I’ve done a lot of aero testing. More than I could keep track of, but filtering to “My Results” on a Strava segment of the road I’ve done most of my testing on spits out 305 results in the past two years. At a kilometre each way, most would probably describe this as the most mind numbingly boring way to wrack up over 600 km of riding, let alone aero testing… but I love it.
Imagine then my interest (and scepticism) when Wahoo unveiled its new Elemnt Ace head unit to me at Eurobike back in June.
The Ace is a new addition to Wahoo’s range of GPS head units featuring some welcome but incremental upgrades, but it’s the headline feature that grabbed my attention: an integrated wind sensor.
A what now? Glad you asked. The Elemnt Ace features a dynamic wind pressure sensor, for measuring airspeed, integrated into a large port on the front of the unit. The Ace takes the measurements from this sensor to create an on-screen display of airspeed and Wahoo’s new “Wind Dynamics” metrics.
On the one hand, it’s an everyday cycling computer with the features that mark it as a premium modern head unit – a claimed 30-hour battery life, digital bike bell, enhanced navigation, and Wahoo’s first touchscreen – and it also has built-in wind-measuring tech.
On the other hand, there are numerous companies producing devices solely focused on measuring wind speed on dedicated and simple out-and-back courses specifically designed for testing. Not all those devices have proved successful, but they all share a few things in common: the acknowledgment aero is complicated, a specific focus on wind-speed devices, and a price tag higher than the new Wahoo Ace’s still-considerable cost.
Like me, you may be wondering whether Wahoo can bring wind speed (and perhaps even drag measurement) to the masses or whether its new “Wahoo Wind Dynamics” are just a gimmick. Just as importantly, what’s the Ace like as a head unit? Having had the Ace (two Aces in fact) for a month or so and put in plenty of riding on them, these are all questions I aimed to answer in this review, first starting with the aero side of things, and then getting into the more regular elements you would expect in a unit like this.
The short of it: Wahoo’s new flagship cycling computer that introduces advanced features, a huge touchscreen, and uniquely, an integrated wind sensor.
Price: US$600 / CA$850 / €600 / £550 / AU$1,000 / JP¥9,900
Good stuff: Large display, bike bell, a combination of touchscreen and physical buttons, intuitive on-device interface, GPS accuracy, future potential, and … integrated wind sensor.
Bad stuff: Integrated wind sensor is incomplete at launch with several promised features deferred to future updates, bike bell doesn’t work on all pages or link to levers, limited mounting compatibility due to size and weight, slow start-up times, temperature sensor, and … that price!
Wind Sensor
The Ace has plenty of new features which we’ll delve into in a second, but there’s really only one natural place for this aero-loving nerd to start and that is the dynamic wind pressure sensor integrated into the front of the head unit.
The Ace is the first head unit since the iBike Newton+, over a decade ago, to measure airspeed. Unlike the iBike, though, the Ace is not (yet) using this data to back-calculate power or CdA, but instead to provide what Wahoo says is accurate airspeed data that can be used to quantify the head or tail wind a rider is experiencing and/or how well they are drafting behind a rider in front.
The Ace determines wind speed using a built-in dynamic pressure sensor positioned behind a twin-port, front-facing opening on the device. The dynamic pressure sensor doesn’t directly measure airspeed or direction; there are no tiny spinning cups or propellers inside the Ace like those you might find on a weather station. Instead, the Ace employs a principle similar to the wind sensor-including aero meters now on the market and even the pitot tubes seen on airplanes.
This sensor measures the force of air entering the front of the device, generating an electrical current proportional to that force. An algorithm processes this signal to produce a readable airspeed measurement. The algorithm incorporates the rider’s ground speed, obtained from GPS (or presumably a speed sensor if one is connected), to calculate airspeed and determine whether it’s a headwind or tailwind.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about pitot tubes, wind sensors, aero meters, call them what you will, it’s that they don’t play well with rain. Water or road debris can block their tiny pitot tubes, rendering them useless. Naturally, I was curious to see how the Wahoo Ace would handle wet conditions, given that as a head unit, it’s bound to face its share of rain and grime. Unsurprisingly, my suspicions were confirmed as on my first rainy ride, the airspeed data disappeared completely. Thankfully, though, it wasn’t terminal as I feared.
The Ace’s wind sensor uses a semi-permeable membrane designed to allow airflow through while preventing water ingress. However, in wet conditions, moisture build-up blocks the membrane, blocking airflow to the dynamic pressure sensor.
This blockage could cause the device to misinterpret the lack of airflow as a strong tailwind. To address this, Wahoo programmed its algorithms to detect such anomalies and display two dashes (“–“) instead of incorrect data, to avoid eroding user confidence in the device’s accuracy. In other words, Wahoo said it wasn’t a malfunction I was experiencing, but effectively a protection mechanism. I can pretty much confirm as much, having seen airspeed disappear on several wet rides, only to reappear later on the same ride or the next day.
