge 510, 810, and now the 1000 have a ton of issues on their forum. Can't pull the trigger on any of those three devices.
Just out of curiosity, which ‘tons of issues’ on the Edge 1000 on the forums are you seeing?
I’m seeing somewhere between 2-3 people in total having a unit, of which about half the posts are more clarification/how-to type questions. Unless I’m missing something.
In regards to the Edge 1000, these threads and posts aren’t great to see in the first week of shipping:
– Freezing!, Wifi Upload doesn’t work?, GC App missing device paired screen?
– Odometer feature missing? | Another report
– Bluetooth issues | Another report
– Unable to unlock message on maps
– Garmin removing Bike Profiles a possible mistake?
Did you read the threads?
For example, bike profiles is actually a discussion on the pros/cons of the new method. As a result of that, there’s the odometer discussion (since you can’t appear to separate it out).
On the WiFi, etc.. thread, you’ve never been able to configure WiFi from the device – always required computer.
There do appear to be two users who have some sort of WiFi issue – whether or not that’s device related or WiFi hub (remember the FR620 WiFi connectivity issues related to certain WiFi AP’s?), it’s unclear.
I’m not trying to push back, but also being realistic. I haven’t seen WiFi or BT issues, and neither did another person. I’ve seen other oddities (I feel the display is FAR too sensitive, I can hover over it and it’ll magically press buttons). And I do agree that the odometer puzzler is interesting, though part philosophical debate. I think the odometer could be rolled into the activity profiles, and that would solve that. The map issues I can’t confirm because Garmin sent me a unit with US maps, so I’ll have to load OSM maps instead tonight.
That said, as I always remind folks – going to company forums about any product is like going to the hospital and finding sick people. That’s the only reason folks go there.
In any case, the RFLKT+ post is definitely not a place for this discussion (Edge 1000 post might be).
Hey Ray, you can delete this post so it doesn’t clog up this thread. It’s also not my intention to annoy subscribers to this thread, as I’m one of them.
To respond to your post, I have read those threads I linked to and I’ve been reading that forum since Jan. ’13 as I had planned to get an Edge 510 or 810 device.
Out of all those links, my biggest concern is the three people (ALEX_FSDT, DOUGGJOHN,
WMARCELIS) already reporting freezing. With over 350+ activities done over the years with Strava, Runkeeper, Cyclemeter and Wahoo Fitness I have not once lost an activity or had my phone freeze. That would be aggravating. The number of posts with ppl needing FIT files repaired and freezing on the Edge 510/810/1000 is mind-boggling. Hopefully Garmin addresses this before it turns into a 17 Page on losing Bike Profiles and takes them less than 3 months to address. Perhaps, they included Edge 1000 logic in Edge 510/810 firmware.
I realize the Bike Profile thread is a discussion but that specific post I linked to brought up several good points/issues that seem valid imo.
You make a valid point with your last point and perhaps I’m missing out on some great devices. I just have a hard time believing all those users are “technology-challenged”.
Strava does use RFLKT+ elevation when you upload directly from Wahoo Fitness’ app, at least on the iPhone. The bad news is that the accuracy isn’t great. I did a ride where the Wahoo Fitness app displayed ~10k’ of elevation gain. I uploaded to strava and initially got 14k’. Interestingly, after using the “correct elevation” feature on strava it went to within 200 feet of what the app reported.
This is just one example, but all my rides show a similar pattern. Uploading to strava results in a greatly inflated elevation gain, but strava’s normal calculations are really close to what Wahoo Fitness app shows.
In addition it seems the auto calibrate is off. Profile is pretty much spot on, but it often shows me traveling at -50m elevation on a nice weather day.
Can anyone confirm if the new magnetless Garmin Speed & Cadence sensor is compatible with the RFLKT+? It’s ANT+ so can I assume so? Thanks.
Yes, Wahoo supports Cadence-Only and Speed-Only sensors. Not all 3rd party apps do however.
In testing it just now against the sensors, it’s actually interesting – I think there’s a bug in the Wahoo app that’s doing something funky to some of the ANT+ ID’s. So I see a slew of sensors, and some of them should definitely be the right ones, but I cant quite line it up because it looks like it’s having an issue with the 6-digit ANT+ ID’s, and seems to be capped at 5-digit ANT+ ID’s.
