I just recently switched from the Karoo 2 to an 840…primarily due to battery life concerns for some long events I have planned next year.
While the Garmin experience has improved since my last head unit (820?), I still miss my HH.
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I’m a long time Edge 830 user and my gf just switched to a HH2. For me, there are a couple of non-starters. The first is that there is no data connectivity with a phone via Bluetooth. In order to get a route loaded, I have to have the HH connected to wifi. Fine, no problem when I’m at home, but a PITA if traveling (connect the unit to a new network) or if I’m driving somewhere to start and forget to preload the route (have to faff around with a hotspot). Similarly, your ride won’t get uploaded to Strava/TP/etc. until you’re on wifi. The integration with routing apps like RWGPS kinda sucks–have to load the route into the website (no app and the mobile site is an eyesore) and then push it to the device. You can’t schedule eat/drink alarms, which I find particularly useful so I don’t get behind and, for my money, are invaluable in triathlon. Those are just my experiences as a secondary user of the device–the on-bike experience may be better if you can get over these hurdles.
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While connecting to a phone via Bluetooth is the easiest way. And I’m really shocked Hammerhead didn’t do BT. I put in a cheap data sim (less than $20 one time so far) and it solved all of these problems. Auto upload is just fine to Strava etc.
And I find the integration with RWGPS super nice - much better than my v1 Bolt. You just have to pin a route on RWGPS and it auto syncs to the K2.
I miss the TR integration a ton though. Ended up having to create workouts most days to load to my K2. Made using alternates for outside workouts this last summer a non starter unless I had time to create and push the workout….
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You’re spot on. Another big missing feature is tracking. Well they have it but it’s very clunky compared to Garmin. You need to have a sim card in the Karoo 2 where Garmin, Wahoo, etc just lets you use your phone.
For me that’s a plus for the K2. My livetrack experience with garmin and phone synching was very bad. With a sim card it’s completely automatic and trouble free on the K2. Now the “tracking dashboard” of garmin is better.
Most seem to prefer phone connection vs sim card. I don’t know why. I ran out of chickens to sacrifice when getting my garmin BT to work from one ride to another.
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think Garmin bluetooth situation got better with the 540/840/1040 as they only have a single BT connection to the phone (vs the x30 devices that had 2 BT connections).
I only had a few BT issues with 530 and iPhone, now with 840 I don’t see any BT issues.
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I prefer the phone because it’s something I already have and not another expense. I know people outside of the US prefer the sim card option. I had the Edge 530 and currently have the 840 and I don’t recall having many issues with bluetooth. I may be wrong on this, but when my ride starts on Garmin it automatically emails my wife. I think you have to do another step on the Karoo or your partner has to remember to go to a website to do the tracking.
i ordered HH K2 now for under 200€. will give it a serious try.
Where did you order it with this price?
lots of sites offer discounts during black week. This was an offer by an european shop, already sold out unfortunately.
I used my 520+ again after being on the HH for about 18 months and holy crap, the Garmin UI is so bad in comparison. Having something as basic as PM calibration buried several menus deep is just silly.
User experience on the Karoo2 is really nice. The WiFi upload vs BT is the only real friction point for me, have to use my phone hotpot to upload a race file sometimes. But not a terrible trade off for being a lot more pleasant while actually using it.
But once you have your WiFi networks in the unit, the uploads are seamless…I noted earlier that I had moved back to Garmin and the 840 and I have been immediately reminded of my frustrations with the Garmin BT uploading issues…sometimes it is seamless, other times you need to restart the app, etc.
I have had to go back out to the garage several times, get the 840 and restart it to get the files uploaded.
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Agreed! Pretty minor issue overall. I really like the screen vs lcd on the Garmin. It is just a friendlier experience overall, being able to add or remove a structured workout from TP or navigation while riding. Or to change the ride profile if needed. Being able to get data on your intervals during the ride is also really useful, a lot like the SRM intervals screen.
I get that some people have strong Garmin brand loyalty and they have good solutions for ultra endurance and multi sport racing but I find the HH to be a better solution for training and road racing.
I haven’t used any of the current gen Garmin devices so maybe they have updated the UX to work better and I’m just out of date. But that also highlights the fact that Karoo updates the software for their devices regularly and I don’t need to buy a new device to get new software features 
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The UX is indeed better for the current Edge x40 series units, but I still prefer HH or Wahoo over Garmin.
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Argh. I have a 530, and just ordered a 1040. Are you saying the constanct sync issues aren’t any better on the x40 series?
I can’t say yet if they are any “better” than before, but definitely not eliminated.
I had hopes that they were resolved, but both my rides this weekend required me restarting my 840 to get the ride to upload (after I had already gone into the house and went to look for the files). Prior to this weekend, all the rides had automatically uploaded with no issues (I’ve been using the unit for about 2 weeks now).
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My 530 has the issue where the side buttons were harder to press, and it’s old, so I need an upgrade anyway.
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I got the HH k2 today, beautiful device, nice finish, smooth software, great screen… wow. Setup so easy, works flawlessly so far. Sure, needed to get used to the differences, but man is this a smooth experience!
Now, the battery makes me worry still. I did a workout for y45min, only with HR belt as sensor, and Battery saver ON. It took 4% battery off, quite ok.
But messing around with the device then drains the battery so quickly, you can actually see the % dropping. I am now 9% off the 100% and have barely used the device.
Any comments by other users?
And: What is the lowest brightnewss setting possible? I cant see any kind of percentage setup.
I usually factor in ~10% battery usage / hour. Seems to get pretty close to what happens on the road.
I usually have the screen at ~35% brightness, which works well for almost everything except direct bright light.
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where do you see the brightness level in percent? I just have a slider with no percentage indicator. And even the lowest brightness seems way too bright for indoor trainings