However, this also means the Ace’s airspeed functionality, whether useful or not which we will get into next, is essentially unavailable in wet conditions and does have me wondering about long-term reliability. I have specific concerns about the potential for gravel, grit, or mud – materials that don’t simply dry off like water – to clog the membrane and render the sensor useless. So far, this hasn’t been an issue; despite intentionally taking it on a considerable amount of mucky and dirty gravel rides to test this, the Ace has functioned fine once dried out.
To clarify, Wahoo has not positioned the Ace as an aero meter. At least not yet. Even the commonly adopted term “aero meter” is a little misleading, often referring to drag measurement systems which typically include wind sensors, power meters, speed sensors, body position sensors, and software. However, Wahoo does reference “Aero Sensor Additional Functionality” in a list of H2 2025 updates.
Even then, it does not measure yaw (the angle between the direction of the airflow (wind) and the forward direction of the rider, arguably critical to aero testing) and the current hardware cannot facilitate this with a simple firmware update. Instead, it provides a measurement of the straight-on wind vector. Additionally, it only attempts to measure airspeed when the rider’s speed exceeds a threshold, roughly 6–10 km/h, because wind speed accuracy decreases at very low speeds. Wahoo told Escape Collective that the developers prioritised accuracy in the speed range where aerodynamics become a significant factor, roughly 20 to 50 kilometers per hour.
I did expose one blind spot, though, in pairing a Zwift hub trainer, which the Ace then took speed data from and started displaying an airspeed reading during an indoor ride despite not even having a fan on. Perhaps this indicates that the Ace’s algorithm doesn’t always correctly identify when to disable the airspeed measurement. That said, I do feel like I tricked the system, and to be fair, it did ramp up airspeed when I turned a fan on.
That experience, though – and understanding a little about how difficult accurately measuring even just wind speed is – did have me questioning the Ace’s airspeed accuracy. Central to these concerns is how the Ace deals with air stagnation around the rider and bike.
Stagnation zones occur when air flowing toward an object, such as a rider and their bike, slows down, compresses, and increases in pressure as it is forced to redirect over, under, and around the rider and bike. A simple change in the rider’s body position alone significantly affects this stagnation: an upright rider creates much more stagnation than one in an aero position. These stagnation zones typically form in front of the rider’s body and, crucially for handlebar-mounted devices like the Ace or aero meters, around the handlebars.
While not identical – air is less dense, so stagnation effects are less visually dramatic, disperse more quickly, and can divert over, under, and around a rider – a bow wave in front of a boat can provide a good example to visualise the effect of stagnation zones.
The higher air pressure in stagnation zones makes it difficult to accurately measure true wind speed, posing a challenge for any dynamic pressure sensor on or around the handlebar area.
Stagnation is a challenge for aero meters despite their designers typically finding ways to position these devices much farther forward of the rider than where the Ace will sit on the handlebars. Some aero meters are even mounted on long poles extending far beyond the handlebars to escape these stagnation effects. Commercially available aero meters also include a “calibration factor” that is either updated by the user or automatically in some cases to account for this phenomenon.
Since the Ace is a handlebar-mounted head unit, Wahoo has no alternative but to position it close to the handlebars and thus directly in this stagnation zone, making it critical to factor stagnation into airspeed calculations.
Another consideration is sensor alignment. Pitot tubes used in aero meters must be positioned as close to perfectly perpendicular to the ground as possible for accurate readings. While Wahoo recommends mounting the Ace in an out-front position, there were no warnings during setup nor guidance on the packaging to ensure the device is mounted perpendicular to the ground. This lack of guidance could introduce another variable, potentially affecting measurement accuracy.
When asked about this, Wahoo told Escape, “The wind algorithm in Ace does not require manual calibration, but it is sensitive to position. We recommend using Ace with an out-front mount, and with the angle as perpendicular to the ground as possible. This will create the optimal position for accuracy.”
To validate its wind speed measurements, Wahoo says it tested the Ace in a miniature wind tunnel at its headquarters, benchmarked it against “similar devices,” and conducted testing on an indoor velodrome. According to the company, the Ace passed these tests.
I conducted my own comparative testing with a third-party wind sensor in the Streamlines Altostratus to assess the airspeed accuracy and then had John Buckley of Streamlines assess that data. Before diving into the results, it’s important to reiterate again that Wahoo does not (yet) market the Ace for drag measurement. As such, arguably the Ace’s accuracy does not necessarily need to meet the same high standards as devices specifically designed to calculate aerodynamic drag or CdA. Furthermore, my comparisons focus solely on the airspeed measurement capabilities of the devices purely to evaluate if the airspeed is useful or not. It is not a comparison of them as complete systems.
Overall Buckley was impressed and said, “Considering the measurement comes from a couple of ports on the front of a bike computer, I was very surprised by the quality of the data. I think it is quite an elegant and effective design.”