Hi Ray,
Thank you very much for your thorough review of the Wahoo RFLKT+. After reading your review and the comments, I went ahead and purchased the RFLKT+ myself. Your review helped me a lot in making the purchase decision.
As a runner and cyclist myself, I read a bunch of your other blog posts as well. I am currently doing research on a watch for running. I like the Suunto Ambit. Just wish Suunto would also integrate Bluetooth rather than just ANT+ (so that I can use my Bluetooth HRM and also connect it to my iPhone). Any idea if they are coming out with a Bluetooth enabled watch anytime soon?
Thanks again and keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Andre
Thanks Andre!
Unfortunately, I don’t expect such a product this season.
Cheers.
I just set up the RFLKT+ with my PowertapG3 hubs and have been on three rides. The first ride showed what I think are accurate power numbers. The second showed numbers in the 2-7watt range and the third showed an average of 600watts. Anyone had similar problems and/or know of a fix?
Hey. Great review and interesting blog. I’ve been trying to decide between garmin 500 510 and rflkt± all would suffice from functional standpoint. Although the 510 has that cool tracking feature which my wife likes. I have duotrap and looking to get hr monitor. After reading reviews blogs etc on these I get the following impression:
500 is best most stable unit. Least problems. My concern is its older and will lose support etc.
510 seems to have tons of complaints about various things not working.
Rflkt+ appears to have connectivity issues.
Sorry if this is wrong place to ask but any advice? Right now I’m leaning towards rflkt± simply because failure would cost the least.
Appreciate any thoughts!
I think most would say that the 510 is pretty stable these days. I don’t think I’ve seen too many recent complaints about the RFLKT+ either. And I’d agree that the 500 is probably the least finicky. I wouldn’t worry about support there. You won’t get any new features these days, but Garmin will still help ya out if you break something.
Thank you for the feedback. Do you have a favorite or recommendation? I read your recommendation for 500 on your site. Have you updated that? Really grateful for all the valuable information!!
The data in the ‘comparison tables’ is always up to date, accurate.
Regarding the Live Activity Tracking on the 510, note that on iOS your wife can see your whereabouts using the Find My Friends app.
I just sold my 510 and am getting the RFLKT+ as its replacement. The reality is I have my phone with me at all times. As a near full featured computer it seems redundant to have the Garmin with all the great 3rd party apps for fitness. As new, you’re saving $200 vs the 510, which can be put toward great accessories like the K-Edge mount, cadence sensor, etc.
I tried out the RFLKT+ for about a week.
Works well with iSmoothrun as well as Wahoo. Only issue is that when the RFLKT is paired with my iPhone 5, I have to unpair my Pebble watch. That means no notifications on my ride….which is a problem because most of my mileage is commuting by bike and email, text and call notifications are important. It’s another few steps that make it a hassle for me to use the RFLKT.
I like the ANT+ addition, but really I think I’m going to switch back to just using my Pebble and iSmoothrun app. Works flawlessly and gives my 3 pages of data right on the watch similar to the RFLKT.
The RFLKT+ is a great idea and has promise, but I wish it didn’t interfere with my Pebble watch.
Hi Gunnet,
The bug with the pebble watch should be fixed now. I will reach out to iSmoothRun and make sure they have updated the communication.
Thanks
Thanks Wahoo Murray! Good news.
See my comments below on my positive experience using the RFLKT+ this past weekend….
Wahoo Murray-
A quick request. Can you guys add a feature in the iPhone app to allow merging two workout files? I love the RFLKT+ but it is annoying if something comes up and you lose your BT or ANT+ connection and have to start a new workout, to not be able to see a whole ride as a single activity. This is especially true since these types of issues tend to crop up on longer rides. Seems like this this would be fairly easy to accomplish and it would go a long way to alleviating the frustration of having to restart recording a ride because of a phone/connectivity issue.
Thanks for a great product.
Guido posted problems with battery life on his RFLKT+ in late April. Wahoo Murray responded. I’m also a RFLKT+ user that has been dealing with this issue. I’ve had my first unit replaced by Wahoo and I’m now one of their users that’s getting supplied with batteries at a regular rate (every 2-3 weeks) due to a software/firmware problem. Here’s my latest from Wahoo Tyler this week:
“The battery drain issue only affects around 5% of RFLKT+ users. I will see what we can do about getting this in the knowledge base. We are hopeful to have this fixed ASAP. It’s a hard to track down bug. I do apologize for the delay. I’m going to send you out a few more batteries. Thank you for being patient with us!”
