New Wahoo ELEMNT ACE Cycling Computer

Wahoo Fitness, founded in 2009, quickly became a leading name in the world of cycling and fitness technology. The brand’s mission has always been to create innovative, high-performance products that enhance athlete training experiences. 

The launch of their first ELEMNT cycling computer in 2015 made a significant mark in the cycling world. The ELEMNT series introduced a simple and intuitive user interface, which set it apart from other cycling computers at the time. 

Today, Wahoo’s range of cycling computers, including the Wahoo ELEMNT Roam and Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt, are known for their sleek design, advanced functionality, and user-centred approach. Their latest offering, the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace, advances the capability and durability of a cycling computer to the next level.

I have been fortunate to be testing the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace for the past few weeks. While I haven’t had enough time to test every feature exhaustively, here’s my first look at Wahoo’s latest offering.

Features of the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace:

– Price: $999
– Where to buy: FEsports.com.au
– Size: 126mm x 72mm x 24mm (480 x 720 pixel display)
– Touchscreen compatible
– Up to 30 hours battery life
– Enhanced navigation
– Digital bell
– Music control page

A Quick Look at the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace

Unboxing the ace is simple, but the size immediately struck me: this is a large computer. At 126mm x 72mm x 24mm, it’s not much smaller than my iPhone 12. At 206g, it’s also one of the weightier options on the market. 

The Wahoo ELEMNT Ace features a 480 x 720 pixel display, on par with the Hammerhead Karoo computer, the market leader in terms of display. It also features a slightly larger display than the Karoo at 96.7mm.

I have tested both the most recent version of the Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt and the Hammerhead Karoo (V2), and they both featured good battery life (Wahoo around 13 hours and Hammerhead around 11.5 hours). However, this isn’t enough for the bike packer or ultra-endurance athlete. The resolution and mapping capabilities drained the Karoo quicker than the Bolt, but this is something that Wahoo has really sought to address in developing the Ace while retaining a quality display. In fact, the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace claims a battery life of up to 30 hours.

It’s pretty rare I am afforded the luxury of more than 3–4 hours of ride time at the moment, so I haven’t fully tested battery life claims yet (see below). But if Wahoo is right, this could be a game changer: not just for the ultra-distance cyclist but for the everyday cyclist who doesn’t want to have to charge their computer weekly.

Touchscreen Capability of the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace

The Ace also represents Wahoo’s first bike computer with touchscreen capability. The Ace’s dynamic display brings clarity to maps and metrics that can easily be scaled and controlled with a simple pinch, press or swipe – much like your phone. The Wahoo ELEMNT Ace also features grippy, textured buttons. This means you can still toggle screens, hit laps, and control maps in sweaty or wet conditions.

Another big change by Wahoo is ditching the ELEMNT app. Instead, the Ace syncs with the Wahoo app, allowing instant integration with their ecosystem of workouts. From the app, you can enable integration with various third-party apps and websites such as Strava, TrainingPeaks, Komoot and RidewithGPS. Authorising a mapping app automatically populated the ‘route’ tab of the app with your saved routes, making navigation selection easy.

When loaded, the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace has voice-enabled navigation. You can also easily navigate to a point on the map or get re-routed on a course using the computer interface without the app. 

Dashboard, Profiles and Sensors

The Ace launches Wahoo’s first ready-to-ride dashboard. The Dashboard features a menu with workout profiles, routes, and workouts. The dashboard also displays and allows sensor connection (see video) with a visual display of their battery life. It’s a nice feature for anyone who has suffered from the ‘battery low’ message mid-ride.

Launching into workout profiles, you can select the standard cycling or indoor cycling workout profile or create a range of other profiles in the Wahoo app. This is great for cyclists with various bikes or disciplines who use different sensors or value different metrics depending on the ride. For example, on a technical cross country ride, your speed metric is pretty meaningless. If you are headed to a fast-paced gravel race, however, this may be more beneficial.