Firstly, ground speed is critical here, and any aero tester worth their salt will use a more accurate speed sensor rather than GPS speed data in testing. That said, the Ace’s GPS speed data was remarkably good, a finding backed up by the Ace’s ability to recognise I was moving when others couldn’t during a few “hike-a-bike” excursions I ended up on with the Ace, a Garmin 1040, and the Coros Dura.
Initial comparisons of airspeed and ground speed look remarkably promising. While there is a one-second delay in the Ace’s airspeed relative to its headwind channel, likely stemming from a FIT file writing error, that’s an issue that a firmware update could resolve. Closer inspection highlights some discrepancies (deltas) between the Ace and the aero meter, but the Ace’s airspeed measurements still remain surprisingly good for a non-dedicated device. Overall, from the single short test I’ve done, the Ace’s airspeed measurements are generally within 5–10% of the Altostratus wind sensor.
That 5-10% is nowhere near accurate enough to use the Ace for aero testing, but it’s a damn sight better than I was expecting. But comparing airspeed is only useful so long as Wahoo isn’t claiming this can be used for drag measurement. Because drag scales with dynamic pressure, which is proportional to the square of airspeed, this relationship amplifies any small inaccuracies in airspeed measurements. While the Ace passed basic airspeed measurement testing, its dynamic pressure readings highlight limitations in its potential for aero drag measurement, with discrepancies in pressure readings ranging from 6–8 Pa and occasionally exceeding 20 Pa. While the outliers can be managed with filtering, even typical readings are far above the 1 Pa threshold required for precise drag calculations.
Long story short: the Ace is not an aero drag measurement system or so-called aero meter.
Understanding Air
To complement its airspeed sensor, Wahoo has introduced two new metrics, “AirDrag” and “AirBoost,” to quantify the effects of headwinds, tailwinds, and drafting.
Regardless of whether we’re riding into a headwind or with a tailwind, air is always moving relative to us, which we experience as airspeed.
- In a headwind, the air moves toward us as we ride into it, resulting in an airspeed (relative to our body and bike) greater than our ground speed.
- In a tailwind, the air moves in the same direction we are travelling. While we are still moving through air (and thus generating some airspeed), the airspeed relative to us is reduced. This reduction significantly decreases aerodynamic drag (again, proportional to the square of airspeed), providing the familiar boost that riders feel when riding with a tailwind.
Wahoo’s metrics aim to quantify these effects:
- AirDrag reflects the impact of headwinds, occurring when the airspeed measured by the Ace is greater than the rider’s ground speed. The Ace displays airspeed on screen, while orange and red backgrounds to this display indicate light and heavy AirDrag.
- AirBoost, on the other hand, quantifies the benefit a rider experiences from a tailwind or drafting. When airspeed is less than ground speed, the Ace interprets this as either a tailwind or a drafting scenario and displays an AirBoost value, indicating the extent to which the rider is being assisted by the wind. In this case, the airspeed data field turns light green for modest Airboost and dark green for heavy AirBoost.
Wahoo says these metrics – which appear in real time on the Ace display – can guide optimal drafting positioning and quantify the sensation of wind felt by riders. When put to Wahoo that riders can already feel the effects of wind, the company replied that the AirDrag metric provides a quantifiable measure that can be tracked and analysed over time. Wahoo says it sees these metrics as providing objective data about the impact of wind on cycling performance, similar to how a power meter quantifies effort.
Furthermore, Wahoo claims this data can be used to understand how wind conditions affected a particular ride, to identify areas where drafting was beneficial, or to coach athletes on optimising their positioning within a group.
I’m less convinced. I don’t see a great deal of value in these metrics right now given they effectively just confirm what the rider already feels. Even as a drafting assessment for coaches, there’s no scale or measure of what is good, bad, or indifferent, and I am not sure there ever can be.
That said, it is fun to watch the airspeed change and this is most noticeable when popping in and out of another rider’s slipstream in a group riding into a headwind, but that’s currently about as useful as it gets with the current in-ride functionality.
There is post-ride analysis data in the new Wahoo app, breaking down time in airspeed zones and highlighting areas of AirBoost and AirDrag on the map, but right now these are only shown as totals for the entire ride and I feel more work is needed to bring added value to those insights.
What might that look like? Well, for starters Wahoo only shows Wind Dynamics analysis for the entire ride right now; expanding this analysis to narrower selections could allow riders to hone in on how the wind impacted specific efforts.
Furthermore, while not explicitly mentioned by Wahoo, it’s conceivable Wahoo could leverage the Ace’s wind sensor data for its forthcoming “enhanced” Strava Live Segments. We’ll touch on Strava Live Segments later in other features, but a “Segment Hunter” display of sorts could prove one such example use case. This could see the Ace display current and, crucially, measured wind conditions for upcoming segments or Live Segment attempts, allowing riders to assess how wind might affect a K/QOM attempt. Finally, if that wind data could be transferred to Strava it could aid riders in comparing segment attempts across various rides.
Aero or never?
