Since last year I’ve been using the Elemnt Roam 3, and the battery life used to be excellent. I regularly ride distances between 100 and 200 km, and after a ride of 5 to 8 hours the battery was still over 50%, including just last week on a 155 km ride.
However, I installed an update this past week, and yesterday I did a 120 km ride in about 5 hours. By the end, my Roam only had 15% battery left. That’s quite a significant drop!
Could this be caused by the update, or might there be another explanation?
Well this happened to me today. Similarly I’ve been using my Roam 3 since July 2025 and always comfortable with its long batterly life, but after a long ride today, 7h 16m elapsed, the battery was just 22% and draining quickly. I’ve always used backlight on Auto Max, but even after I turned backlight off, the battery was still draining quicker than normal.
I just checked, last two rides (I didn’t charge for last ride) 7h 20min total time and I have 38% battery.
In that total time 2h not moving but Roam 3 still running. I have latest firmware and Auto max backlight, also tracking active, lots of sensors and map active.
I went for a 1 hour ride yesterday and usage was back to normal from 100% to 94% in auto max.
One thing I forgot to mention is that when the issue happened the unit was reporting outside temperature of 22c, when it was 14c. Perhaps it overheated.
Thank you all for reporting this, the outdoor cycling team is currently investigating what could be the cause of this and I will update you all promptly as soon as we have some better information to share.
Have a brand new Elemnt Roam 3 over here. Yesterday battery drained from 100% to 18% on a 5 hour ride. Switched it on this morning, no activities at all and nothing connected (Just the Phone), drained from 100% > 80% on 3 hours of time, just by itself. Have the latest software update installed. Any ideas?
Optimum temperature for Lithium Ion battery is 15C to 35C. Outside this temperature range capacity will reduce. If Roam 3 displays 22C, does this compare well to actual outside temp? I suspect often reads higher when in direct sunlight.
When outside temp is sub 10C, I suspect run time will gradually reduce.
Didn’t do a factory reset yet. But is has definitely to do with the bluetooth connection to the iPhone. Did 2 hours yesterday with phone in flight mode. Battery only dropped 2%. After that did another hour with the iPhone switched on. Battery dropped by 10% in only one hour. For the rest: only heart rate sensor connected.
My phone is Samsung S20 FE, an Android, so I have no experience with Iphone. However, I had a problem with Roam 3 when running along with Wahoo App. My problem related to latency later in rides, all Roam 3 functions could lag up to 15 seconds, loss of display fields, radar warning after car had overtaken etc.
After much research and trying different setups, I discovered problem only encountered with phone connected by Bluetooth (BT).
I found that BT application on my Android 13 Samsung was a hidden application. The Wahoo App was correctly configured, full access to power, location etc.
Wahoo support no help at all, my guess support was an AI bot.
After research I gained access to BT app config and discovered that Power management was set, from new, as ‘Optimised’. I changed BT setting to ‘Full’ and problem solved.
In summary, seems that a BT comms issue can have a significant impact on Roam 3 performance with no alert notification. I have some experience with firmware coding of IoT comms devices. For me normal practise to code timeout on comms and parse for errors, use RTOS environment so software functions don’t over utilise resource.
Whilst a different problem in my case, my experience could be relevant.
On the subject of Roam 3 battery life. An experiment on next ride to see if Roam 3 works OK with USB external power source connected.
I ride with a Towild CL1600 front light for day flash. Got a front mount shared by Roam 3 and light beneath. CL1600 has bidirectional charging and battery lasts days in flash mode. Also got a short USB C to USB C lead.
Same with mine. Since the last update it can’t hold a charge. Did a 7hr ride yesterday and it took 86% of the battery. This makes the unit completely useless for long distance events. It’s super disappointing. Unless something is fixed soon I’ll just have to find other options. Customer service tried to help and told me to use a different charging block and it work for a couple rides but it’s back to not being usable. @Helga did the team find anything???
Same issue. Brand new Roam, just a few weeks old. All seemed good for first couple of uses. Past couple of weekends, 4-5hr rides use ~70% of battery. Seems from above it’s likely a BT issue?
Did a factory reset. Battery dropped now to roughly 75% on 6 hours, which seems to be okay. Iphone was connected, heart rate sensor as well. No use of navigation this time. Still have to give it another shot with navigation on. Will keep you posted.
Whilst I accept that BT comms could be a cause. Have you considered influence of sun?
I assume that Auto / Auto Max backlight options use an ambient light sensor (looks like one above screen). Typically, auto backlight LEDs can significant drain under bright sunlight.
If like me in UK you’re finally getting sunshine rather than dull overcast winter, could this be the cause?
Maybe a test at home, run fully charged Roam 3 in dark room, how long does it last? Then repeat and compare running with a bright light over the sensor?
Yeah. I guess it’s possible but it wasn’t an issue prior to the last update. And regardless they advertise 17-25 hours of battery life and I’m getting under 10. It’s a major issue since I can’t use this computer for longer events.
from 100% to 94% in auto max.