I see on the Wahoo utilitiy app there is a RFLKT+ firmware version v1.1.2.9 which fixes the high current issue. It is Beta only though and requires a password to install…let’s hope a public release is out soon
FWIW, I just did a 133 mile bike ride (total accumulated time 9hrs 30 min.) after the weekend (can barely walk now…..). My iPhone was on and recording and I was using the RFLKT+. I had my phone set to wifi off and cellular data off. However, with cellular data off, you are still able to receive calls and texts.
My phone lasted 8hrs 33min. Using the RFLKT+ along with Bluetooth speed/cadence and scoche rythem+ HRM on my upper arm. The app I used to record data was iSmoothrun.
Now, I knew the phone would most likely not last the entire ride (so I also had a edge 705) but I must say I am very pleased with the time I got out of it. This was more of an experiment.
I’ll rarely go on such long rides, so to know my iphoneRFLKT/BTLE sensor setup will easily last for a century ride is great news.
Also, for those of you having trouble getting HR data to your iPhone from a chest strap, get the Scosche rythem and use it on your upper arm. That will ensure you can get HR data to your phone/RFLKT+.
I have been having an issue with the rflkt+ disconnecting when i put it in my jersey rear pocket. as soon as my iphone goes around my back and isnt in line of sight with the rflkt it loses signal. any fix for this, is my rflkt+ bad..??
Try your phone in a side rear pocket and not the center pocket.
or in a frame bag, since I did this I have had great performance from the the rflkt+, no disconnects during the ride, except when my cadence magnet fell off and I did not notice (operator error in action!!)
Is there a Android equivalent of the wahoo head unit that you know of? ( Kind of difficult fitting a Galaxy Note 3 on the bike) 🙂 (and my iphone 4 is not compatable) Thank you, Rob.
We currently have a beta of our Android app available with RFLKT support. Please contact our support team if you would like access.
Thank you for the prompt reply.
OK….my question is….can you use the RFLKT with Polar V800 and leave the iphone at home? I would be interested in the following:
1. V800 on my wrist
2. Polar bluetooth heart rate monitor on chest (to capture swim, bike, run HR data)
3. Wahoo bluetooth bike sensors (power, speed, cadence)
4. Polar bluetooth footpod (for running)
5. Wahoo RFLKT+ to display bike sensor data, GPS data from V800, HR data whilke riding the bike segment of a race
6. V800 records all data for later download to mobile or pc devices
Is this possible?
No, you cannot use the RFLKT with the V800, the RFLKT (+ or non+) requires a phone with you.
The RFLKT is not able to communicate directly with the V800 in any manner, nor is it able to read the re-transmitted HR from the V800 (that’s some Polar devices only).
new firm wear that is intended to cure the battery issues up today..I had some problem uploading it…succeeded by using the Wahoo utility app and only then turning on the rflkt device..r
I’m using the RFLKT+ with my Android phone now that they support it. I have had good succes with it. It’s still missing a couple of features avail. on the iOS side (Ant+ bridge, Altimeter and Temperature) but its comming along quite nicely imho.
The only thing i can’t quite figure out is power meters… My Android phone DOES support Ant+ (Sony Z1) but i think the wahoo app doesn’t support Ant+ on Android, at all… am i mistaken ? If that is right, that would leave very few power meter options open… Stages at around $700 and PowerTap at a little more than $900 (Hub + Bluetooth cap).
Am i right?
Hi Carl,
Correct those are the only 2 BTLE power meters on the market right now.
We are working on native ANT+ support but no indication of release date yet. At these stage we won’t be supporting the RFLKT+ ANT Bridge but the Altimeter and Temperature will be added in a future update.
Elevation data:
My last run on the RFLK+ showed 831m. Strava says 343m. What elevation data do you believe in?
I’ve had the rflkt+ for some months now, using it mainly in the gym at work where we have 3 wattbikes. I use it in conjunction with the wahoo fitness app.
I’m at the point where I’ve decided that it’s not the product for me. I need a bike computer that ‘just works’. The rflkt+ sometimes doesn’t work, it can be made to work, but this introduces delays into my workout time which is very time constrained, I need to get on the bike, switch on the computer and go. Unfortunately the rflkt+ doesn’t generally allow that. For a start, it takes at least a minute from switching everything on to being able to start the workout. That’s when it’s working correctly. At other times the phone will see the rflkt+ and connect to it, but not start reading data from the ant+ broadcasts. Sometimes this requires deleting the rflkt+ sensor and re-adding it. Sometimes it requires deleting the sensors themselves. This process takes a few minutes. By the end of it I am angry.
