Fresh Duracell, still getting drops. Arguably less and shorter. I do my training rides by San Diego Bay and the drops seem to at least in part have certain areas they tend to happen which causes me to suspect signal interference, maybe from the navy bases around the bay.
Thatās the latest firmware for that model? I canāt keep up with the P3, P3+, P3+ Pro, etcā¦ they recently pushed an update for some coasting/ghosting watts I was seeing with their latest unit.
Ha, some of these marketing teams need to be restricted to decaf. FW seems up to date, there was no update when I popped in to grab that screenshot (tho Iāll double check the procedure for triggering that to make sure). Really wonder if itās resolvable. Iām starting to think my watts are so small theyāre easily lost between the PM and head unit. When the connection resumes, it will often spike way too high and mess up my power data in the other direction too. I think Intervals.icu has me sprinting at 2200w this season and I know I didnāt do that. Needs to drop a 0.
Resurrecting this because Iām curious about the current state of the Karoo 3. Iāve watched/read lots of the launch reviews, but I gather lots of stuff has been updated via firmware since launch.
Iām a longtime Bolt user looking to upgrade to a more modern unit. The new Ace is just too big and, as of now, buggy for me to consider. Iāve messed with an 840 but found the complexity of the Garmin UI not to my tastes.
Seems like ~6 months after launch is when you should actually consider a computer these days, as several have launched with unfinished or buggy firmware. So, howās the K3 looking at this point? Wondering if the following issues mentioned at launch have been improved:
- Laggy UI (really a minor concern)
- Eat/drink/customizable alerts, are these now available?
- Crazy loud beeps; I think theyāve introduced some alternative tones, are these better?
- Outdoor workouts (e.g. TR) seemed poorly implemented on launch, has this been improved?
- Can you control iPhone music playback from the K3 now?
- Any issues with general stability, GPS, device connectivity, syncing etc? Saw the note above on altimeter drift, is this a common complaint?
- General thoughts from those who have many hours with one? Are you satisfied or tempted by something else?
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Laggy UI (really a minor concern)
I find no lag at all, except for opening the top menu sometimes. Now granted I only do that to select/change route, or to add/calibrate the power meter. So for me itās not biggie even if it bothers me a bit haha. But small thing in the grand scheme of things. I love how fast it is switching screens etc -
Eat/drink/customizable alerts, are these now available?
Nope, not yet! I do miss having it, had it on the Roam. -
Crazy loud beeps; I think theyāve introduced some alternative tones, are these better?
The new ones are so much better, not only are they less loud, but they also changed the tones so they are different enough from each other. Phone notifications are very toned down, radar has its own more aggressive sound, and next turn is a more positive chirp, if that makes sense
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Outdoor workouts (e.g. TR) seemed poorly implemented on launch, has this been improved?
They do use the drawer for workouts. I came from Wahoo, and I do miss structured workouts on that, but other than that I feel like it works alright. I run the drawer half way up, with a regular data field behind with select data that I want to see. So, itās ok, but Wahoo was better. -
Can you control iPhone music playback from the K3 now?
Not that I know. -
Any issues with general stability, GPS, device connectivity, syncing etc? Saw the note above on altimeter drift, is this a common complaint?
Rock solid for me, aka, it boots up, connects to GPS, no dropped rides or crashes at all. Way more stable than my Wahoo was (Wahoo family here, been running them since original Elemnt except for a small bout with Garmin 1040). -
General thoughts from those who have many hours with one? Are you satisfied or tempted by something else?
For me its the small things that makes it great, for example:
- When on a data page, you can always see the next turn, and distance to it, at the bottom. So I am never riding āblindā even if I am on the data page and not the map.
- When on the map page, I can get a new lap by double pressing the zoom button, very handy not having to change to a data page to get a new lap.
- Its very very easy to control with just the buttons during bad weather, or if youāre riding with gloves
- Screen is incredibly good, the auto brightness can be trusted 100%. Have not adjusted it once.
- Battery life seems to be getting better? Was riding 3 hours in -2 celsius yesterday, and with Varia, PM, HR, navigation etc all on, it was pulling 6% an hour.