So, could the Wahoo Ace be used for aero testing and calculating CdA? Technically, yes. With its dynamic pressure sensor, barometric altimeter, temperature sensor, GPS-derived speed, and presuming the bike is also equipped with a power meter, the Ace has all the sensors, connected devices, and measuring capabilities required to calculate a CdA number. However, achieving accurate CdA measurements would be extremely challenging.
Precise CdA calculations require highly accurate speed and elevation data, which GPS and a barometric altimeter alone cannot provide with sufficient precision. That’s not to mention the accuracy required of the wind speed sensor, which we’ve already covered. This wind speed is critical because aerodynamic drag scales with the square of wind speed, so even a small error in wind speed measurement becomes magnified in drag calculations.
I do believe it has other potential, though.
The Ace developers acknowledged that the current implementation of the wind sensor, including the AirDrag and AirBoost metrics, are just a starting point. They plan to introduce additional features and functionality that leverage the sensor’s capabilities to provide even deeper, but crucially more widely accessible, insights into aerodynamic performance.
In terms of features I’d like to see that could prove useful, I asked Wahoo if there were any plans to integrate a “power contribution” metric that could evaluate and display what portion of a rider’s power output was going into overcoming aerodynamic drag versus gravity at any given time. Provided it is accurate and easily relatable, such a metric could allow riders to quickly determine the tipping point of gradient and speed below which they’d be faster in maintaining an aero position with less power and above which getting out of the saddle to stomp out more power at the cost of worse aerodynamics would prove faster. Having an accurate visual representation of this could change how many of us ride.
While Wahoo wouldn’t be drawn on comment on future updates, it said it is committed to enhancing the wind sensor and Wahoo Wind Dynamics through regular software updates driven by customer feedback. While they don’t plan to display CdA directly due to its complexity, they aim to develop alternative, user-friendly metrics for aerodynamic insights. They view the current aero sensor functionality as a starting point, with the hardware now in place and capable of supporting advanced metrics and expanded post-ride analytics in future updates.
New beginnings
Wind speed aside, there’s plenty more to the Ace. We’ll delve into other features in a bit, but first a word, or two, on what exactly the Ace is.
The Ace is Wahoo’s new flagship head unit: an entirely new device that sits above the Roam 2 in its current range. It has a new app, user interface, and host of new features.
Wahoo says it spoke to over 1,000 riders in developing the initial concept and identified four key pillars it wanted to deliver on with the Elemnt Ace: Reliability, increased battery life, improved GPS accuracy, and a large, clearly visible display.
According to Wahoo, riders said their confidence was eroded in head units with too many rides lost or corrupted by battery dropouts or bad data. With rides getting longer and wilder, larger battery capacity was also in high demand along with a screen that’s easy to read, scroll through, and understand.
The result Wahoo came up with is this giant among head units. Wahoo bumped up the display up to 3.8” (96.7 mm), in a 3:2 aspect, and a transflective thin-film transistor (TFT) screen display it says is 20% larger than the competitor Garmin 1050. Although it’s the first time Wahoo has put a touchscreen on a head unit, the Ace retains the familiar Wahoo form factor and physical button layout. That means the same three buttons along the bottom of the screen, two up/down buttons on the right-hand side, and a single menu button on the left à la the Roam and Bolt devices before it.
The touchscreen was practically a necessity for any new Wahoo device on this premium end of the market, with all its competitors now having gone that direction, not to mention the likes of both Hammerhead and Coros – both arguably chasing at Wahoo’s heels – now offering both touch and button operation.
That same combined touchscreen and physical button approach is what Wahoo offers with the Ace. In fact, Wahoo claims its new touchscreen is as intuitive as a modern smartphone and responds to all the same gestures, and works well in both wet and dry conditions with or without gloves (even non-touch-enabled gloves). The buttons are included for “versatility and safety.”
Our testing suggests Wahoo is not quite there yet on those claims, but as a first attempt, the Ace is well on track. Crucially for this reviewer living and training along the wet and cold winter Wild Atlantic Way, the Ace’s touchscreen is a vast improvement over my Garmin 1040, which effectively goes haywire with every passing shower. The Ace on the other hand is as stable in the pouring rain as it is whenever that big ball of fire in the sky peaks out from behind the clouds (ed. Ronan, that’s called the sun).
But there’s a flip side to this rain-master skillset: unpredictability. While it’s by no means 2008 Blackberry Storm-levels of touchscreen terrible (it’s mostly fine), it flips at will between being not sensitive enough sometimes and too sensitive others. It’s fine with some gloves and widely random with others.
All told, though, I’ll take it given the option to use the buttons and the likelihood Wahoo will refine the touchscreen with firmware updates. Touchscreen aside, the motivation for a larger screen is obvious: More screen equals more data and more maps, or alternatively, larger versions of the same data and maps.
Specifically, Wahoo says it opted for the wider 3:2 aspect ratio because it allows for better peripheral vision on maps when navigating than with the more common 3:4 and 3:5 screens. Another factor that Wahoo says improves visibility is the transflective thin-film transistor (TFT) screen.
