9 Things I Learned - Hammerhead Karoo 2 Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ส.ค. 2024
- Cycling technology continues to evolve, and a big part of that is cycling computers. Over the last six months, Neil has been testing the Hammerhead Karoo 2, a stunning unit that certainly showcases the advances of small handheld technology. In our latest review, Neil shares nine things he has learned about the device after riding countless miles on day rides and bikepacking trips.
This video was supported in part by Salsa Cycles - Meet the New Stromchaser SUS Here: www.salsacycles.com/bikes/202...
Outline:
Intro - 0:00
Is Bigger Better? - 0:37
No App Necessary - 2:08
Battery Headache - 4:24
Impressive UX - 6:50
Built For Climbers - 8:22
Easy Navigation - 9:07
Detailed Maps - 10:17
Bi-Weekly Updates - 11:29
Accurate Location & Temp - 11:56
Final Thoughts - 12:31
Karoo 2: www.hammerhead.io/products/ha...
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#bikepacking #pedalfurther #Karoo2
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Considering the fact you need wi-fi connection or a sim card for uploading routes in the field: just share your mobile connection (tethering), your smartphone will be an access wifi point to which your karoo can connect ;)
This video was supported in part by Salsa Cycles - Meet the new Stromchaser SUS here: www.salsacycles.com/bikes/2022-stormchaser-grx-810-1x-sus?.com&
After nearly 1.5 years with the Karoo II, my experience matches your summary. But, as I'm not bikepacking I've not had any issues with battery life, but with 'average' use I've noticed roughly a ~10% battery drop per hour, slightly increasing when you get to the 25% mark. I do very much love the roughly bi-weekly software updates! If I look where I was when I got the unit, meanwhile the climbing feature was added, the nicer settings screens, better sensor syncing, added heatmap features, so many times my bike computer just got better in quite a short time!
Excellent review - Thank you. I have had the Karoo 1 for years and just updated to the Karoo 2 as it was on sale and I could trade in my Karoo 1 so got it for £120
Your WarBird is a beauty! Should be the highlight of each of your videos.
Great review, thanks Neil
Love my Karoo 2 and always have a battery bank. I can use and charge at same time. Love to see how you set up,your pages
Got one last summer and finally figured out how to not worry about battery life anymore. I took it on a 6-day bikepacking trip last week and found that some settings make a big difference for battery life:
- climber: off (climber keeps the screen on during battery save)
- airplane mode: on (seems to save way more battery than just turning off the sensors)
- auto-pause: off (screen won't turn off when auto-paused)
- in-ride dark mode: on (white text on black. Should be the default iirc. Tried the light mode shown in the video and it seemed to drain the battery more, though I don't know why it would)
- brightness as low as you dare (I have mine at 0% and think it's fine tbh. Might depend on placement on the bike too)
With these settings, I did a couple of days with
8-10h total time
6-7h ride time
100km route loaded
Some rerouting
And it drained 20-30% battery per day.
On day rides (HR strap, no battery save, similar routes loaded), I get battery life similar to Neil's experience
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Appreciate this unbiased review… battery life is concerning, but the maps and screen resolution… 🤤
Battery issue seems like something from a while back. I’ve had one since launch and used to get 10% per hour. Now consistently 8% per hour with several sensors and route page used as main page with lots of flicking through pages using di2
Perfect for my backyard
I agree with the assessment of the battery life, but it hasn't been a deal-breaker for me. I love it for road riding, and if I'm doing an all-day ride (i.e. randonneur ride, etc) I just toss in an auxiliary battery to charge a bit for the later half. Not an issue for me, as my phone needs a charge after 10-12 hours of use as well. For bikepacking, I have a Son hub with the K-lite gravel setup, so I can charge as I ride, along with charging an aux battery. Would love to see battery life improve in future generations though, if only to make super-long road rides less power-dependent.
That's how it's done.
Great screen=bad battery, see every cell phone ever made for details.
I’d agree with this comment. My typical ride is less than 6 hours so battery life is not an issue as I can charge when I get home. I used the Karoo 2 on an 11.5 hour ride with battery save mode on and it was sitting at 27% at the end of the ride. This included using the Climber feature, which automatically turns the screen on when climbing - which was a decent portion of the ride (~4,500 vm). Temperatures were between 6 and 27 degrees Celsius with an average of 16 degs. Whether battery life is an issue or not largely depends on how you intend to use it…
Solar cells in the bezel in v3.
Can you charge the Karoo2 while using the device with a battery bank?
@@SangTTran10111213
Yes that is possible.
Agree with all of this, I never take my Karoo 2 with me anymore, Garmin 1030 plus every time, just because I don't want to have to think about battery. Also it always try to route me on the closest highway/road, it hated being off road. Sensor connection reliability, omg. AXS integration, well, it shows stuff but doesn't store the data in the FIT file.
