Hammerhead Karoo 2 vs Garmin review
Aug 9, 2021 10:11:50 GMT
David Joss Buckley, Debs McLauchlan, and 3 more like this
Post by James Brooke Turner on Aug 9, 2021 10:11:50 GMT
I've used a Garmin for more than 10 years, but never used a Wahoo so I can't comment on that system. My needs are simple i) to show me my data as I ride, ii) to navigate, and iii) as an interface with an online site such as Strava, Garmin or Ride with GPX, both to upload and to download data. I don't use anything to do with training targets, segments or other more focussed competitive performance based metrics.
Why did I move away from a Garmin 1030? A fair bit of my riding is cycling to destinations or exploring with friends and I became increasingly frustrated/embarrassed not being able to adjust my route effectively, or having to wait while the Garmin recalculated, then eventually resorting to my phone to work out the best route. In every other way the Garmin worked well for me, other than a general clunkiness in the interfaces with websites (even its own).
For me, the standout feature of the Karoo 2 is the ease and spontaneity of navigation. To load a map from Strava/RidewithGPS is simply a question of pasting in the link to your Hammerhead account. Once the Karoo is synced (normally needs wifi not Bluetooth) the route is on the device. To set a new route mid ride, or to deviate temporarily from your current route involves just picking your new destination on the screen and getting it to calculate the new route. This takes a a couple of seconds, as does rerouting if you have gone astray. It is as easy to move about the mapping screen as it is on a mobile phone.
The main consideration is the poor battery life, especially in cooler temperatures, which tends to be about 6 to 8 hours, and longer if it's warmer. I only do a couple of rides longer than this a year so I am resigned to taking a spare battery for those and find the battery life is ample for the other rides I do.
So, in summary it is a trade off between battery life and ease of navigation.
A bit more: Hammerhead could do a lot more to ease migrations from Garmin to Karoo. So much of what is intuitive in setting up a Garmin does not translate to a Karoo. I found my migration was most effective by riding alone for a few rides that I didn't mind losing and stopping frequently to google the set up problem I was having and then trying it out. For example, the order in which your sensors are listed can make a difference to their connectivity. Things like that are profoundly frustrating to resolve. As with any system, there are minor gripes such as difficulty reading the data in bright light, the small size of direction or other information, but compensations such as a cool colour changing heart rate dial. There is no website data analytics such as Garmin Connect so you need to use something like Strava or TrainingPeaks to maintain a historical record. I take a lot of encouragement from the upgrades issued by Hammerhead every two weeks and often look up to see that the changes have been; while that happens I believe the product should be getting better.
So, if you're going to switch from a Garmin to Karoo expect an investment of time in working out how to set it up as you want (this is also dependent on your character type and tolerance for things not being 'just so'). The compensation is phone like navigation, even if you have to take a spare battery on longer rides, but if you don't spend ages on a ride looking at your device thinking 'where now' the tried and tested Garmin wins with its better battery life. Then there's always a Wahoo, or just a small phone to consider.
Why did I move away from a Garmin 1030? A fair bit of my riding is cycling to destinations or exploring with friends and I became increasingly frustrated/embarrassed not being able to adjust my route effectively, or having to wait while the Garmin recalculated, then eventually resorting to my phone to work out the best route. In every other way the Garmin worked well for me, other than a general clunkiness in the interfaces with websites (even its own).
For me, the standout feature of the Karoo 2 is the ease and spontaneity of navigation. To load a map from Strava/RidewithGPS is simply a question of pasting in the link to your Hammerhead account. Once the Karoo is synced (normally needs wifi not Bluetooth) the route is on the device. To set a new route mid ride, or to deviate temporarily from your current route involves just picking your new destination on the screen and getting it to calculate the new route. This takes a a couple of seconds, as does rerouting if you have gone astray. It is as easy to move about the mapping screen as it is on a mobile phone.
The main consideration is the poor battery life, especially in cooler temperatures, which tends to be about 6 to 8 hours, and longer if it's warmer. I only do a couple of rides longer than this a year so I am resigned to taking a spare battery for those and find the battery life is ample for the other rides I do.
So, in summary it is a trade off between battery life and ease of navigation.
A bit more: Hammerhead could do a lot more to ease migrations from Garmin to Karoo. So much of what is intuitive in setting up a Garmin does not translate to a Karoo. I found my migration was most effective by riding alone for a few rides that I didn't mind losing and stopping frequently to google the set up problem I was having and then trying it out. For example, the order in which your sensors are listed can make a difference to their connectivity. Things like that are profoundly frustrating to resolve. As with any system, there are minor gripes such as difficulty reading the data in bright light, the small size of direction or other information, but compensations such as a cool colour changing heart rate dial. There is no website data analytics such as Garmin Connect so you need to use something like Strava or TrainingPeaks to maintain a historical record. I take a lot of encouragement from the upgrades issued by Hammerhead every two weeks and often look up to see that the changes have been; while that happens I believe the product should be getting better.
So, if you're going to switch from a Garmin to Karoo expect an investment of time in working out how to set it up as you want (this is also dependent on your character type and tolerance for things not being 'just so'). The compensation is phone like navigation, even if you have to take a spare battery on longer rides, but if you don't spend ages on a ride looking at your device thinking 'where now' the tried and tested Garmin wins with its better battery life. Then there's always a Wahoo, or just a small phone to consider.