But what’s that, you may be asking. This 227-DPI (dots per inch) screen technology offers excellent anti-glare and anti-reflective properties, according to Wahoo, which says the transflective nature of the screen means that ambient light, particularly sunlight, is reflected back within the display, amplifying its brightness and resulting in clearer visuals and better readability in changeable outdoor conditions. It’s also said to reduce the reliance on the backlight, leading to improved visibility and readability in bright outdoor conditions all while increasing battery life.
While Wahoo didn’t specifically mention it, transflective TFT screens are generally known for their robustness and durability: usually good additions to any product. Furthermore, there’s a “near-unlimited” colour palette, which Wahoo says allows for better background and font colour combinations to also aid in maximising readability.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned winter climate doesn’t make for great conditions to test a TFT screen’s sunlight-harnessing capabilities. I’ve found the display a little flat in the darker conditions here, and I find myself opting for maximum backlight pretty much all the time.
There is an ambient light sensor up top, presumably to adjust background light when set to “Auto,” which, as if to confirm my preference for full light, never seemed to dim my display at all on any of my rides. That said, with the backlight ramped to the max, the Ace is pretty bright, and the display is clean and crisp making for excellent visibility in the darker conditions, although that obviously comes at the expense of battery life.
One thing absent from the Ace is solar panels. Two years ago, Garmin introduced the first solar-aided cycling head unit, the Edge 1040 Solar, which features mini solar panels above and below the display. Coros followed suit with its Dura this year, but Wahoo has decided not to include solar on the Ace.
Asked why, Wahoo said it prioritised “battery confidence” with a hefty 30-hour claimed battery life (when paired with two sensors and set to five-second backlight timeout and a 70% backlight level) because this offers users more dependable, predictable, and consistent battery performance than a smaller battery with solar top-ups, which can prove inconsistent depending on environmental conditions.
Wahoo also said integrating solar panels capable of meaningful charge gains would eat into screen real estate, something it prioritised with the Ace.
I have a 1040 Solar and a quick check of how much “solar gain” (Garmin’s terminology for the measurement of additional battery charge gained through solar) indicates a total of 21 minutes in the past four weeks for my device. Granted, the northwest of Ireland, where I live, is not the most solar-conducive part of the planet, but even the four weeks prior to that – which included five days riding under the Majorcan sun and a further day in the Texas – only returned a 1hr40min gain. The Coros has proved much more capable at harnessing the power of the sun, typically gaining a few percentage points per sunny ride, but unfortunately that device does not give me a readily accessible measure of total solar gain over four weeks.
Wahoo didn’t completely dismiss the potential of solar technology. They are open to exploring solar charging and other power-saving features in future devices if they can provide tangible benefits without compromising user experience or device functionality. But that is irrelevant to the current Ace.
Unfortunately, I’ve not got close to that claimed 30 hours on a single charge as of yet, but again that’s to be expected given I had the brightness at 100% for most of my riding. Furthermore, Wahoo was keeping track of how my device was performing as they worked through final updates and this is a further significant battery drain. Roughly speaking I got about 14 hours of ride time: testing various features, following planned routes and using planned workouts, plus another hour or so of faffing about at the office desk for this review, all with that brighter display setup off a full charge since Wahoo turned off that data logging. Wahoo says battery life can be extended even beyond 30 hours, perhaps up to 40 by turning off the backlight entirely and using only the workout screen rather than the constantly refreshing map page.
Speaking of charge, I’ve also timed a full charge from 0-100% at three hours. Charging is taken care of via a USB-C charger port at the bottom. One small but welcome thing: the flap on that charger port is solid. It closes easily and securely with little to no effort. As someone coming from a rattling 1040 charger door, this tiny thing has brought me much joy.
There is, though, a trade-off to all that additional screen size: It requires much more real estate to house it. The Ace measures a whopping 126 mm x 71 mm x 24 mm – compared to the 90 mm x 59 mm x 20 mm of the Elemnt Roam 2 – and weighs 208 grams (7.4 oz) as claimed. In other words, it’s bigger, and significantly heavier, than anything else in the head unit space.
Device Comparison Table
| Device | Dimensions (mm) | Weight (grams, excluding mount) |
| Wahoo ELEMNT ACE | 126 x 71 x 24 | 208 |
| Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM 2 | 90 x 59 x 20 | 95 |
| Garmin Edge 1050 | 118.5 x 60.2 x 16.3 | 161 |
| Hammerhead Karoo 3 | 102.8 x 61.7 x 21.1 | 118 |
| Coros Dura | 99.5 x 60.8 x 15.7 | 99 |
Note: Dimensions are listed as height x width x depth.
Long story short, the Ace is huge and heavier than my iPhone 16 Pro sans cover. Wahoo said it wanted to push the limits with the Ace; truthfully, it’s way over the limits of the current generation of out-front mounts, its sheer size meaning it simply doesn’t fit onto many of the bikes I had on hand to test it with, including the Scott Foil, Factor Ostro, Trek Checkmate and Colnago G4-X. The specific mount Wahoo includes with the Ace doesn’t fit non-round handlebars and the Ace is too lengthy to rotate into position with the out-front mounts on these bikes. It’ll be a similar scenario with almost any out-front mount that sits in line with the handlebars.
