Wahoo Fitness Is My New Favorite iPhone Fitness App!

Gear Diary is independently owned and operated. We receive compensation through advertising and from the companies whose products we review, usually in the form of the reviewed product. We test the products supplied to us, and the opinions expressed are our own.

Gear Diary is also reader-supported. When you buy through links posted on our site, we may earn a commission at no cost to you. You can learn more by clicking here.

Wahoo Fitness

Wahoo Fitness

While reviewing the Magellan Echo, I needed a fitness app on my iPhone. There were a few supported, so I tried the popular ones. They didn’t expose much functionality, so I tried Wahoo Fitness, which was detailed in a document from Magellan. Turns out it the perfect partner for the Echo, and it’s the best fitness app I’ve ever used!

Type of app: Fitness tracking

Platform/where to buy: iPad / iPhone; available in the iTunes App Store

Developer: Wahoo Fitness

Wahoo Fitness4

Description:
Here are some of the features:

• Use multiple sensors at once. You can use multiple sensors at the same time using the same or different wireless technologies without interference.

• Choose your favourite data screens. Select up to 5 screens for running and 8 for cycling to see the data that’s most important to you and your workout. More to come!

• Get accurate real-time pace information when paired with the Wahoo Stride Sensor. Our proprietary Stride Sensor/GPS correction software provides distance and super accurate real-time pace information; it’s great for interval workouts.

• Get personalized heart rate zone info. Calculates personalized HR zones and shows current, average, and max heart rate as well as how much time you spend in each zone during your workout.

Major features:

Sometimes the best way for an app to be useful is to realize it isn’t the center of your universe. That might sound odd, but let me explain. When a new productivity app comes along it needs to fit into an existing workflow or provide such unique utility that it can replace your current workflow.

Wahoo fitness is a company I had never heard of – as a runner I knew about Nike and Garmin and Magellan and Polar, and fitness sites such as DailyMile, MayMyFitness, Runkeeper, and RunningAhead. But as I used it – setting up the GPS, linking to the Magellan Echo, hooking up to the Magellan heart rate monitor, setting up transfers to various running tracking sites and so on … I was incredibly impressed.

What I love most about Wahoo Fitness is that it makes everything easy. There are multiple contextual setting screens – but each one is located where you need it. Need to change your workout settings? You can get there from the global settings screen or the one where you start your workout. Don’t like the layout of data? Choose a new one.

Wahoo Fitness1

Again, why I loved this was that rather than ME changing, Wahoo recognized I might do different workouts, use any of several devices and want to track my data in a variety of places, and they make changing all of that easy for me.

One of the most important features is the ability to send your workout data directly to other sites. As of now here are some of the sites Wahoo can upload workouts to:
– MapMyFitness.com
– Runkeeper.com
– Nike+.com
– TrainingPeaks.com
– GarminConnect.com
– MapMyTracks.com
– 2Peak.com
– RideWithGPS.com
– dailymile.com
– Strava.com
– Dropbox.com
– MyFitnessPal
– Email/dropbox data in a variety of formats

Now this is totally unrelated to Wahoo, but I quickly discovered that I liked some sites more than others. For example, I had been using the Magellan Echo with MapMyRun on the iPhone before Wahoo, so I figured I would just keep exporting my data there. But what I discovered was that MapMyFitness doesn’t show heartrate data unless you are a paying member. Oh well, Garmin Connect shows me everything regardless! So I stuck with Garmin … and deleted MayMyRun from my phone!

I didn’t go into my review of the Magellan Echo looking for a new fitness app, but that is what I got … actually what I got was a SYSTEM. I now hook on my heart rate monitor, strap on the watch, start Wahoo fitness and drop my phone in my running belt before I head out.

Wahoo Fitness2

Ease of use/Overall performance: Wahoo Fitness is incredibly easy to get started with and setup. Want to set up a data screen? Easy. Add a sensor? Simple. Have your data sent to a new site? Trivial.

Worth noting on the ‘Running Prefs’ screen above is at the bottom where it has ‘Echo … Mike’. That indicates it is using the Magellan Echo as the Bluetooth display for data and that it has loaded the screen configuration ‘Mike’. Yes, Wahoo allows you to control how your Magellan Echo displays data!

Would use again/recommend?: Definitely! While I started using this as a necessity to work with Magellan Echo, it very quickly became my standard tracking app.

Suggested changes/wish list for updates: Nothing. Well, perhaps update export to get results into RunningAhead.

Price: iPhone/iPad Universal version – Free Download

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Thanks for your support!

About the Author

Michael Anderson
I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives!