I was one of the lucky ones to win a sample of the Roav Bolt. Here’s the summary of my posted review over on my person site under the Reviews section of my site. To see the complete review and see more pictures of the Roav Bolt, make sure to click the link. You can find the full set of images in my [Roav Bolt Flickr Gallery]
I’ve got to give a big thank you to @AnkerOfficial for putting on another great contest and giving me the opportunity to get my hands on one of these! So far I’m impress with the bolt. After using it for just over a week and then putting my car in the shop and driving another car without it I find that I’m missing not have some of those features.
During the testing process my car blew its motor and its been sitting the shop since Tuesday. Sadly the car needs to be replaced. Because of the car issues I haven’t gotten to take pictures of the Bolt hooked up in the car. Next week, when the shop opens back up I will be able to get my stuff out including the Bolt. I plan to take some more pictures of the Bolt installed in another car. I will share those pictures as soon they are available.
Now for the Review…
First Impressions
The Roav Bolt comes in Roav’s standard orange cardboard box that opens like a book to display the Bolt in all its glory. Its got a couple of fancy smaller cardboard boxes that stores the accessories. The Bolt sits in a laser cut cushioned foam like material that secures the Bolt in place.
Removing the Bolt from box I found the device to be made from a highly quality plastic. The two ports can be found on the side of the charger and accented in the standard orange that Roav uses on most of their products. It gives the charger a shock of color to help break up the black. It looks pretty good in my all black car interior. On the face of the bolt it looks like a Google Home Device and even operates the same as the home devices do!
If you need to connect your car’s AUX port to the Bolt you can use the supplied right angled AUX cable that came in the package includes.
The Setup
Unlike many of Roav’s other products, the Roav Bolt doesn’t need any additional Roav apps. It just needs Google Assistant installed. The install is straight forward and only takes a few minutes. Plug in your charger and turn on your vehicle. The lights on the bolt will flash orange. Go into your Bluetooth Settings and pair your phone to the Bolt. Next, open Google Assistant and it should automatically walk you through configuration. It may even ask you update the firmware. If you have the data and the time go ahead and update the firmware. This should only take a few minutes.
Once connected, the yellow lights go white and solid. When it goes into listening mode the device face goes blank. Once you start asking questions it will light up.
The Testing Process
My testing process for the Roav Bolt Car Charger involves connectivity reliability, charging, design usefulness, and using the Google Assistant Feature.
The Charge Test
Charging speed is decent but not as fast as my other Anker/Roav car chargers. It takes about 2 hours to charge 30% to full. This isn’t a big issue for road trips but when you are in the car (in my case) 30 minutes to 45 minutes to commute to work having a fast as possible charge time is needed.
As to the charge time, it works great charging my Note 8 and my Soundcore Space NC at the same time. It completely charged my earbuds in 30 minutes and added about 20% back to my phone. The charger was only warm while charging and when direct sunlight was blasting down it, only warmed it a little more.
Connectivity
Its still to early to really understand the connectivity issues. The first pairing was easy. It paired up instantly and Google Assistant found and started the process. After that for a few days it automatically connected in about 20 seconds. Then over the next few days it got worse. It went to over a minute. Then there were times that it wouldn’t pair and I would either have to manually pair or pull the charger from the plug.
Then 4 days into using the Bolt I lost connectivity. My phone wouldn’t find the Bolt for a minutes even when the Bolt was in pairing mode. Eventually it started seeing it but still wouldn’t work.
So I ended up deleting the Bolt from Google Assistant and did what I think was a factory reset. After doing that it paired and ran through the setup process including updating the firmware. Now it connects whenever the Bolt powers up.
Currently on start up it takes just over a minute to connect and hadn’t had any issues connecting.
Using Google Assistant
For the most I find that Google Assistant works great. I found issues where it couldn’t understand me when I asked it find directions in Waze. But after the reset it seems to know what I’m asking.
I find it useful for reading out notifications, having it read out my received text messages, and then verbally replying them. For me this important. I get a lot of messages and some need immediate attention and I have to pull over to deal with these messages. I’ve even use it to control my smart thermostat to cool down the house I left work.
The only real issue I have is the 3 second delay. At home my Google Home doesn’t lag its almost instant. I can go “Hey Google, next tract” and Spotify will move to the next tract. On the bolt I have to go “Hey Google” wait 3 seconds (Wait for the status light to ready itself) then say “next tract”.
Roav Bolt Vs Roav Viva
I have both the Roav Viva and the Roav Bolt and I personally find the Bolt to be more useful, more reliable, and it doesn’t take up as much space. Since I didn’t have room for both the Viva and Bolt in my car. I ended up removing the Viva and I haven’t missed it once. I plan added Viva to my Wife’s car so I can access to some of my smart features.
To learn more about the Roav Viva and my thoughts on this product, check out my Roav Viva review…
Final Thoughts
To be honest, I really do not use Google Assistant as much as others may use it. For me, I use it to the check/read notifications, voice to text messages, check the weather/traffic on my commute, get me directions, and make/receive phone calls.
Even with the issues I brought up, I highly recommend the Roav Bolt if you are invested in the Google Assistant environment. If not, its still a great option to add functionality to your car if your phone is Android based.
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good job! 
