I’ve just spent time diving down the Karoo 2 rabbit hole. I really want to like this device, but it’s very, very hard to commit to it at the price with the uncertainty of battery.
The one feature I’m really keen on is the built in SIM/live tracking without a phone. It seems like this is one of the worst drainage features.
Are there firmware type changes that can be made in the future to improve battery? Are they making ongoing improvements in this regard?
When is the Karoo 3 expected?
FWIW it supports a small number of cellular 2G/3G/4G bands and not sure if that matters in practice. The bigger issue for me is that a lot of my interesting rides are outside cellular coverage, and I carry my phone anyways for pictures. Some places are in-between - I can make a phone call but no data connection.
Hmm, that makes sense. I don’t ride a lot outside of cell coverage these days, the problem is that my A-Race each year is a)patchy coverage throughout the forest, b)one of the only times I don’t want to carry a phone (any race), c)as long as the longest rides I do each year.
Maybe I’m best to just forget Hammerhead, but I keep coming back to it.
They have been making these changes. When the K2 released the battery life was way worse. From following their every 2 week software releases, I’d bet they’ll find some more incremental improvements.
I think you need to buy what is now, I love my HH2, and look forward to update Thursdays, you always seem to get something, I did 100 miles in 5.5 hours (with about a hour cafe stop) on Sunday, I arrived home with 60% battery (power meter, radar, following a rote (did have some re-routing), didn’t have battery saver on but low screen brightness (9%)), I rarely do more than that … so bl isn’t a issue for me, if that’s not good enough for you TODAY, then the HH2 isn’t the device for you
I guess that’s it. I want it to be right, and it’s almost there. But it’s not good enough yet.
Just out of interest, how long are your long rides (ride time, excluding cafes)
My regular riding would be well and truly inside the timeframes you’re talking. I regularly ride 5-6hrs which doesn’t seem like it’d be an issue. I also am quite happy/would always take my phone on training rides.
The HH2 really, really appeals to me for the ability to use it on race day without the need to carry a phone. No navigation, but live tracking and PM connected. I want to have complete faith it would record my race, and that I’d be able to still have it running after (ideally would have enough juice to record riding to and from the race).
How is the screen usability with 9% screen brightness?
Like, can you comfortably read maps and all data etc with 9%?
Feels like the screen on the HH2 is 95% of what you’re paying for, and if you need to turn it down so low that you cannot see it properly, kind of defies the purpose…
Fine, contrast and color different is great
Yeap, I wish the would make the route turn a little bigger, but thats more to do with my 52year old eyes and the size of the thing
95% of the reason I bought a HH2 was the navigationand re-routing (hated the 800,810, 820 experiance) , screen is great, and if I had it at a brightness that I couldn’t read or see the color differences when re-routing (which is not what I am doing) then the advanteges of the HH2 wouldn’t be there
Even though the screen is way ahead of the competitors, For myself I’d say its 70% software 30% screen.
I used to have an Edge 530 before I bought the Karoo 2. The rerouting feature alone is worth the price of admission for me. It has saved my ass from being lost multiple times when exploring new areas.
Just a quick note on HH Karoo routing and navigation. A few hours into an endurance ride that became an adventure ride, I realized I needed to get back home quickly - within an hour. I didn’t know the local roads, and only had my Karoo with the SIM installed.
I just directed it to navigate to the start of the route, and it worked flawlessly - directions and turns were as solid as Google maps directions.
I hadn’t prepped it with anything other than downloading the state maps a while back. The experience was crisper, faster, and more colorful than my Garmin 830 (granted, most of that is processor and screen).
What kind of sim do you use? Can you just buy a random prepaid sim like TMobile and drop it in?
How long was the ride? Does it use SIM data all the ride, or only when you ask it to reroute?
I’ve noticed within a couple reviews that it seems a Wi-Fi connection is required to upload rides? Is that accurate?
I’m in the US, on Verizon. I pull the SIM out of my iPhone and plug it into the Karoo for these rides. It takes about 2 minutes to do the swap. I also have a cellular Apple Watch, which lasts for 5-8 hours without a phone nearby, so I still have emergency connectivity if I need it.
I think that prepaid SIMs would work. HH’s documentation says that it needs to be a voice SIM (not a data-only SIM like for a tablet); I can test that at some point since I have a SIM on a tablet plan that I can use.
Activity was 5 hours from start to finish, with 3 hours of riding time.
I believe it uses the SIM to ping location to HH’s server every minute, in addition to the rerouting.
I think it can upload from the SIM connection (I may have even done that once or twice with my K1). I haven’t tried it though. I can try that sometime, maybe this week…
I can confirm that the SIM connection doesn’t work if the SIM has a data-only plan…
Not yet an endorsement, but it looks like USMobile offers voice + data plans that might start as low as $6 - $8 / month, including fees (custom plan, 75 minutes of voice, 100MB of data per month = $4, plus the access and regulatory fees).
It’s pretty easy to swap the SIM out though - and it’s only for the duration of the ride…
Bought a Karoo2 a few months ago - and sent it back.
I bought it because of the bigger screen and supposed better graphics, plus some of the extra training features.
I found the set up a PITA because its all on the device and the keys are tiny. I prefer the current Wahoo app set up system.
When I tested it out on the road on a fairly grey/overcast day, I was shocked how faint the screen read outs were. The only time it was clearly legible was in a tunnel. If it had been sunny, I would not have been able to see it at all.
Yes, but I’ve found the just setting up a wifi hotspot on my phone and turning it on if I want to upload reduces it to just a inconvenience