- For me stability is important, I just want something that works well and has a good screen for navigation. I am out there training and donāt want any interference from the head unit.
- Map and screen is great, just have to mention it again. Itās so so good. Also like that they have 3 zoom levels predetermined for the map page, so you can quickly toggle between those
- It switches to dark mode if itās dark outside, which is nice for the data fields. Screen doesnāt blind you.
I was looking forward to seeing the new Wahoo Ace, but after seeing the reviews, not so much. Also the screen seems incredibly bad compared to Hammerhead and 1050. I also wasnāt expecting it to be that big.
Let me know if there is anything else that you wonder
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This is freaking fantastic info, thanks a ton for taking the time to write this up!
Re: workout screens, do you get a graphical representation of the workout (like TRās blue blocks) to work from? Some of the images I saw in reviews looked like it just shows you a power range, which seems less good. And I hope/assume associated data fields are customizable?
Iām leaning toward trying the HH I think. Iām in pretty much the same boat as you, long time Bolt user but I find myself really wanting a better screen and improved maps/routing. I have multiple big trips to unfamiliar territory planned for the coming year where Iāll be very reliant on maps and routing info, and the Bolt just feels like very primitive tech at this point.
I havenāt used an Ace but I did get to see/hold one, and it really is just very very very big. Not just screen size but thickness and weight; you could use it to incapacitate a home invader in a pinch. I couldnāt imagine using one for MTB, and at least for now I donāt think I could even mount one on most of my bikes, pending new longer super-reinforced mounts coming out. Plus that means buying all new mounts.
The 1050 seems to be the current standard, but my past experience with Garmin has not endeared that UI to me. Iām in Seattle so ride a lot in rain, cold and wet, and while I know the screen is supposed to be quite good I prefer not to be totally reliant on a touchscreen. Many of the size/mount compatibility issues also apply to the 1050; the HH seems like a nice Goldilocks size.
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Iāve used the K2 for a couple years now but workout page and most software is the same. One nice thing is that HH just released a SDK so some apps have been written for things. Just waiting for an easy way to install these apps to the devices.
Yes, BUT the page shows 1 second power with no ability to change it to 3- or 5- second. The workout page with the graphics like TR is not customizable. Iāve set up a 2nd workout page and end up swiping back and forth throughout the workout. Not as slick as the Wahoo workout page, but HH works well and Iām used to it now. I have a workout profile set up so screens I want are the only ones to swipe through.
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No worries at all Its hard to get a feeling of how it is to live daily with a lot of devices, so I hoped to give more insight into that.
P.S. I did upload another image now how it looks when youāre on a data page with navigation on, you can see the pill at the bottom
Yes and no, you can have a screen with all the relevant info, but the workout āsitsā in the workout drawer, if that makes sense. I think I would have preferred a workout screen instead, but you get used to it.
The only thing I miss a bit from Wahoo is being able to very easily move between the different intervals in a workout. Itās doable on the Karoo but itās not as smooth, you need to open the top drawer and ājumpā to the next section. This means that there is no visual representation on where you are moving to, like you have on the Wahoo where you can see āoh now I am moving 4 steps forward and starting the main intervalā for example.
You can see how it works here: https://support.hammerhead.io/hc/en-us/articles/18001019006363-Karoo-OS-Workouts
Seems like they have done some improvements and adaptability to the drawer!
If you are dependant on maps and routing, the Hammerhead is the way to go
I can also add that I did some testing yesterday, and it seems like the top drawer, letās call it settings drawer, is only a bit laggy the first time I opened it. It was instant during my whole ride yesterday.
Very similar thing over here in the UK, Hoover brought out a vacuum cleaner decades ago, there are multiple brands now, Dyson, Shark etc, most people still call their Dyson a hoover, and state āIām doing the hooveringā 
Me, I still call my Karoo 3 my garmin 
Ki2 has now been released for the Karoo 3 so itās possible to connect your Di2 to it. Loads of new updates and things coming for the Karoo at the moment which is exciting
https://www.reddit.com/r/Karoo/comments/1huhzdg/ki2_for_karoo_3/
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