Thanks for your insights, Neil. I’m still on a 1st gen Wahoo and have been playing with a Lezyne mega…. Been frustrated lately with inputting routes, this seems really interesting, can it run with an aux battery while using?
Yep, you can charge it while using it, no issues there.
I've been testing the Karoo 2 myself as well for the last few months. I've been enjoying it so far, but found a few issues with some measurement. For example, it can never seem to find the right elevation; it always seems to be about 50 meters off. Thanks for the video.
I’ve had issues with Elevation often. If you are using Strava, you can adjust to Strava’s elevation data. 🚲🚲🙌🏼🤙🏼✌🏼❤️
All of them are early attempts, imprecise.
If you need precision that badly stick your finger in the chainwheel until the feeling passes.
Unless this is throwing off your Pokeman Go, geolocation or hunt for pirate treasure.
@@whazzat8015 or just Strava historical data.
I'm glad to you felt the need to be so rude to some random person on the internet because of comment about what.... a cycling computer? I live at sea level and the highest elevation where I live is about 400m, so that's a pretty large margin of error.
@@SirBikesAlot ❤️sea level here too. NYC metro. Ride safely and have you tried the Strava thing? I know they shouldn’t have issues but that’s been my solution. 🙌🏼🚲🚲🤙🏼✌🏼❤️
I love my karoo 2. I don't do bike packaging so the battery life isn't a problem for me. I prefer to keep me unit on the data page and I still get the navigation cues in the bottom of the screen. New users be aware that it won't show any more Di2 information.
I have yet to update the unit, still holding on to the Di2 info. LOL
Good review just got mine and first ride elevation gain was totally off same of my friend who got one seems like it's a known problem hope they gonna fix it I didn't pay this money for wrong data!
Garmin??? Newbie! I remember when the state of the art in cycling computers was the Avocet or fork blade mounted Huret. Joking aside, I recently bought a Karoo mostly because I run SRAM AXS and am banking on future integration features versus the Wahoo which might integrate better with my trainer.
Why did I sell all of my Avocet computers? First Gen was the best and so simple.
Great review, I will stick with my Garmin 1030
Right on, thanks for watching!
You can also enable a hotspot on a phone to allow the K2 to access the Dashboard for downloading routes or uploading completed rides.
This works especially well on an ebike, though it has cut my range by several miles,
due to the power consumption.
@@whazzat8015 - Agree, I wouldn't run Live Track on a hotspot, but as a quick turn on/off to download or upload, it works OK.
@@stevebailey7633 Power management is a bear, but that's the problem with such a bright hi res screen and lots of sensor scanning. If a phone had ANT+ it might well kill the market for anything not just a small rugged data dump, think Garmin 25. Phones are fragile and power hungry, but have awesome computer power, connectivity and capacity for software. Running Android on the Karoo helps , but is still hobbled and limited to near programmer level user management. We are still far from an on bike PAN, similar to what car makers have developed.
You may have had a faulty unit. I regularly do 8-10 hour rides and finish with around 20% battery and that's with 5 sensors, always on screen at 40% brightness and a GPS guidance. I assume with battery save mode you can get a few extra hours.
I may have, thanks for sharing.
Not defending battery life too much, but I get drain of about 15%/h at 20*C and about 18%/h at 5*C - that with navigation on, HR and CAD sensors active, GSM active and screen at 45%. It's not great, but it works for me, as I don't do rides over 5hrs. However with the same settings and battery saving turned on - this switches off the screen unless navigation wakes it up for a maneuver - I get battery drain of ~5%/h at 20*C and ~7%/h at 5*C. This is not that bad I think.
I've had it for a few days and really like it. You can also find some VERY competitive pricing these days, mine was brand new delivered for under $300 USD. 290 ish. Question tho: when you create a route on the karoo online site, is there a way to show turn by turn directions while you're there?
Maybe for very long range all the bike computers are out and the Garmin GPS navigation devices are in maybe with inreach access built right in.
Everything compromise. That fancy, high resolution, colour screen will be a major power user. So hardly a surprise that the device with the best in class screen has the worst in class battery life. Could we tolerate making it bigger to fit a bigger battery? or a garmin style external accessory battery to add to battery life?
Try dark mode and flight mode. I get 18 hours bikepacking with much of time on map screen
nice to have some competition for wahoo and Garmin. wahoo "just works" but the tech (even for the bolt 2) is just outdated and the software while stable very light on features
They all have their own shortcomings.
Figure out what you need and get the one that fits at the onset.
Waiting for features to work out is like dating the wrong person
or worse, marrying them.