Then last week I came to use it and the battery is dead, after about 50 hours. I can’t recharge it, have to get a new battery, gah.
For some reason I absolutely hate having to mess around with technology to make it work. I work in technology but when it comes to consumer devices I can’t stand stuff that doesn’t work consistently. No patience! It’s a character flaw, but there you are. I don’t have the inclination to keep checking out the latest support updates, so the rflkt+ is going in the drawer 🙁
I have a garmin edge 500 that I use on the road and in races. It only supports 3 bike profiles which isn’t enough, since there’s 3 wattbikes plus my two road bikes. I could just buy another to keep for the gym, alternatively might look at the edge 510. I know garmin have their own problems but generally my edge 500 works flawlessly, especially indoors where you don’t have to wait around for the gps to get a signal.
CarlW comment an interesting one…I have recently had a similar set of experiences, i wonder whether it is related to iphone land or wahoo fitness or cyclemeter (the app I use)…but with fiddling I can make everything work and when things work the idea remains a great one..r
Hi.
I am using an rflkt+ with my power2max (ANT+), but it backouts quite often.
See this small video: link to youtube.com
Am I the only one who is dealing with this problem ?
Hi – Just got my RFLKT+ yesterday – and having quite a bit of problems setting it up/working.
(It doesn’t help that all the help videos and pictures are of the original Wahoo Fitness App and so basically I wasted a long time searching for buttons not there anymore,) anyway:
Finally got all my Ant+ sensors paired up; but they keep stopping being paired – ie goes from Green signal to nothing.
Also even though according to the App I have sensors (when they are green) they do not show on teh RFLKT+ unit – for example no BPM, no Cadence /speed when I spin the bike wheel.
The unit also will not just start – I have checked the button set up, and pressing the button allocated for Strt does nothing – I would have thought it would have just started.
Now if I start it from the Wahoo app – the timer begins – nothing else shows up, though, such as speed or heart rate.
I am double checking things on my Garmin Edge 705 and Forerunner 610, and nothing wrong with the sensors.
When I first “paired” it with my iPhone it prompted me for an update to be loaded which I did.
Love the concept, and the form – but rather frustrated by this initial experience, and it is at the moment a long way off replacing my old ; but semi reliable 705.
I have raised a ticket thingy with Wahoo; but wondered if the keen DCR denizens have some tips.
Cheers
You need to update to the latest firmware which fixes the ANT+ problem
Thanks Guido – Like I said i was prompted to do this, when I first paired up the iPhone to the unit – and it actually said “ANT+ FIX” it said it was a success.
But maybe I should re do it.
Any ideas to how I can do that re installation? – I presume it is through the App; but there are no further updates showing for that.
I used the Wahoo Utility app which says it is Working, and the RFKLT give s a nice cheery “I’m Working!” message too.
It says it has Firmware:v1.2.15 through the Utility app – not sure if that is the most recent one.
I am running the latest firmware too when the video was made.
OK after working a bit with the Wahoo helpdesk, I have it working.
What I find to work is:
1. In the latest Wahoo Fitness App go into Sensors.
2 Press a RFLKT+ button to wake it up. – If not done already add the RFLKT+ as a sensor.
3. Then Add ANT+ sensors one by one- and once added and each time you waken the RFLKT+ check they are being seen in sensors.
3. Go into Settings, select activity – in my case Cycling – and checked Linked Sensors – you should see your Sensors all showing a nice green signal – although sometimes it takes a few seconds.
4. Go to “Workout”and press start , and immediately pause – this stops the RFLKT+ going to sleep if you switch apps /answer phone, or iPhone goes into standby. Maybe I missed this in all the instructions ; but that solved a big issue for me.
5. Ride.
Compared it on a ride to my 705 and generally in line, although I do think the RFLKT+ is slightly lower on distance – about 0.5km over 30km versus the 705; but both take it from the same Garmin Speed sensor.
So now to play with all those pages and button combos.
Will this work on a Stand alone sensor Computer just to reflect data from your sensor ?
Typical scenario would be racing that you don’t bring a phone with you.
No, only your phone. It requires the phone be on you at all times.