The system features the usual Wahoo take on the quarter-turn mount chuck. It’s still plastic and sits slap-bang in the middle of the device. Garmin moved its chuck with the 1050, which has caused similar compatibility issues. Wahoo has kept its new chuck central, and says it couldn’t move the chuck closer to the handlebars to maintain compatibility with existing mounts as this, along with the weight of the device, would create a lever effect. In other words, if it’s too far out in front it could automatically remove itself (read: break). The central placement ensures a balanced weight distribution on the device.
Again, Wahoo includes an aluminium out-front mount with the Elemnt Ace, and although it does feel rather sturdy, it is only compatible with round handlebars, which are less and less common on bikes these days with increasingly aero-profile handlebar tops.
That said, expect this to be a short-term issue rather than an insurmountable problem. Wahoo has already partnered with K-Edge and KOM Cycling to develop Ace-compatible mounts, and given that Garmin’s latest 1050 head unit has the same compatibility issues, expect practically every manufacturer to soon follow suit. That does mean you may have to add in the price of a new mount to your purchase.
And in the immediate future, it means a significant inconvenience right now should you purchase an Ace only to find it doesn’t fit with any of your existing out-front mounts. Often there’s a workaround in loosening and dropping the mount, attaching the head unit, and then setting the mount back in position. A complete faff and no way acceptable longer-term, but it is a short term solution if you find yourself stuck. Just be careful the head unit isn’t then rubbing on your carbon handlebars which could be an issue with shorter mounts.
There is also a tether/lanyard included with the Ace; given the weight of this head unit, I’d recommend using it, especially if you are using lighter out-front mounts. Thankfully unlike others that can be fiddly, the Ace’s lanyard anchor is easy to route a tiny cord through which is nice. Finally, the Ace also offers customisable “skins” for the option to change colours with interchangeable covers.
User experience
Turning on the Ace for the first time a QR code appears on screen that immediately introduces users to Wahoo’s new app and user interface. Wahoo has leaned on its smartphone integration for ease of head unit setup since the first Elemnt almost nine years ago. The app ditches the maze-like menu trees often found on other devices and makes the entire head unit configurable from within the app.
Now Wahoo is ditching the Elemnt app and bringing its head unit functionality into a newly updated Wahoo app that will allow users to manage all their Wahoo hardware under one app roof.
For the Ace this means new cloud-based sync for what Wahoo says is a seamless, simple and intuitive user experience where all of a user’s data is stored in Wahoo’s cloud as a single, always-backed up source. Furthermore, the updated Wahoo app now offers improved ride analysis features, and is much easier to navigate and much more insightful than the analysis available through the outgoing Elemnt app. That analysis also includes the new Wahoo Wind Dynamics, which we’ll get into in much more detail in a bit.
Wahoo has retained the ability for users to manage settings, configure workout profiles, and set up new devices with the same configuration as previous units directly through the app. However, despite the addition of a touchscreen, data field layouts remain configurable only within the app.
I had hoped the touchscreen upgrade would bring mid-ride data field customization, allowing users to long-press a field to open a list of alternative options, similar to Garmin Edge devices. While this feature is not currently available, Wahoo acknowledged that many users, including myself, have requested it and say they will consider implementing it in the future. Additionally, planned workout screens cannot be changed mid-ride.
The new cloud sync on the Ace is noticeably slow when updating or syncing with the device. For instance, I timed a change to data fields via the app, and it took 15 seconds for the update to appear on the Ace’s display.
On a similar note, the device is incredibly slow to boot up. The Ace first requires an initial 3-5 second press on the menu/power on button, then another 40 seconds tick by as various screens flash up as the device gets going. It feels like dial-up internet compared to the ultra fast broadband-like startup I get on the always-on Coros Dura. While not a dealbreaker, it feels clunky for a device that is otherwise smooth and sleek, especially at this price point – it really should be faster in both boot-up and syncing and Wahoo has said it will look at speeding this up with firmware updates.
Despite all that, Wahoo has paid particular attention to making the Ace as simple to navigate as possible. Although it took me a little while to familiarise myself with the new three-floor, basement/main page/upstairs-like layout, once I’d done so, it was pretty intuitive.
The new layout revolves around new quick-swipe dashboards and streamlined menus. On starting up the Ace, users are brought to the “Ready to Ride” (R2R) screen while the Ace sets about acquiring satellite GPS connections (this has been mostly quick and faultless, but there was one morning it took five to 10 minutes to secure a connection). This “R2R” screen, also accessible at any time by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, shows “Workout Profiles” (soon to be renamed “Activity Profiles”) where with two clicks users can select their activity/ride/bike profile. Unfortunately changing these profiles does not yet automatically update the ride type on Strava activities, but that is something Wahoo says it will roll out in the near future.