Launching into the ’route’ menu brings you to a list of routes pushed from third-party apps to load for navigation, and ‘workouts’ pushes across structured workouts from the Wahoo app or third-party apps like TrainingPeaks.

Keeping it Aero

‘Aero Metrics’ is a new feature launched with the ELEMNT Ace. A 15mm wide port on the computer’s top tracks air resistance in real-time, represented as ‘AirBoost’ and ‘AirDrag’. Just like power or heart rate metrics, these Aero Metrics are available for analysis post-ride.

While it’s an interesting feature that could potentially be useful to gravel riders in tightly packed bunch riding, it’s likely less of a feature for the mountain biker out there.

Strava Integrations

Wahoo has flagged Strava integrations as coming in early 2025. For those who love a race against the clock, the Ace will allow the rider to see real-time progress during segment hunting. The Ace is also able to transmit live tracking to anyone with an active link. In terms of mountain biking and safety, this is a great feature and one I will use on my more remote escapades. 

Unboxing and setting up the ELEMNT Ace

Unboxing the ace is a fairly sedate affair. The box features the unit, mount, USB-C Charge cable, user guide and lanyard. The mount is significantly larger than previous Wahoo mounts and is made of aluminium. While the large mount adds weight to the whole unit, it also adds extra stability and a more secure feel. Considering the size of the Ace, the larger mount is a win.

Notable for mountain bikers: the provided mount isn’t compatible with a 35mm handlebar. While we used the Ace on our road and gravel bike with no issues, I required a K-Edge Adjustable Wahoo Stem mount for use on my cross country and trail bike.

When you have powered the Ace on, pairing with your phone using the illuminated QR code is easy. From here, you can start pairing your authorised apps, build some workout profiles or simply mount on your bike and start pedalling.

First Impressions of the ELEMNT Ace

On my first ride with the Ace, I immediately noticed that despite its size, it doesn’t look out of place on my bike. It’s easy to navigate through to the workout and profile pages with a swipe or tactile button. Using the touchscreen requires a tap of the lock in the dashboard view to unlock the screen; then, you can let your fingers do the walking. Using the buttons on the right side of the unit results in a simple zoom and unzoom.

Each page of the profile can be zoomed and un-zoomed. You can feature as few as two data fields or as many as eleven. Needless to say, if you have seven or fewer data fields, they’re all massive. This is a huge bonus for someone whose eyes stare at a computer screen all day (note to self: book optometrist appointment).

Some quick impressions follow, looking at the Ace’s features in more detail over the past few weeks.

Maps on the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace

Maps are beautiful on the Ace; there’s no doubt about it. You can use the side buttons to zoom in and out to navigate the map. Hit the lock button on the screen to pinch in and out and drag across the map to navigate.

The maps are generated from OpenStreet maps. Using the Ace around my trails, it already features all my local sanctioned (and many unsanctioned) trails. The navigation page also features points of interest, street names and Summit Segments.

Loading a route is easy; simply connect your app, and hit ‘Routes’, which appears in the main menu’s route section (see our video on selecting a route).

If you’re on a ride and are lost or need to route somewhere, it’s easy. Simply stop route navigation, select Route to in the map submenu, and select from saved locations. Alternatively, you can select a location on the map. It even allows you to choose whether you want a trail or road adventure.

Music Control

The Wahoo Ace features a music control page. If paired with your phone, you can use the Ace to control your music selection. This is great for those riding with headphones that don’t feature music controls.

Digital Bike Bell

It’s a little left of field – the Wahoo Ace has integrated a digital bike bell using the unit’s inbuilt speakers. Simply tap the centre footer button on any page or double-tap on the main data page to ring the bell. I actually did this by accident before realising it was a feature and had NO IDEA what was happening (cue thoughts of “why is my computer dinging?”).