Hi Ray, I currently use RFLKT+ with Stages PM. What would be your (cheap) recommendation for using instead in an Ironman race?
Hi,
Will RFLKT+ communicate with Ambit3 and use its gps and other data?
Thanks.
J
No.
Hallo.
My rflkt + works very well.
Is it working with the new fly wire unite from shimano di2.
Will the RFLKT+ pick up my ANT+ powertap and send the data to my iPhone 6 via Bluetooth while using trainerroad app?
Yes to the first two, but no to TrainerRoad. They don’t support the Wahoo RFLKT+ at this time in their app.
I’ve had the RFLKT+ since June, and use it both for riding and running. Love it (when it works). Love the company’s enthusiasm and support. HATE the battery design and the battery life. I get 20-30 hours per $5 coin cell. And replacing it isn’t easy. Many rides/runs have been spoiled by a suddenly dead RFLKT+. They shipped me a replacement unit a few weeks back, but it didn’t even make it to 20 hours of use.
Bah! I was really enthused that this could be The One.
I also love the RFLKT+ when used with the Cyclemeter app…but the battery issue is pathetic…have replaced about 10 this year.
Wahoo sent me a replacement RFLKT+ but nothing has changed…
Weird, I have not replaced my battery in months and just did a 4 day tour race so ~12 hours racing, + probably 3-4 hours of other time RFLKT+ was on and still going strong.
Has anyone developed a turn by turn app to work in conjunction with the rflkt/rflkt+? I don’t need a full blown map but would love to have a “right turn in 1/4 of a mile”
Hi Ray
Forgive me for asking something that was answered before… But I can’t seem to find whether RFLKT+ just gives SMS/Email notification or if it shows the content of the message/Email. Can you direct me to a product that shows more than just a new message note? I know Fenix 2 shows part of the message, but it’s realy small. Is there something especially for cycling that utilize the large screen? Kind of pointless to just inform you about a message if you have to take out your mobile anyhow to read it.
Thanks!
It doesn’t give any notifications actually (SMS or e-mail), unfortunately.
Can you please recommend one that does?
Just the Edge 1000 and the Mio Cyclo these days.
From reading the comments, I am not getting th feeling that this device is ready for prime time yet. Have you done any follow up work with this device? I would be curious to read a longer term test of the more mature product and firmware.
I’d say no, it’s not “ready for prime time”–because it’s just not stable. It’ll work stellar for a while, then an app or iOS release will break a whole bunch of things. Once bugs do appear, resolution time is typically measured in months. Then you’ll get a period of time where everything seemingly works perfectly and the cycle starts anew.
I’ve been a RFLKT user since it was first released, and switched over to the RFLKT+ (using mostly BT only, but sometimes the ANT+ bridge) when it came out. I use it with a HR monitor (BlueHR and now TICKR), BlueSC speed/cadence and 1+ year with Stages PM. Probably about 8000 miles of riding total since early 2013.
Currently, (iPhone 5, latest iOS, all the above devices) you just can’t ride for ~3 hours with something crashing. I’ve reported this multiple times to Wahoo support and they’ve yet to acknowledge a bug or commit to any fixes. From my experience at about 3 hours the RFLKT will slowly stop updating. It’ll go from refreshes every second to just every 3-10 seconds. And then it crashes, taking the WF app with it. Usually your ride data is still saved, but once I’ve lost everything and another time all the GPS data went away. Other times I’ve had HR drop out, or GPS stop recording.
All of this is my personal experience. Now for my opinion: Wahoo is a small company that’s stretched itself way too thin on the software front. Their hardware is all pretty top-notch but stable reliable software continues to be elusive. Supporting both Android and iOS and being subject to the whims of the underlying software / hardware stack must be a challenge, but from the number of regressions I’ve seen and reported first-hand (i.e. features that get fixed and then re-break) their pre-release testing isn’t sufficient to the task.
In conclusion: I’d rate everything Wahoo makes as a buy except RFLKT(+). Stick with Garmin, and check back in 6 months; maybe they’ll get the firmware and their app in stable state.
Tyler:
Thanks for the feedback. That was the general impression I was getting. I like the idea of the product but I am cautious about throwing my cash at a product that is not quite there yet. I appreciate your detailed thoughts.
ars
Alan-
I have used RFLKT+ over approximately 7000 km during the last year. Here is my setup and my take on the product.
