Hammerhead Karoo 2

So I just tested this Anker lipstick battery (I bought it on eBay last year). Initial results look like it might work well for you - I charged it 6% in 13 minutes. See below how it worked…

Test conditions:

  • Karoo 2
  • Display Brightness 80%
  • no sensors connected
  • ride recording (but auto-pause enabled)
  • sitting on my desk, so no activity, but screen was high and active the entire time

In 13 minutes, the battery went from 41% to 47%. HTH…

2 Likes

Oh yeah….but at 56, dim screens don’t really work for me anymore. I don’t know how my daughters can even see what is on their phones most of the time. :man_shrugging:

2 Likes

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

1 Like

slightly off topic, but does anyone think Garmin will bring a similar route-less climber functionality to the 1040? That is about the only thing that intrigues me about the Karoo since I rarely know what route we’ll be doing ahead of time.

1 Like

I hope they’re working on something similar. The Karoo ‘Climber’ is such a brilliant feature without having to pre-load a route.

2 Likes

i almost bought one of these with the trade in program and and with an industry discount but the battery and needing wifi to upload were turnoffs. Just bought another 530 (my previous died with a cracked screen and water).

The climber options look great though and will do another serious look when they announce the Karoo 3.

1 Like

I got a data-only sim (at no cost, the data just goes against my existing plan)

Issue is that in a lot of countries, they will still charge for the extra SIM, even if its only data. Here in Sweden its around 10 euro for en extra SIM, even if it goes towards your current plan.

So in 2 years time, it would cost me as much as a brand new Wahoo BOLT does, just to have my rides upload when I don’t have Wi-Fi.

Thats almost as bad as charging a monthly subscription for heated seats in the car…

2 Likes

What about the hotspot built into the cellphone? I’ve used that when standard WiFi wasn’t available…

This might make me sound lazy, but I honestly expect a bike computer, built for recording and uploading workouts, to not force me to faff around with mobile hotspot for every ride when I am abroad.

Of course it’s possible to do it like that, but that shouldn’t be the norm when somewhere without Wi-Fi.

4 Likes

Yeah, I had a similar conversation with HH re: having reminders on the Karoo for things like eating / drinking.

They suggested I could use phone apps and then just enable notifications so it popped up on my Karoo.

I shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get a workaround for a pretty basic function.

2 Likes

There was enough about the UX and battery alone that have relegated it to a paperweight in my shop. I don’t care for it at all TBH.

2 Likes

Same reasons why I had to sell my 1040 (wanted to try it for the larger screen) before I headed back to Wahoo.

I rather have Tetris graphics on the computer as long as the thing does what its meant to do, allow me to ride my bike!

I don’t need Spotify controls or other stuff that distracts me from traffic.

Once the hotspot is setup as a recognized network in your HH, it’s super easy. Either…
a. Leave joining the hotspot enabled all the time, in which case your HH will find it and join it automatically once your ride is ended. Or…
b. Enable the hotspot after your ride. And then the HH will join.

I do “b” and it takes all of 5 seconds for me to pick up my phone, unlock the screen, open settings, and slide Personal Hotspot to ON.

Sure, I wish my HH would just sync w my phone over bluetooth, but I’ve grown accustomed to the WiFi sync, with the occasional hotspot solution, and it works just fine.

1 Like

Maybe we should go back to hand starting our cars as well, since honestly, its not too much work:

Jokes aside, the battery drain from leaving the hotspot on and connected isn’t going to work, and yes, its fine to open the phone and connect it.

But then again, is this what should be expected for a €400 product? Its like going back to dial up modems where you have to connect to the internet manually every time.

No, don’t buy it. Its an incredible product flaw that shouldn’t exist in the market today.

1 Like

that was one of the reasons why i gave them back, but you can use a SIM Card in the Karoo to solve this

1 Like

It is not even that, IMO…it is the billing of it as “the most powerful / capable bike computer ever”.

I like my HH…it is far better than my old Garmin 830. They do the touch screen much better (almost acceptable for use on a bike now) and the screen is awesome. But the battery life and constant workarounds leave it behind my Wahoo Roam in my preference rankings.

But I am going to use it for SBT primarily for the Climber feature, even though that means lugging a battery pack with me.

1 Like

Are you saying you’d want to upload activities via Bluetooth?

I had a Garmin Edge 130 Plus that only had Bluetooth, no WiFi. I spent 10 minutes after every ride fiddling with connections to get rides to upload.
I can’t imagine that’s what you mean though…?

Doesn’t matter how its uploaded, but I shouldn’t need to be connected to a hard wired wifi, or pay for an extra SIM for my rides to be uploaded.

How Wahoo does it is perfect, its connected to the bike computer by default when its on. I press stop on the Wahoo to end the ride, it sends that ride to Wahoo app via bluetooth, and uploads it to all the services via regular mobile data :). Easy peasy!

Yes, but in most countries it costs to have a SIM card with data, even if its connected to your main phone contract or whatnot. In Sweden its about 8-10 euros a month just for the SIM.

2 Likes

And Wahoo is the ONLY computer manufacturer that does it this way. So you have an extremely uncommon situation, where you travel between countries every week and need to ride in all of those countries.

Based on what you’re saying you need, a Garmin wouldn’t work for you either.

Great that you have your Wahoo!