First off I really like the Rival I like the fact it’s just a sports watch without any of the nonsense. That said, I was pretty underwhelmed by the recent update. After a 10 month nothing much was updated, in fact I didn’t even realise there was an update.
I would have hoped after a long wait they would have had a more substantial update.
I’m considering jumping over to Coros but was wondering what everyone’s thoughts were on a firmware update schedule for the Rival. Do you think this is the first of many or a patch up a lost cause?
I don’t think it’s the first of many. RIVAL appears to be a low priority low resource product, so probably firmware updates will trickle out here and there.
@Fletcher I think that they are still very committed to the Rival. It does sit at an attractive price point and there are some synergies with their bike computers and their fitness app.
Plus Wahoo sponsored athlete Jim Walmsley’s UTMB win got a lot of press. They also sponsor eight multi sport/triathletes so it seems like the watch is important to their strategy.
Based on the release notes it looks like the focus was really new features - not bug fixes so that makes me optimistic.
I am happy TP structured workouts are back working.
I am really torn by it, I love the watch and the interface but wish it did a few more basic things. Breadcrumb navigation being the main one, that’s a decade old feature!
Man, don’t get me started. AND IT’S THERE. The data is absolutely being collected - just look at the sleep (still) beta. I dumped my watch and wrote a python script to look at the raw data and I know the watch is recording A LOT OF DATA POINTS that Wahoo isn’t doing anything with - or at least isn’t formatting and pushing for user functionality.
Personally, the future is too uncertain for me to even have a guess. If Wahoo revenue settles down and they’re able to increase it more and more then maybe they’d allocate more resources towards it and resume new features and such. It’s my belief it still has a lot of potential and could provide useful data to SYSTM for example.
@CPT_A I could be dreaming but here is why I think that we are going to start to see some changes. Back at the start of 2023 Wahoo was deep in debt and had to cut expenses including lots of developers that support the software that goes into devices like Rival. There were lots of questions about whether Wahoo would survive.
Fast forward to last summer we saw the bank debt get settled and the company now has no leverage. Based on recent product launches and changes to software, it seems like Wahoo is getting back on their front foot and stuff that took a back seat when they had issues will start getting attention again - like the Rival.
Sport watches does seem like a crowded field especially with an 800 pound gorilla like Apple in the space so perhaps there is a change in the future but for now I am optimistic that we will see further changes to the Rival software.
Still hoping for a fix with Stryd connection that has never worked for me (2 watch samples, 2 stryd) despite 2 tickets to wahoo support. It would solve the biggest issue I have with the rival: poor GPS chip giving quite erroneous instant pace. Distance is usually good at the end of the run, but the pace is not during it.
Otherwise, I’m still using it despite having more modern sport watches. Simple and functional.
Maybe pushing systm workout would be good also
I was an early adopter of the Rival and love the watch. But lots was promised without anything being completed. I’m still waiting to be able to push workout plans from systm onto the watch.
It seems like the ability to transfer training plans within the same ecosystem would be a priority, but it’s not come to pass.
Is there anything in the pipeline for this functionality?
Yeah me too. I really like the watch and there were a few things I was willing to live without. But since there isn’t going to be any meaningful upgrades I switched to Coros.
It’s good for running, not so much for biking etc… main thing is that it’s reliable, with great gps and fantastic battery. It has maps, RHR and HRV. What I like about coros is that it’s a sports watch not a lifestyle, smart watch, like garmin.
To be fair to the Rival, there are a few things it does better:
Screen clarity
Cycling though data fields is great on the Rival
How the watch shows structured workout bar graph… if you can get it to upload from TP
It’s honestly a shame, the rival doesn’t need to compet with garmin etc. they had their own view on sports tech… they just needed it to be reliable
you 
Personally, the future is too uncertain for me to even have a guess. If Wahoo revenue settles down and they’re able to increase it more and more then maybe they’d allocate more resources towards it and resume new features and such. It’s my belief it still has a lot of potential and could provide useful data to SYSTM for example.