Setup: iPhone 5 + RFLKT+ Cyclemeter App + Wahoo HR Strap + Powertap SL+ (ant+ power meter) & (Wahoo app for ~first 6-9 months)
I would say that the early adoption about 12 months ago was pretty rough. Once the battery died because of a firmware issue that would keep the RFLKT+ running and drain the battery. But far more annoying was the instability of the connection to input devices that would cause the Wahoo app to stop working and hence stop all data collection. And on a group ride there is no ability to stop and fiddle with hardware and software until things work.
But I would say about 3-6 months ago things turned a corner (and I would love to hear if my experience mirrors that of other users) and now my setup does not seem any less stable than for those using Garmins. As an example I can reliably start my ride in the dark without even seeing the display on the RFLTK+ knowing that it will find my power meter and heart rate monitor–it just works. I have not had any issues with RFLKT+ or app crashes causing data recording to stop–even on longer rides.
The whole workflow, including posting data to Strava and elsewhere and accessing my data post ride is just ridiculously easy and being able to program the data display and control what data is read out to you (Cyclemeter allows a lot of customization of the RFLKT+ display) is easy and powerful. More than a few guys who have Garmins have been eyeing my RFLKT as I am able to give very detailed info as we ride and can easily mix/match BTLE and ANT+
One thing many have asked me is on the battery life of the iPhone being a limiting factor. If you set it up so that it is not using anything other than the BTLE and GPS it seems like you will get at least 6 hrs out of it (have not been on that long a ride) — and it is very easy to get a small USB battery brick if you need more battery than that. Garmin users will also tell
So is it ready for prime time? I don’t race, so I cannot judge that, but for me it is now ready all the time. That is a huge change from when it first came out. I just wish Wahoo merged with Cyclemeter. One company produces great hardware innovation, and the other seems very user oriented on the software front and they implement device detection better than Wahoo. Together I think they could drive innovation more rapidly than they do separately.
Andri:
Thanks for your insight as well. The variation in user experience is one of the things that worries me. I know that users who are unhappy are a lot more likely to write a review as compared to those who are satisfied with the product. I would be using an iPhone 5s and probably the Wahoo app if I got the RFLKT+, along with an Ant+ hr strap. My phone is pretty always with me when I ride so when my Garmin 305 broke, I did not necessarily want to go straight for the next Garmin if I could use my phone and still get a display on the bars. I do NOT want to put the phone on the bars and that would kill the battery very quickly as well.
I am hoping to find that it works, as I like the product idea. Otherwise, I will just grab a Garmin 500 and be done with it for a few more years.
ars
Andriy,
What are your longest rides? How long will you stop for breaks mid-ride? Do you ever experience sensors dropping out (going to sleep) and not repairing? If you can ride for many hours with 15-30 minute breaks without problem then it seems our usage is pretty similar and the stability problems I’m seeing are likely isolated to the WahooFitness app itself.
I’ve never much cared for cyclemeter’s presentation or the fact that I’d have to pay for things so I’ve never tried it instead of WF. But now I’m tempted to take the plunge at least for a little bit.
Tyler-
Apart from commuting, most of my weekend rides are only around 2 hrs — stopping about 1/2 of the time. When I stop I have gotten into the habit of popping the RFLKT off and putting it in my pocket, so there is no problem with walking the phone out of range of the RFLKT. But also, with Cyclemeter you can ‘stop’ your ride and restart it even if the RFLKT+ is turned off–like hours later. There is a separate “done-done” action for completing and posting a ride. At least for me this seems to resolve all the connectivity issues. And I agree 100% that having to worry about connectivity while riding is hopeless.
Initially, about maybe 9 months ago when I first tried Cyclemeter I was not having better luck than with Wahoo App in terms of sensor dropouts, stopping data collection, etc. But at some point it seems that Cyclemeter figured out how to requery the RFLKT+ mid-ride for sensors. To a point where I don’t even need to check on pairing when I start the ride — the sensors just pop up once they ‘awake’ — especially the PT which is ant+ and requires the RFLKT+ to be running to connect. It would be interesting to hear from the Cyclemeter folks what they are doing that is different.
As for paying for the Cyclemeter app. I think it’s only about the price of an inner tube, although they have changed their pricing to be an annual service for premium features like RFLKT+ connectivity.
