TESTED WAHOO ELEMNT RIVAL80
Plenty of watches offer triathlon-tracking modes,
but Wahoo’s is designed specifically for the
nitty-gritty needs of swim-bike-runners
■This watch has all the basics:
eight sport modes, live tracking,
a colour screen, built in optical
heart-ra te monitoring, GPS
multisport tracking, and some
unique triathlon tools you won’t
find elsewhere. But for £350
you don’t get recovery insights,
sleep tracking, music, maps or
navigation assistance.■Touchless transitions log your
changes from water to wheels
and wheels to feet, but in our
tests they we ren’t always reliable.
Handovers sync your triathlon
leg stats between your watch and
Wahoo bike computer, and you can
also sync to platforms like Strava
and TrainingPeaks.■The Rival plays nice with a
wide range of accessories – turbo
trainers, cadence sensors, power
meters and running power pods
like Stryd – thanks to Bluetooth,
ANT+ and ANT+ FE-C support.
You can also beef up your running
metrics with a Wahoo Tickr X
chest strap (see p42).■But there’s a noticeable lack of
features outside of your training
modes, and post-workout stats
are limited. There’s no training load
monitoring, and nothing like the
workout recommendations you
get fro m Garmin, Polar and Coros.■The Rival claims 24 hours of
GPS training time on a charge and
up to 14 days of general usage. In
our tests we had to charge it up
after seven days, which included
six hours of workout time.The Rival handles the basics well enough and boasts some unique triathlon features
in touchless transitions, automatic handover and segment editing... but there are big
gaps, and at £350 it feels overpriced. With software upgrades it may evolve into a
genuine competitor, but despite its name the Rival isn’t currently a match for Coros,
Garmin and Polar’s existing tri-friendly trackers.Good effort, but
missing features
mean Wahoo
must tri harder
Kieran AlgerTri to remember
STUFF SAYS With Wahoo’s know-how this could be a winner but it’s not there yet HHH✩✩
Display 1.2in 240x240 LC D
Connectivity GPS, GLONASS,
ANT+, Bluetooth Battery life Up
to 24hrs Water-resistance 5ATM
Dimensions 47x47x15.3mm, 53g■ Bright here waiting
There’s no touchscreen, but the
display is easy enough to read
mid-swim, bike and run thanks
to an ambient light sensor and
backlight that bring always-on
convenience without draining too
much battery.■ Sweat adrift
In our tests the Rival’s built-in
optical heart-rate sensor handled
steady runs and rides very well,
matching a chest strap beat for
beat, but struggled with accuracy
when we pushed harder during
higher-intensity intervals.£350 / stuff.tv/RivalTech specs
Lip up statty
Press two buttons
to cycle through views
of up to six priority
stats, helping you to
zoom in on the
metrics that
matter.