I have a k2, love the UI, battery life not so much. Yesterday a friend showed me his new 1030. Man, that UI and Usability is really a mess.
Fo me 10-12 h rolling time (14-16 h overall) is the minimum. So the Karoo is out although being a capable device.
Great for 4-5 hour weekend club rides. For audax etc it’s a real pain with battery life.
The problem with the battery is simple: more performance need more energy! A crappy low res low frame rate screen like Garmin devices eats less energy. That´s why you need to charge your iPhone every day ;) . Karoo2 doesn´t deserve to be compared with old very old specs devices. You can´t compare the map quality of Karoo2 against dot dot maps of other brands (on the same price range). You may think I´m fan of Hammerhed but not, in fact I work in another company :O
I suggest using your mobile phone as a hotspot when you need the karoo to connect to the internet
Good suggestion. I’ve never had an issue with doing what I need to do in Wi-Fi before I go on my rides. I guess it might be a bit more troublesome in areas with very limited cell coverage or Wi-Fi, but I guess it makes you plan ahead a bit more.
Yeah, that works and doesn't need another SIM. Pretty useful when you decide to alter your route mid ride.
Occasionally useful but mostly Unrealized feature creep for those who can't breath when they lose connection.
Ondine's Curse.
Phones is phones. Nobody has yet made a usable PAN for the bike with car like integration.
I'm repeating this, but a phone with ANT+ and these things beyond the Garmin 25 (tiny rugged data logger) are obsoleted. phones have better mapping, music , comm.
3 Questions: My Plan voor 2024: bikepacking 1500km through Spain and Portugal. 80-120km/day. Strong sunlight. I don't bring a laptop. I make all routes on iPhone in Komoot. 1/Can I transfer routes from iPhone to Karoo while on the road without wifi connection? 2/ Can I change my route during a trip without wifi connection? 3/ Is K2 usable in hard sunlight?
Would love if my bike computer could stream spotify for me. Right now the superior navigation provided by rwgps and spotify have me choosing my phone over my edge 520 plus for long rides.
As the karoo runs on Android, there is the possibility of putting that on. You might wanna ask your it-savvy friend to do that for you though.
The ability of sideloading is what made me interested in the karoo2 as well. Besides having messenger apps installed streaming music is a neat idea. I had been waiting for a device to at least put some mp3s on for ages. However the K2 does not play sounds other than the beeps. But I think I have read somewhere that you can connect headphones via bluetooth. That said the battery life is a deal braker for me, especially when being out there for multiple days or weeks. I might power it constantly with my dynamo hub but I use that for topping up my other stuff as well. I am glad i have heard about that problem before buying and probably wait for the K3 and use my original Elemnt until it completely falls apart.
@@ickeausberlin36 I do exactly that, using the SON and a charging device. Enough power there for charging both the phone and the K2. When using the original K2 mount though, you gotta get a little creative to make a USB plug reach into it as it sits quite close to the stem. Oh and for the music it's headphones of course.
->Bin auch in B unterwegs, kennt man sich evtl?
@@quesoner34 Thanks for sharing your experience. Maybe I should give it a try. The rubber parts of my Elemnt are falling apart and I am waiting for it to drown in a torrential rain one day.
@@ickeausberlin36 Wir können ja mal ne Runde zusammen rollen, dann kannst du dir das angucken ;)
Maps view I don’t want it on all the time. It stops me seeing the world and I watch the screen too much. I chose to do the data screen and the pop up change direction and battery save mode on. I always have a battery with me as a reserve for many pieces of kit.
I change using ANKER NANO PRO 65w charger small light and fast charge and powerful.
What is the handlebar harness with the Rogue Panda logo?!?
something really awesome, stay tuned.
Hi! So, live tracking was working with a SIM card inserted in my Karoo 2 up until the last software update. It tracks my location BUT the planned route red line is not displayed on the map anymore. Do you have any idea why and what I could do to fix this? Thanks in advance!
I would reach out to customer service, I'm sure they have some troubleshooting techniques.
@@BIKEPACKINGcom I can't seem to find a phone number to customer service online
Waiting for V3 with longer battery life and hopefully lighter too.
Don't hold your breath.
Great screen=bad battery, see every phone ever made.
Is the quarter-turn mount adapter available yet?
Comes with it.
The Garmin quarter turn was designed for watch size devices.
Under-engineered & breaks easy at bigger weights, a problem with everything.
It's why QuadLock is preferred by those who experience remorse when a device goes sailing off.
But, hey , you can afford it.
My observations, based on own experience:
PROs:
- The best (modern, beautiful, polished) UI by far. *
- A quality screen. *
- Quite feature-rich.
- Optimised for navigation (for the most part).
- Beautiful design and physical feel.