Getting Cyclemeter is a no-brainer…none of the other apps come close as far as customization options, usability, icloud sync, calendar sync, etc …
Sounds like the Wahoo app might be the weak link. Thanks for the insight.
ars
Very stable for me since the latest firmware update, for cadence,speed and hr
And iPhone 5s lasted at least six hours, 85+ miles with rest stops
Cyclemeter appears to be the ” go to ” app for this device..
Any users of the RFLKT+ try ismoothrun for cycling?
I know isr has RFLKT+ integration as well. I really like the app and its interface and app support..Thanks
First a big thanks to Ray for the website. Amazing work!
I have recently bought a RFLKT+ and it is kinda what I have expected – despite the fact that Wahoo is little bit behind with their software, so many amazing things could be done with RFLKT+ and only a dozen is being used at the moment.
But I have couple of problems:
1) SRM – Problems with dropouts, for a second or two, but constantly during the whole time of the work out, other ANT+ sensors work just fine. Cadence is not supported on SRM, it says zero all the time and calibration isn’t possible. Wahoo do you know more about this?
2) ANT+ Bridge in Strava – It just doesn’t work, I cannot pair any ANT+ sensor and ANT+ key in the menu says not available. Is it supported by Strava? I have read here and there it is…
Thanks for reply!
Has anyone else had the problem I have with current Wahoo Fitness app , if half way thru a ride I decide to take a photo with the iPhone 4s the recording stops.
Cyclemeter also stops when I take a pic with Instagram..
Battery size mentioned in the article is wrong, DC has it right in the first review of the RFLKT as a CR2450 , don’t think it was ever a CR2032
Good catch, thanks – corrected!
Will this connect to my polar M400?
No.
Ok thx. You haven’t done a review of the cateye Strada Smart by any chance have you? this does it all with direct links to your sensors and is also standalone. Better price as well I think?
Hello Ray,
I was wondering if something similar exists for Garmin watches.
I mean, I do triathlon, but I don’t want to use kick release kits. So if a screen like the RFLKT could be connected to my watch, then it could display all info I need from the watch when I jump on the bike, without having to look at my watch anymore.
Hope this does make sense.
Thanks
I was in the same boat as you about a year ago. I decided the best bang for the money was to just buy an Edge 500. With Ant+ you don’t really need any sort of “relay” mechanism, since you can have multiple devices read all of your sensors.
I noticed on Wahoo’s website that the RFLKT+’s ANT+ bridging feature is only for iOS. Is there a reason why this is the case? Will Wahoo ever implement ANT+ bridging for Android and possibly Windows Phone in the future?
I noticed you mentioned that you only need to change the battery once a year. I have been using mine for 1 year and had changed the battery 6 times. It seems that the ANT+ bridge consumes lots of energy. If you deactivate the bridge you get some extra weeks–not much though. i have also found that there are occasional problems with the app and the Bluetooth hrm strap. I hat to reset the iPhone very often to correct the problem (this could be OS related and not Wahoos fault, however very annoying). I wanted to like Wahoo as a good Canadian but I don’t think they are there yet…
Having problems getting the Powertap C1 to work with my rflkt+. The power meter pairs and I get a default power output to my phone (5 seconds?), but it won’t relay the power number that shows up on my phone to the +. The + has either a blank output or string of numbers (guessing serial number). Second, I can’t find any L/R power options for display through the wahoo app/+ data screens. Also, it’s not clear to me how to zero out the power meter. Any suggestions? I’m using Android.
Sorry, meant Powertap P1 (pedals, not chain)
Robert hi!
Realise it’s 12+ maths ago, but did you manage to resolve this issue?
I have similar problem with not being able to find detailed power metrics on the RFLKT+ configuration screen on Android app.
Clearly it’s possible to add L/R and NP, per DCR’s pictures in the review, but I only seem to have access to just ‘power’ as a field when selecting.
I fear it may be to do with the Android app, not having as comprehensive feature set as iOS, but unfortunately don’t have an iOS to check that at the moment.
Based on my conversations with them at the time, it was just a limitation of the Android app. Ended up going out and picking up a Garmin Edge 520 and am very happy with it.
Thanks Robert.
I suspected that might be the case, with Android playing second fiddle to the iOS app, in terms of feature set.
Cheers Liam
Hi DC Rainmaker,
As usual, excellent review!!!
Three questions:
With the ANT+ speed & cadance senor, can I know if the Rflkt+ will provide (and display on screen) speed and distance without turning on the phone GPS?
Can it work with Android phone?
Can the data be downloaded to Garmin Connect after workout?
