Gear Review: Wahoo Elemnt Bolt
joshua0.dreamwidth.org
joshua0.dreamwidth.org
But also, the other side of this is that the attribution issue is, perhaps, only 50% of my thrust here -- the other 50% being that it's actually a really cool device inside, and it's neat to see how they managed to build a device that's (mostly) competitive with Garmin's rich feature set so quickly. And so that, I think, might be what would be even more interesting to HN, rather than just torching them. If they opened the platform up to tinkerers a little bit -- perhaps if they 1) unlocked the bootloader; 2) provided /system images; and 3) enabled a switch to give you access to adb -- then it would be a really really cool form factor of a toy for a lot of different uses.
-Chip from Wahoo
http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/11/08/gpl-enforcement.html
> I'd say that 98% of the violations I've ever worked on since 1998 have been unintentional and due primarily to negligence, not malice.
(author of the above statement led FSF's GPL enforcement for many years)
... so it's violating the ODbL too.
Most people don't realize that Mediatek (and allwinner and all of those little Chinese SoC/chip vendors) aren't really in the merchant chip business. Remember getting data sheets, perhaps spec'ing chips with second sources (Intel had to get AMD to second source their early x86 parts or nobody would risk buying them).
Well when you can't get a data sheet from Mediatek or their ilk it's not because they are holding out on you per se -- they probably don't have one. They would prefer to sell a chip (perhaps a customer-specific one) with a blob of proprietary code and a custom kernel etc and just hand the whole lot over to the customer for a single application. Sadly, a lot of customers go for this.
Plus, besides GPL, LGPL and Apache2, I'm interested in knowing what other licenses they are violating
Second, the ELEMNT is a terrific cycling computer, but it’s so optimized for cycling that I expect it would be useless for any other activity. If you want something to use for biking AND hiking, I strongly suggest that you look into a Garmin triathlon watch.
And yes, the ELEMNT is an ok cycling computer, but I think with a few bug fixes, it would work 'at least tolerably' for hiking (that is to say, at least as well as the Garmin Edge 510 did). The Edge 510 was not a great hiking computer, but for 'datalogging with a separate battery from my phone, and capable of speaking ANT+ to my heart rate monitor', it at least captured correct data...
I need to pay attention to my HR when riding, and the LEDs are a godsend. Furthermore the screen is way, way easier to read being a transflective or something like that type. Adding to that, the ride synch just works - something I never, ever would accuse Garmin of.
For many cyclists, including myself, the Bolt has been a godsend. Garmin got way too complacent and their stuff began to just run so poorly. People are still looking for Edge 500's because they're so bomb proof. My Edge 510 crashed multiple times on me and equally as many times I needed to manually reset it via deleting stuff off it.
We're long past the days where it was questionable if open source would gain traction and everyone had to be deferential. License holders should start setting the standard of enforcing the terms of the license they chose.
License holders should start setting the standard of
enforcing the terms of the license they chose.
I can understand why a philanthropist with the money to pay for such a legal battle might spend it on other things instead.
no, since there are some LGPLv3 parts they would break the license if there was no easy way to go from their dump to a device with modified code.
If I was Garmin, I'd fund one of the guys they stole from to fund an injunction. Wahoo is a US company, it's easy enough.
If release of this code was forced smaller companies would be able to make use of these SoCs. It would greatly expand access to cheap computing.
The GPL and derivatives also anticipated people playing tricks wrt to compiling and forces you to release everything needed to build it.
As for GPS weirdness mentioned in the article, I'm wondering if there are some shenanigans going on in Android, or if I ran into some GPS jamming or some sort of selective availability? I took a ride along the Illinois side of Mississippi River north of the Quad Cities, and while I was near the Quad Cities nuke plant, my phone's GPS altitude readings were ridiculous - the altitude profile for my ride showed altitudes over 2,000 ft, when there are no such places in Illinois that high, save at the top of some skyscrapers in Chicago. This was consistent on both the outbound and return trips, with the anomaly occurring just south of Albany. Northward, the altitude readings were what they should be (in the ~600-700 ft range).
See https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/wahoo-elemnt-users...
Strava segments in my area often have very wrong altitude data. Chicago is extremely flat yet there are segments that report gradients of over 10%, sometimes as much as 27%. I believe they are thrown off by buildings and the frequent elevated train tracks.
I'm guessing segments just use the elevation data of the activity that they were created from, hence why they can be wildly wrong.
You could even have it charged from the dynamo.
I've used the device for 4 hours this week and the battery dipped from ~50% to ~40% (that is witout backlight and other variables which might consumer more energy)
I believe they are also weather proof (mine didnt mind some water splashed onto it).
A Dynamo to power my phone would unnessecarily add another drag coefficient and slow me down.
It is also claimed that the device is more aerodynamic than the competing devices from GARMIN and also a phone based solution.
The device also has some very nice LED indicators for metrics like heart-rate (blue when resting, green in sweetspot, orange/red when burning matches and dipping into non-aerobic zone).
I could go on but this list covers most of the reasons I bought the unit.
You could use a phone (I did for a bit) but the experience is worse in every single dimension. Until, of course, you get really lost and need Google maps...
Actually, I have also found it extremely useful when navigating unmarked trail races. It's small and light enough to keep in your pocket and the mapping beats anything on a GPS watch. I use it to track my progress too, no problems with elevation for me but there isn't much of that in the UK anyway.
I used a Garmin for about 5 years but I got the Bolt last Summer and I have found it considerably more reliable. The worldwide maps are great too. However, on the basis of the complete disrespect for OSS I will stop recommending it to others and I won't be buying another. Shame.
The Elemnt also comes with a bike mount so I can just take a quick glance down for directions instead of having to take my phone out of my pocket. I could just get a cell phone mount, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
Also, a dynamo could work - but that would add additional friction and make it harder to cycle.
Sensors historically used the ANT+[1] wireless protocol which was the standard for monitoring sensors. Phones don't have ANT+ support and required an additional dongle.
Most sensors now support ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart which allows them to work with phones, but for the broadest accessory compatibility you need an ANT+ head unit.
Another point I'd raise is that the head unit allows me to ride with my phone off, silenced, on airplane mode, or even without my phone at all. The price point is significantly less than a phone so I'm also a lot less worried about damage or theft.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANT%2BBut above all else, riding with a phone out on your bars is just asking for trouble. The Bolt is so easy and convenient to interact with since it still use tactile buttons. When it's sub 40s and I'm cold, or 85+ and sweating, the last thing I want to do is fight with a touch screen.