TwoNav Roc - independent review for cycling

Craig Boddice, who created this review of the TwoNav Roc has owned and used cycling GPS devices for 10 years and has owned ones from all the big brands like Garmin and Wahoo, plus some from the smaller brands like Hammerhead, Bryton, IGPSport, Beeline, Coros.

This has given him lots of experience with using these devices and often that has been in foreign countries to navigate from point A to point B.

Ease of use

The TwoNav software has lots of customisation through its various activity profiles and sub menus, which would appeal to the more experienced user. For example you can change the colour of the route to make it stand out more, I’ve not come across another cycling device that allows you to do this. However, the default colour is white with blue outlines, which I found hard to see, so I swapped it to purple with black outlines. Once that was done I found it easy to see my route on the screen.

Personally I’d like it to be easier to use with the default settings and data pages setup for the average user. I often found myself trying to remember which sub menu something was in, which can be tricky, and on the smaller screen of the Roc it was sometimes tricky to click on the correct option. I’d expect the bigger screen on the Cross Plus and Terra would be better for this, though I’ve not tried either of those devices yet. Also stopping/ending an activity, or changing a route mid way through an activity are both not very obvious to the first time user. Overall the TwoNav software would suit an experienced GPS user or someone who’s willing to learn how the device actually works by either going on a course or studying various YouTube videos.

The Screen

The Roc has a great screen that is bright, responsive and easy to see in all light conditions. Moving around the map page to see what is around you is easy and smooth with no lag unlike some other devices out there, for example the Coros Dura. However, it's a shame the touch screen is only available whilst on the map page and not used to be able to swipe through the data pages, this would make it smoother or more intuitive to use and would free up the bottom two buttons for other purposes like stop and start an activity.

GPS and Boot Time

It boots up to the main screen on average in about 40 seconds. However, it seems to take at least a further minute to find a GPS signal when outside and often more than that from my testing. In my experience it varied from 1 min to 3 mins. You could argue that is quite quick, but when compared to other devices in this case a Hammerhead Karoo (latest model) and the Coros Dura it lagged behind both. The Karoo when outside took 45 seconds to boot to the main screen and a further 10-15 seconds to find a GPS location. The Coros Dura took just 20 seconds to turn on and find a GPS location. Inside my house the time to find a GPS location was 8 minutes or more for the Roc, as it really struggled no matter which combination of satellites it was trying to find, whereas the Karoo took around 1 minute, and the Dura was the fastest at just 20 seconds.
Once the Roc had locked on to the satellites it was fine and tracked all my rides and runs.

Battery Life and Charging

One hour of cycling used on average 6-7% of the battery giving it roughly 14-16hrs total battery life. With the ability to turn the screen off whilst undertaking an activity that might extend it even further. This is on a par with some of the latest generation of cycle computers, like the latest Hammerhead Karoo, but falls behind the latest offerings from Garmin and Coros.

Charging of the Roc is via the supplied cable, sadly unlike all the other models in the TwoNav range this is not USB C, instead it is a magnetic pin type similar to those found on some Heart Rate monitors or modern smart watches. For me this is a negative as it means I have yet another cable to carry when I go traveling. Also there is no protective cover over the charge point, which I find strange.

Route Syncing and Navigation

To get your chosen route onto the device you first have to load it/open it in the TwoNav Link app. With this done you can then choose to send it to the device. This process overall works well. However, unlike every other cycling GPS device I’ve owned, when you import the most common file type .GPX all that appears is the route on the device. It does not generate turn by turn notifications. You can manually add them on the device, but this is time consuming and fiddly. Personally I think this is a missed opportunity as often I find someone else's route on Strava for example and simply download them as a gpx file as that is often the only option and upload them to my device and I can follow their route with turn by turn notifications, it’s simple and very effective.

However, there is a solution which I found myself, and which isn’t mentioned on their website and that is to use RideWithGPS to plan your route and export it as a .tcx course file. Once synced to the TwoNav Roc this loads up with most of the key turn by turn notifications. They appear on the device as a small square with an arrow in it for example, and as you approach them the device beeps and you can see if it's a left turn or a right turn. That all works well, so long as you are on the map page, if you are on any other page all you’ll hear is the beep to tell you are approaching a turn, you then have to manually go back to the map page to see what you have to do. I found when following a route I just left it on the map page as it was easier than swapping back and forth between my other data pages.

Fortunately you can have some data metrics on the bottom of the map page so I just used those. Again other cycling devices either take you back to the map page and do not let you leave that page until you’ve completed the turn, or will flash up on your current page that there is an upcoming turn and tell you which way to go. I find this to be more intuitive when riding.

If you happen to go off your chosen route the device will beep after a predetermined distance to notify you of your error and there is a red line pointing back to your route. However, unlike many other cycling computers at this price point, it doesn’t reroute you to your original route.

Admittedly on other devices this can be a bit hit or miss at times, but generally it does work and is of great use.

Bike mount

The Roc has a quarter turn mount on the back and comes with an out front mount and a stem mount for you to attach it to your bike. This all works well in my experience. However, it isn’t compatible with the garmin or wahoo quarter turn mounts, so if you have multiple bikes like I do you’ll either have to buy more mounts (costing between £20-27 each) or keep swapping them between your various bikes.

This to me feels like another of those missed opportunities that may sway some buyers away from the TwoNav brand.

Conclusion

Overall its a good device, more suited to an experienced GPS owner due to the fact that the settings need changing before using the device.

Other features I’d like to see added to the TwoNav

It currently is not compatible with a Garmin Varia Radar bike light or similar from other brands. These Radar lights tell you how many vehicles are approaching from behind you and give an indication of how fast they are approaching are for me one of the best developments of the last few years. Hopefully this could be integrated into the TwoNav software as at this price point I would expect to see this feature.

Also most current cycling computers at this price point have a Climbpro feature which tells the rider of the upcoming climbs and shows them the profile with the gradients that they will have to climb. Again I find this really useful to know how to pace myself especially if I’m on a longer ride in an unfamiliar area. Hopefully TwoNav can add this feature to their devices too.

Craig Boddice - author of this review

 
Further reading

1. TwoNav - a breath of fresh air

2. TwoNav GPS units

3. TwoNav bicycle mount options