Hammerhead Karoo 2 vs garmin 530

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ff119
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat May 08, 2021 9:49 pm

by ff119

When the Garmin and Wahoo were out of stock I found the Karoo 2 and it is still interesting, has anyone bought it? I like the garmin is smaller but what I read the karoo is so much better at the nav and that could be useful!

handler
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:28 pm

by handler

Been using the Karoo 2 for 4 weeks with 30+ hours on it. Previous computers are Garmin 810, Garmin Fenix 6X and a couple of SRM. Using it with Di2 and Assiomas, works really great and the screen is magnificent. The cellular connectivity lets you leave the phone at home and navigation is instant (both calculating new routes and rerouting). No delays whatsoever.

Downsides are probl. the battery life. You get 10h on it but I don't see that as a problem, just charge it like you do with your phone every or every second day and you will be good depending on how much you ride.
Second downside is if you utilise "complex" sensors such as Supersapiens CGM, Core Body Temperature sensor or Moxy as they are not [currently] working with the Karoo 2.

Fun fact, they release new firmware every second Thursday which means lots of new functions is always coming 👍

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ff119
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat May 08, 2021 9:49 pm

by ff119

handler wrote:
Tue May 18, 2021 11:34 pm
Been using the Karoo 2 for 4 weeks with 30+ hours on it. Previous computers are Garmin 810, Garmin Fenix 6X and a couple of SRM. Using it with Di2 and Assiomas, works really great and the screen is magnificent. The cellular connectivity lets you leave the phone at home and navigation is instant (both calculating new routes and rerouting). No delays whatsoever.

Downsides are probl. the battery life. You get 10h on it but I don't see that as a problem, just charge it like you do with your phone every or every second day and you will be good depending on how much you ride.
Second downside is if you utilise "complex" sensors such as Supersapiens CGM, Core Body Temperature sensor or Moxy as they are not [currently] working with the Karoo 2.

Fun fact, they release new firmware every second Thursday which means lots of new functions is always coming 👍
you would still need a phone for emergency calls?

handler
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:28 pm

by handler

It depends for now, you can sideload Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp to do calls with a bluetooth headset. Even Spotify works. I often leave my phone home after starting using the Karoo.

ff119
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat May 08, 2021 9:49 pm

by ff119

handler wrote:
Wed May 19, 2021 11:25 am
It depends for now, you can sideload Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp to do calls with a bluetooth headset. Even Spotify works. I often leave my phone home after starting using the Karoo.
i know you could do notifications but what about emergency calls? like if there is an accident? I am petit so the phone in jersey for me is annoying

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C36
Posts: 2468
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 3:24 am

by C36

Interested on the feedback. If you keep your phone with you (call, music, camera... mean quite some things the Karoo won’t do) is there really a fundamental interest in having the 3/4g connectivity in the gps?


—————————————
- Supersix evo2 HM 5707g
- 1995 Miguel Indurain Pinarello restauration project
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handler
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:28 pm

by handler

C36 wrote:
Wed May 19, 2021 12:34 pm
Interested on the feedback. If you keep your phone with you (call, music, camera... mean quite some things the Karoo won’t do) is there really a fundamental interest in having the 3/4g connectivity in the gps?


—————————————
- Supersix evo2 HM 5707g
- 1995 Miguel Indurain Pinarello restauration project
- R3000si Junior bike restauration project.
I would say if you keep the phone with you there's little need of utilising the 3g/4g. I enjoy keeping my pockets for food and not a 200 gram brick (phone) and the Karoo does everything and led me leave the phone in the car or at home. For calling I use Facebook Messenger but I know you can sideload other dialing apps.

In essence, the Karoo is truely a great head unit and is probably the beginning of a new era of headunits, colours, connectivity and speed that no other headunits can match. Downside, they can't connect to Moxy, Supersapiens, Core body temperature, so if you are a hard core tech athlete with all the latest scientific sensors it might not work for you. For everybody else it will problably be great.

ff119
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat May 08, 2021 9:49 pm

by ff119

Thanks for the feeback, as I have never used any of the 3 it's not like I can compare or have to worry about re-learning a new UI. It does seem the karoo is a tad bigger but maybe not much when you see it in person

Muck
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:44 am

by Muck

I had a k2 for the full 45 days before I opted to return mine.
I felt like a beta tester for the device. Rather than a user.
Auto wheel circumference doesn't work properly.
When the device crashes you lose your ride data completely.
Impossible to see the screen under summer sun.
You get more post ride data on the unit on ride completion, than you do on the dashboard. Which I found completely ridiculous.
10hours of battery life isn't great.
Can't add a second bike.

