The Wahoo Elemnt Rival is an all-new multisport smartwatch aimed at cyclists and triathletes. It is also the first smartwatch from Wahoo, signalling a significant shift into the multisport market.
The Wahoo Elemnt Rival features a ceramic bezel that houses the watch’s 64-colour 240x240 pixel memory-in-pixel transflective display.
Excluding any backlight, this type of display only requires power when refreshing or changing the data screen, reducing battery consumption enormously. Similar technology is used on certain Garmin smartwatches and bike computers, as well as on Amazon Kindle e-readers.
An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the backlight of the watch. Even in sunny conditions, the watch is claimed to be visible.
The watch has a claimed battery life of 24 hours in GPS mode and up to 14 days in the most basic smartwatch mode.
For the triathletes among you, the watch features ‘Touchless Transition’ technology – a feature that allows the watch to “interact with an Elemnt bike computer” to seamlessly transfer “race data from the watch to a cycling computer”.
This works by first setting both the watch and computer into multisport mode. The bike computer will then wait patiently until the Rival smartwatch is within range of its Bluetooth connection, at which point it will transfer all activity data. This will allow racers to see overall race data, rather than having to start a new activity when starting the bike leg of a multisport event and combining everything together after.
Like the brand’s bike computers, the Wahoo Elemnt Rival uses the Wahoo App to configure data screens on a smartphone.
The watch features an optical heart rate sensor, a barometric altimeter and – of course – full GPS connectivity.
The smartwatch features ANT+ connectivity, which will allow it to connect to auxiliary sensors such as power meters and heart rate sensors. Wahoo adds that it can also be used to control the brand’s Kickr smart trainers.
The watch is available in either a black or white finish and will set you back £349.99 / $379.99 / €379.99 / AU$599.95.
Wahoo Elemnt Rival smartwatch specs
- Size: 46.5 x 46.5 x 12.5mm
- Display size: 31.26mm diameter
- Resolution: 240 x 240 pixels
- Screen: 64-colour
- Display type: Sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP)
- Weight: 53g (claimed)
- Water rating: 50 metres (5 ATM)
- Battery life: 24 hours in GPS mode, 14 days in smartwatch mode (claimed)
- Alerts: Vibrate/visual/sound
- Sensors: Barometric altimeter, accelerometer, GPS
- Connectivity & data transfer: ANT+ and Bluetooth
- Price: £349.99 / $379.99 / €379.99 / AU$599.95
