I have a couple of Wahoo Elemnt Bolt devices, and today both of them failed to register MPH/Gradient when on a ride. It would intermittently work for 10-20 seconds and then return to reading – and it would be 5 minutes or more before it would return.
I tried checking for firmware updates and both are fully up to date, and I tried restarting them and waiting a good 5-10 minutes before starting the ride to give it a chance to get a good lock on satellites (I’m in a clear open space with clear visibility to the sky with no buildings/tress nearby).
I also heard that a Strava follower or two also had this issue with their Wahoo device today as well - too much of a coincidence if you ask me.
Interestingly, when I saved the partial ride, prior to attempting a firmware update at the roadside then activity was recorded with a date of 1st Jan 2006 … which is what lead me to think there was an issue with the GPS signal ?
Is anyone aware of any issues today that might affect multiple devices - region central/eastern Scotland (circa Forfar / Dundee / St. Andrews).
Interesting - I think this may be a bug relating to the GPS almanac data.
Today 17/08/2025 is 1024 weeks from 1st Jan 2006, the date it’s reporting and according to ChatGPT :
GPS time is counted in “weeks” starting from January 1980, but the counter is only 10 bits long, so it rolls over every 1024 weeks (~19.7 years). If a device’s firmware doesn’t handle that correctly, it can suddenly “think” it’s back in 2006 (1024 weeks before today).
Because the device thinks it’s 1st Jan 2006 it’s struggling to lock on to the GPS satellites.
I also ran into issues today with my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt v1 (bought in 2020). Same observations:
date of my activity was set to 01/01/2006
current time was 1 earlier than it actually was
GPS tracker failing to register traces, so no registration of the actual trace, speed and gradient
location: Belgium
I reinstalled the app on my smartphone completely. I did a factory reset of the device but nothing helped. I also think it’s something related to the latest device version
Same thing happened to me this morning. While my speed disappeared from my Elemnt display, the map page appeared to accurately track my location. And perhaps unrelated, I have the sounds disabled but on this morning’s ride, the electronic beeps were active at virtually every auto-pause and ride resumption.
Another two affected Bolt users from this morning (17/08/25).
Speed display was intermittent (often --mph) and gradient kept disappearing.
Got home and finished ride, and Strava seemed to think I’d been to the far south of Ireland and back to the west coast of Scotland - in a very straight line.
Hopefully a simple firmware update will correct the problem.
I’m adding that I had the same issue today on a Roam. I airdropped the files from my phone to the computer and used the Fit File Tools website to adjust the date and time to today, but the GPS/speed was all over when riding and not cooperating today.
My Wahoo Element Bolt v1 did the same thing including also sending my device / route to the south-west of Ireland - which makes a bit more sense since I am in Ireland but nowhere near Cork / Kerry! Fingers crossed they fix and soon too!
I had exactly this issue on my Bolt v1 on 17th August with gps and Jan 2006 date etc. Did a factory reset and updated some maps reconnected etc and whilst the ride date went back still gps issue. Clearly a bug issue.
Seems like this is a universal problem with the earlier version of bolt. Has anyone contacted wahoo support or do we have support on this thread to confirm indeed if a firmware patch will be released.
Without the firware patch the devices are effectively bricked even though they have enough life in them.
it gets solved with the next system update
place but the gps failed every 15sec.