As a premium device, it's missing a lot of features.

HansZuDemFranz
Posts: 137
Joined: Sun May 13, 2018 11:39 am

by HansZuDemFranz

Muck wrote:
Mon May 24, 2021 3:13 am
When the device crashes you lose your ride data completely.
Can you elaborate on this? So is there no Ride recovery System of any sort? This would instantly put me off of it. I do a lot of long distance cycling (300km+ rides) and while I don't really care about battery life, as I could just use a battery pack, I just know from experience, that things go wrong and having my whole ride deleted, because of a system crash, would be a no go for me.

Muck
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:44 am

by Muck

HansZuDemFranz wrote:
Mon May 24, 2021 5:19 am
Can you elaborate on this? So is there no Ride recovery System of any sort?
unit just turns off, im not actually sure what happens, it happened twice, i glance at the screen everything is fine, next time i glance the unit is off.
there are directories on the device and files that are for the last ride, but nothing is written to it, 0 bytes, so even attempting to stitch the ride back together was impossible.

handler
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:28 pm

by handler

Muck wrote:
Mon May 24, 2021 3:13 am
I had a k2 for the full 45 days before I opted to return mine.
I felt like a beta tester for the device. Rather than a user.
Auto wheel circumference doesn't work properly.
When the device crashes you lose your ride data completely.
Impossible to see the screen under summer sun.
You get more post ride data on the unit on ride completion, than you do on the dashboard. Which I found completely ridiculous.
10hours of battery life isn't great.
Can't add a second bike.

As a premium device, it's missing a lot of features.
hm.. seems can't recognise any of the issues of above.
  • Auto wheels circumference works for me.
  • Never had a crash in 40h of riding.
  • Screen is amazing under straight sun, are you sure you had the backlight on? :)
  • Hammerhead have partnered up with Trainingpeaks and Strava to give you the best of the best analysis instant and directly after you finish your ride either by using celluar, phone connection or wifi. Neither Garmin nor Wahoo have a great dashboard IMO. If you want something free with the power of Trainingpeaks I recommend Intervals.icu.
  • 10 hours might not be greatest and is of course subjective to the user but not something that will stop you from riding. If you are into ultra then you can do just as Garmin to charge it on the go.
  • I've three bikes on mine, you find the possibilites to change bikes under settings.
Not trying to sound like a fan boy but I felt the critism where a bit unfair. :thumbup:

Muck
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:44 am

by Muck

handler wrote:
Mon May 24, 2021 8:40 am
Hammerhead have partnered up with Trainingpeaks and Strava to give you the best of the best analysis instant and directly after you finish your ride either by using celluar, phone connection or wifi. Neither Garmin nor Wahoo have a great dashboard IMO. If you want something free with the power of Trainingpeaks I recommend Intervals.icu.
by that definition, garmin and wahoo have also partnered up with trainingpeaks and strava. without them tho, you get avg speed, time and distance on the dashboard.
i dont understand why its so difficult for hammerhead to just show the same data post ride that they show on the screen in their dashboard, without having to rely on third parties.
wahoo and garmin provide a decent amount of data in their dashboard.

theres lots to love about the k2, the mapping the display, the community feel, hammerhead should be way out infront in terms of what they are doing.
but it felt like you pay the premium price for the device, and test it for them, whilest they constantly add features that should have already been there from day 1.
ill definately put my name down again for the k3, but as it is for me k2 isnt where it should be for the money.

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C36
Posts: 2468
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 3:24 am

by C36

handler wrote: [*]Screen is amazing under straight sun, are you sure you had the backlight on? :)

I can’t say I had a large experience with the K2, quite the opposite but after yesterday’s ride, looking with a colleague at his unit... we had to shade the screen to be able to see something.
At least black and white display are 100% visible, 100% of the time, but they appear to lack “sexy marketing appeal” for the majority of riders.


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kode54
Posts: 3740
Joined: Tue May 23, 2006 9:39 pm

by kode54

There has been improvements every month. When I first got my K2, i kept pressing the wrong buttons, coming from a Garmin device. It was more my fault than Hammerhead, although there was no semi-save where you can always go back and save routes that you may accidently trash. What's more, you would think there would be a feature before turning off the device if you really want to trash the file....or save it in the trash and delete it if you don't retrieve it for like 30 days or something.

I have never had the K2 turn off haphazardly...and haven't heard from others on the Karoo2 forums about that.
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