Below Profiles is the “Routes” tab. Clicking through this takes me to all my sync’d routes, be they from third party authorized apps (more on this in a bit) or routes from the Wahoo app. There’s also a “Workouts” tab, and then the piece de la resistance for me at least: the connected sensors display.
To its credit, Wahoo has done a fantastic job on the sensors display. It clearly displays connected sensors, and also clearly highlights each sensor’s current battery charge status and the data coming from each sensor – useful for quickly gauging if there is an issue. For a heart rate monitor this will be the user’s heart rate displayed just below the sensor icon, for power it will show a wattage reading, etc. It seems so simple when laid out like this that I find myself wondering why no one has done it like this already. Credit to Wahoo for doing so.
Swiping down from the top of the screen brings down the “Device Settings” page. Here we can adjust the backlight from auto to off/on/timeout. The screen brightness is easily and intuitively controlled through a high/medium/off slider option on the right side of the screen, while screen lock and light or dark mode display options are also available all without scrolling the screen or entering a single menu.
Scrolling down the page brings up the sound options with single-press on/off options for notifications, audio alerts through a built-in speaker, and custom alerts and another high/medium/low slider, this time for volume, all in view and actionable from this single page.
Finally, scrolling to the bottom of this page brings up the phone connection status bar (I am not sure why this isn’t included in the connected devices tab on the R2R page) and a “Device Info” tab, clicking on which brings up all the usual free storage space, username, WiFi status (again, could be in the R2R tab) and firmware details and updater.
Swiping right from the Device Settings page brings up another dedicated “My Sensors” page. While right again takes me to a “Ride” page similar to the R2R page but one which ditches the sensors display for an “Activity History” tab and an off/off toggle for Summit Segments.
Summit Segments provides riders with detailed, real-time information about upcoming climbs either in free rides or on planned routes as they approach them. Summit Segments identifies climbs and displays metrics including elapsed time, distance remaining, current gradient, and an elevation profile of the climb with various colours indicating the gradient ahead as riders work their way up the climb, which could prove useful for pacing.
Again, all of this is available without trawling through various menus, drop-down lists, etc. In fact, most of it is available from a single swipe up or down and swipe left or right. So good is the new interface that I can’t get lost in settings even when I try.
All that said, much of the additional functionality and setup is taken care of in the Wahoo app, so there are simply fewer options and settings on the actual device to get lost in. That said, the Wahoo app is also pretty intuitive, even if the menus do start getting considerably deeper, and I had no issues finding settings or options.
Plenty more
The Ace is far from an airspeeding one-trick pony, and arguably many of its other new features should prove much more useful for everyday rides.
Not least amongst these is a new “Digital Bike Bell.” Wahoo has included a built-in speaker in the Ace to incorporate a bell ring, just as Garmin did with the 1050. For now, double-tapping the screen on select workout pages rings the bell. Frustratingly, though, it does not work on the maps screen. However, Wahoo is working on a fix for this and adding shifter button pairing to allow for bell rings from the hoods of newer SRAM AXS or Shimano Di2 shifters.
That speaker also gets a role in Wahoo’s newly enhanced navigation. Drawing inspiration from the sat nav in our cars, Wahoo has given the Ace voice-prompted turn-by-turn guidance, in a bid it says to improve safety by helping riders keep their eyes on the road ahead rather than looking at maps. Initially, this feature will only be available in English, but support for multiple languages is planned for future updates
Wahoo introduced a host of other updates to its maps, including utilising the new colour palette to develop maps it says are easy to interpret quickly while riding. On screen this translates into thin white lines for smaller roads, thicker white lines for busier roads, and even thicker yellow lines for major roads, and finally green lines for non-motorised greenways.
Further updates include utilising the touchscreen for panning and zooming around the map, and an integration with both Apple and Google maps that allows users to share locations found on these mapping services directly to their Ace device, through the Wahoo app.
The Google connection has failed on every attempt for me so far using an iOS device, but there have been no such issues using Apple maps to both find and share specific locations to the Ace. However, neither the Ace nor Wahoo app use Google or Apple Maps for route calculation; that functionality and brain power still resides on the head unit itself, and uses the device’s built-in maps to calculate routes. Wahoo says this allows users to search for destinations and create routes even without an internet connection.
The Ace will of course also sync routes from Strava and other online mapping tools, and these routes should be quicker and easier to load from the new R2R home screen providing access to saved routes, along with options for filtering and searching routes similar to that found on the Wahoo app. But this too hasn’t quite been as smooth a process for me as one might hope.
The Ace has connected and sync’d my Strava routes, but it hasn’t always updated these routes as I’ve made alterations on Strava, and it often wanted to divert me off a planned route simply to loop me around a back road or bike path only to pop me back onto the same planned route again. Wahoo is looking into both issues, but it is another addition to the long list of teething issues with the new device.