Ken
Hi,
a quick question. Do you have to have a phone connected? Is it possible to just connect a suunto watch with rflkt?
Joen: A compatible phone is required for operation.
If I buy the basic Rflkt and use cyclemeter which has gradient, would I be able to display the data on the unit?
Yep, All data values from cyclometer can be used on RFLKT.
Will it work with Trainerroad?
TrainerRoad do not have any integration with RFLKT, you could run it at the same time but you cannot control TR with it.
Question for Wahoo Murray
With the new call and text notification firmware update below
” As of right now, there is not a notification toggle for 3rd party apps but there is a work around. If you want notifications in RWGPS or Strava then pair the RFLKT to the Wahoo Fitness app and enable notifications. Now switch back to the other apps and notifications should occur.”
Will this above 3rd party app workaround – –work with other apps like Ismoothrun and or Cyclemeter as well?
They are both used and compatible w RFLKT and RFLKT +
Thanks
Correct, it will work with any 3rd party app.
Thank You!
Great addition to the current $49.99 RFLKT purchase promo
Sorry if this is a duplicate question. Every time I try to use my Rflkt+ the screen turns off a few seconds after I turn it on. I replaced the battery and held both of the top buttons down for for 5-6 seconds to reset like the troubleshooting recommended. Still will not sync up to my phone. I’ve tried using the Wahoo Utility app and the Wahoo fitness app (they will show the battery and signal strength but won’t connect). Any ideas?
I have been having the same problem recently. It happened during a ride initially, but then I got a low battery warning. Curiously, that warning came on screen and never went away (screen never went blank for several days) until I changed the battery. Once I changed the battery, I have been unable to pair the RFLKT with my iPhone 5s like I had it paired prior to the problem. RFLKT never stays on long enough to pair, even though the phone is waiting for the pairing within the Wahoo Fitness app.
I would love to hear a solution from this crowd but I am planning on opening a ticket with Wahoo as well.
This issue has been present with the Wahoo RFLKT+ for at least the last 6 months (if not longer) and Wahoo is fully aware of the problem. Here are the steps their Support Staff stated to follow, in this order:
-Forget the RFLKT as a sensor within the Wahoo Fitness app
-Go to your iPhone’s Bluetooth settings and forget the sensor from here too
-Close out of all apps
-Turn off the phone
-Reset the RFLKT by holding the top two buttons for 10 seconds
-Power on the phone and open the WF app
-Power on the RFLKT by pressing the top left button
-Add the RFLKT as a sensor and wait for the prompt to set up pairing before saving the sensor
I just keep a screenshot of these steps on my phone since it happens so frequently now. I’m running an iPhone 5 and this problem occurs about every 4 rides. I’ve missed so many group rides because of it (yes, sadly I can’t ride without a computer these days). I hope Wahoo either resolves this issue or can shed some light on what is causing it to prevent it from happening. From what I recall, it seemed to start when iOS 9 came out.
Prior to learning about these steps, I was switching out batteries thinking they were draining off, it was driving me nuts. Hopefully Wahoo can make time to address this issue and continue to maintain the RFLKT line.
Unpair from phone and app and repair, might also reset reflct by holding both top buttons
Rjdennis, thanks for help. I had to forget the device in Bluetooth then pair again. That fixed the issue.
Alan Stewart, try that as well as unpair from any app you had it synced with. That should do the trick, worked for me.
It looks like Wahoo has discontinued the Rflkt+. Any idea why? I was thinking of purchasing one so I can use my Ant HRM with it, and it looks like the Rrlkt (which they still sell) does not have that capability. Maybe there is a new model coming out? Thanks.
Hi Ray,
just a quick question: I have had issues with the Wahoo Fitness app regarding the Garmin Connect upload which fails, for a couple of months now. It is odd since the login is correct. It still says “failure” and “forbidden”. Do you have any idea, how to fix this?
Thanks and cheers,
Lars
Garmin whacked Wahoo’s ability to upload to Garmin Connect. 🙁
Hi!
Do you know if the RFLKT+ would bridge ant+ to zwift IOS? And if it would be possible to bridge my garmin 920xt gps directly to the RFLKT+ without a phone so i could skip the quick release strap when im doing my racing? Thanks alot!
John hi!
Pretty sure you can’t connect RFLKT+ to any device independently of a phone.
Unfortunately any connected device would need to connect to app on phone first, then app connects that feed to RFKLT+.