This could be a useful feature for riders who don’t want to use a real bell but ride on shared paths. Police have occasionally located themselves on heavily trafficked bike paths in Brisbane to issue fines for cyclists without bells. How good would it be to show the police you’re compliant? Alternatively, you could use during a cross country race instead of calling track (I’m only half joking on this one).

Profiles on the Wahoo ELEMNT Ace

While I have set up a range of profiles, I need more time on the Ace to optimise. For example, I have set up a page for each style of riding I do and selected sensors and metrics based on that.

For example, if I am on the road bike, I’ll use the new Aero metrics. This is especially pertinent if headed to a criterium or group ride where hiding is key, rather than exerting yourself. With profiles, you can build a page specifically around these metrics.

For my cross country/trail bike, I’ll focus on key metrics like gradient, power, heart rate and distance, with a climbing and elevation page. I’ll also use Summit Segments to deconstruct climbs a little more. For those of you who dislike the forced page pop-up page that’s activated by Summit Segments, you can select what climbs activate the function. The default option seems to constantly activate due to the hilly terrain where I live. Selecting Summit Segments only for medium and large climbs reduces activation, meaning it’s activated only on substantial climbs.

For dedicated e-bikers out there, there are metric options to build into a profile, including battery percentage, remaining range and operating mode. For the dedicated enduro rider, metrics are available to track both descent and ascent.

There are hundreds of metrics to build into profiles, so while I have set up a few for different bikes and riding styles, it will take a little longer to determine what is optimal for each use. 

Wahoo ecosystem

The Wahoo ecosystem is simple yet effective. While it lacks the training, progress and lifestyle metrics you may find in the other big competitor’s hub, it simply and effectively displays key training data. For those who seek extra metrics, there is, of course, the ability to push workouts to third-party training software such as TrainingPeaks, though throughout our use, we had to manually push workouts across after uploading to the Wahoo app. We also didn’t find the Wahoo app pairing seamlessly; it often took reopening the Wahoo app and dragging down the menu to force rides to upload to the app.

The ELEMNT Ace syncs with the Wahoo app rather than the ELEMNT app, with a move towards full integration of the Wahoo SYSTM to come. We hope that the app integration becomes a little smoother with future updates, and Wahoo has flagged more workout insights to drop next year.

Battery Life

While we haven’t had enough time on the computer to test the claimed 30 hours of battery life, my 10 hours of ride time with the unit sees the Ace’s remaining battery at 36%. As a caveat, this has also included several hours of the computer being on standby while getting comfortable with the computer’s features at home. Extrapolating this use, it’s unlikely that I will get the full 30 hours out of the unit. 

Speaking with Wahoo, however, they have indicated that accessing the maximal claimed 30 hours of battery life requires the backlight option to be set at 5 seconds rather than automatic. I’ll check back after more use with the full low-down on the Ace’s battery life. 

Roundup

Overall, I have been quite impressed by the short period I have spent with the new Wahoo Ace. Though it’s a large computer, the display is brilliant, and mapping and navigation are significantly improved from the ELEMNT Bolt (though I would suggest that the Ace is closer to the ELEMNT Roam than the Bolt). Plus, it’s an absolute pleasure to use.

The Dashboard is exceptional and allows a simple, quick look at all sensors and key menus any rider needs to access before heading off for a ride. The use of profiles and the endless sub-menus allow an almost infinite combination of metrics to be built to suit any user. The digital bell is the feature no one thought to request, but it is an awesome add-on. I have my fingers crossed that the Ace can deliver a battery life of 30 hours (TBC: watch this space). This will certainly make it the computer of choice for stage racers, ultra-endurance bikepackers and 24-hour racing fans.

Some of the features of the existing Wahoo ecosystem aren’t as sophisticated as other major rivals. However, Wahoo has flagged major upgrades to this in 2025 and the upcoming Strava Live Track integration. I look forward to the next few months on this computer, diving deeper into existing features and the upcoming updates.