- The dashboard is handy (but could be improved).
CONs:
- The battery life is mediocre at best; it's noticeably worse than its predecessor's.
- The processor is slower (rather than faster, as one would expect!) than the predecessor's.
- Map updates are slow, regardless of internet speed.
- As is the case with every other cycle computer, the storage (26GB for maps) is insufficient for cycle tours. For local rides it's plenty.
- No onscreen look up for a destination (i.e., address, POI, etc.) to ride to or an anchor point to ride through). One can only use pre-set (in the DashBoard on the computer) routes - or select a point on the map by touching it - to navigate there.
- The bezels could be smaller. Ideally, there would be no bezels at all.
- No clip-on battery support (which latest generation of Garmin units have).
* The Karoo I has the same UI, roughly about equally as good a display quality (but larger), all but a couple of the features of the Karoo II; the unit was larger and heavier, and overall was an excellent device if not for its extremely limited storage (much less yet than the II).
Cost of Garmin External battery is punishing
You forgot their GREAT customer service and Radar display (Nobody gets the lights right)
How much better is the battery on the original Karoo? Any major drawbacks on the original model I should consider as a bikepacker and MTB enthousiast? Thanks.
@@iulian2548 Difficult to quantify without doing proper tests, but I'd say roughly ca. 20%, possibly more. This shows when doing software updates, map updates, etc.: by the time the update is done, the Karoo II will have a noticeably more drained battery than its predecessor.
I just brought a new Karoo 2. Mine will not take a charge 24 hours and only 8% charge. Help
Sounds like you should contact customer support.
My K2 shows permanently temp ca 4-5C lower than a real one...
Hey boy is like comparing a Charger RT mpg vs Honda Fit... All those specs comes with a price. If you love Cromagnon Age experiences it´s OK but I live in 22´ and i expect more than a dot dot screen :))). BUT if you are a guy who ride 8 hours each time you get out there this is still an AMAZING DEVICE, if you are the ones who ride 10 or more hours definitely is not (you may be the 0.01% of consumers).
The lack of an app is a shame, getting onto a PC to do the basics is pretty backwards
Would love to see a navigation only version of this, maybe the hammerhead XPLR… I was an early adopter of the first Karoo, loved the larger screen and the units simplicity but the Karoo 2 was a huge disappointment, especially with that battery life.
...something like STAMINA of Garmin? :-)
How well does the touch screen perform in the rain?
Way better than your phone does ;)
Good, actually. And there is a screen lock feature, in the event that you get a huge downpour and want to just use the side buttons.
@@BIKEPACKINGcom so while riding, the rider has full operation just using the side buttons?
Laughs in Bryton 310. 😂
The short battery life is a deal breaker for me. I'm looking for a device that can handle multiple days, best case a week. So I can turn my Phone off for most of the day.
Same here; the Lezyne Mega XL has crazy battery life (about 40 hours) so that is what I am using for now but my use case is very very simple.
In all fairness, I don't find the battery life that bad. As Neil, I have a bikepacking-profile for maximum battery life, and in that mode, battery life isn't that much different than wahoo or Garmin (as compared to a random sample size of my cycling friends).
If you really want multiple days out of a battery: Garmin Etrex with spare AA batteries, which I think is the by far the safest option if you don't want to think about batteries. But the user experience is shitty, it's only good for following a line (which is sometimes all you need, depending on terrain, location, etc.).
@@thomasv3190 My Garmin 830 running a route with the map screen on 100% of the time and no power saving tricks turned on gets 18 hours of battery life.
@@PedalPowerAdventures , that is impressive indeed. I, however, remain avid used of the Karoo2. Hi-resolution and responsive touchscreen, superfast and accurate rerouting, precision in location,... are all things that are heavy on the battery. I carry a batterypack and the karoo2 has fast usb-c charging (a quick cafe-stop does the trick). As a backup, I carry an Etrex. Plenty of options, you just have to chose whatever works for your situation.
@@thomasv3190 Great screen=bad battery, see every phone ever made.
Turning off your phone is just healthy anyway. Otherwise you might just stay in Zwift or Meta.
A good data logger and a sense of direction are all most people need.
Stat obsession is its own disease. Smell the flowers as you ride, hear the bees buzzing.
Man just strap a battery pack on your bike!!!
"poop factory" please explain...
We had a baby last August... seemed like a good time to change our network name 😉.
At 8-9h battery life it makes more sense to just use a smartphone with a big battery.
A smart phone with ANT+ and this whole market blows up.
@@whazzat8015 I think it's coming in the next year or two.
Why not buy a Karoo2, there is no support for: E-bikes, Di2 shimano, no App IOS. This is inadmissible.
how come all youtubers, talk. the. same.