The Wahoo Headwind is a ‘smart’ fan specifically designed for cycling.

When I first heard about this product, I was quite dubious. First, and foremost, it’s expensive. $250 for a fan is pretty high. Also, for some reason, my initial though twas that they were trying to reproduce the experience of a headwind while cycling.

Well, cost aside, most of the reviews of the fan I saw were pretty positive. With the holidays upon us, this is what I decided I wanted

Standard disclaimer:

Being into technology, I’ve accumulated a fair bit of bike tech also.  As such, I’m going to try doing thumbnail reviews of some of the bike tech that I current, or used to, use.

These aren’t going to be super technical reviews.  For that kind of thing I suggest you head over to DCRainmaker‘s blog or GPLama‘s YouTube channel.

These are going to be my impressions of the product … what I like, what I don’t like, what could be better, and some things that should be left just the way they are.

All the items I’m going to review have been purchased outright by me and I don’t get any compensation for the reviews (unless I provide an Amazon link, in which case I get a small commission).

The headwind is a ‘smart fan’ that is designed to fit in front of your bike and blow air on your face & chest. It also has legs that can be used to adjust the angle. It can be controlled via the Wahoo mobile app or using buttons on the front panel. The fan speed can be controlled manually (using the app or buttons), or based on ANT+ sensors (heart rate or speed, including a compatible trainer like the Kickr).

What I like about the Headwind

• Fan speed can be adapted to effort (based on speed or heart rate).
• If configured to respond based on sensors it will automatically activate when it connects to the last paired sensor. It will also stop when it loses the sensor connection.
• It fits nicely with my trainer setup.

What I don’t like about the Headwind

• Expensive … no two ways about it. I think Wahoo would do well to drop about $100 (or more) from the price.
• Pairing ANT+ devices to the unit is somewhat awkward. I would prefer that the pairing be done within the Wahoo app.

Should you get the Headwind?

That’s a really big maybe … if you’re happy with a standard fan, I would say to skip the Headwind.

If you don’t have a fan in your trainer ‘pain cave’, and the price doesn’t faze you, I would say go for it. It’s features are quite nice.