Furthermore, popular features such as Strava Live Segments and LiveTrack won’t be available immediately but will follow in early 2025 according to Wahoo. While Strava Live Segments will see some visual updates and more data fields not previously possible with existing Elemnt devices, and Wahoo promises improved LiveTrack “reliability,” given these are both long-standing features and the omission of both at launch adds to the overall feeling of a half-baked Ace. Furthermore, given Wahoo has slated these features and others for an update scheduled to roll out later this month, I can’t help but wish they’d just given themselves that extra month to have the Ace more complete on launch day.
Further thoughts
There’s a theme running through my entire experience so far with the Ace. It has the makings of a very good head unit, it’s easy to use, and despite its pre-launch quirks, it hasn’t infuriated me on a daily basis like my Garmin 1040 tends to do.
But it’s simply not finished yet. It’s half-baked at best, and the continual rollout of updates and promised future updates give the Ace the feeling of a minimal viable product rather than the finished article.
I’m pretty sure it will become my go-to head unit if/when Wahoo does roll out these updates but there are few guarantees as to when exactly that will happen and even fewer that Wahoo gets those right on the first attempt. In fact, Wahoo lists “Advanced In-Ride Notifications, Additional 3rd Party Data Integrations, Additional Map Layers, In-Ride and Post-Ride Workout Insights, In-Ride Experience Customization” as second half of 2025 updates alongside “Aero Sensor Additional Functionality.” That could be up to a year away, which is a long time to wait for improved in-ride notifications and arguably feels optimistic for some of the aero sensor functionality.
And wait, does that mean Wahoo is planning an aero sensor? Good question. Wahoo even asked themselves the same “does the wind sensor measure CdA or other “traditional aero” metrics” question in a recent updates press release only to avoid providing any clarity in its own answer. Instead, it referred to other unrelated updates like GoPro and Music Control, and a commitment to the ongoing development of new wind sensor-related features. It sure feels to me Wahoo is planning to roll out an aero-meter element to the Ace at some point, something I don’t feel the Ace is currently capable of.
There are other issues for a device at this price point. The initial Ace I was delivered didn’t actually read airspeed out of the box. I’ve checked around with some other reviewers and they didn’t find any such issues so hopefully it was a one-off.
More importantly, Wahoo really should be including an action cam-compatible out-front mount with the Ace. Finding extra-long mounts will prove problematic for some, but finding a GoPro prong-style mount should prove significantly easier regardless of what handlebar type users currently have.
There’s the list of issues I’ve mentioned throughout the review, but additionally, I’ve found simple things like the beep timer on planned workouts is out of sync with the actual workout. I also found an issue with the temperature reading where it’s quite slow to react to large changes in temps, say from the heat inside the house to a frosty morning outdoors. Worryingly, I found the temperature was usually off by at least 2° Celsius and up to 4° when compared to three other head units, two cars, and a kestrel anemometer, all of which were within 1°C of each other. Wahoo claims the Ace should be the most accurate as the wind speed ports allow for a more accurate temperature sensor. I can’t say if the Ace or the others were right or wrong, but it felt like the Ace was an outlier, even just compared to conditions on the road.
Weirdly, Summit Segments seemed to start 100 meters or more before climbs for me while still on the flat, while Garmin’s ClimbPro, running side by side, started right as the climb did. And, finally, the Ace has a difficult time connecting to sensors not turned on before a ride is started.
Wahoo’s own in-app post ride analysis is better now since the move to the Wahoo app, but it’s never going to replace dedicated platforms, or even Strava for many users.
While those are all fixable through firmware updates, on the hardware side I’d really prefer more tactile feedback from the front and side buttons, and again, that mount compatibility. Furthermore, the speaker and voice guidance navigation is a neat idea, but in practice, I simply can’t hear it when moving at speed.
Finally, I made a fuss about the lack of an “app store” (à la Garmin’s ConnectIQ) when Wahoo unveiled the Roam2 just over two years ago. Clearly, this is not a must-have feature for every rider, but many Garmin users do love the third-party apps CIQ empowers. Arguably, it keeps many users, myself included, on Garmin devices. And I still feel it’s a major absence on Wahoo’s side.
Sum up
All that said, I like the Ace, and again, I do think it will eventually become my go-to head unit. There is potentially a time when I could be telling you this is one heck of a head unit; it could be my “pick one,” but that time is not now.
The Ace introduces a host of new, exciting, and some long-overdue features to the Wahoo head unit range but it currently falls short on meeting expectations. While the wind sensor and metrics like AirDrag and AirBoost may offer future potential, they currently add limited practical value. The device struggles with key usability aspects, such as using that wind sensor in the rain, mounting compatibility, and syncing delays. I’ve questions on battery life and other fundamental elements.
Ultimately, the Ace has stacks of potential, it’s just unfinished right now, and thus asks buyers to gamble on future updates, some of which I’m confident Wahoo can deliver in a timely manner, some of which I’m less confident are even a good idea. I just wish Wahoo could have kept it in the air fryer that little longer, and we could forgo all these caveats.
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