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Hammerhead Karoo


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13 hours ago, AustinBike said:

What are you looking for in a Garmin? I have an old Garmin 500 that I'd trade for a 6-pack if you don't need bluetooth or other fancy features.

Thanks for the offer. I went ahead and ordered the Karoo, it looks like an upgrade from my garmin 1030.

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15 hours ago, mcfly said:

My Garmin died today so I dug up this thread. Are you guys still happy with the Karoo? Is it compatible with Garmin quarter turn mounts?

I'm not sure if they are still doing it, but Garmin used to have a replacement cost policy.  I think I got a new 705  3-times for $107 shipped.  Yes, it sucked that it failed so often but back then there weren't many alternatives.  It may be worth looking into this for your 1030, getting a new one, then selling it new-in-the-box even if you don't want to mess with a Garmin anymore.

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18 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

I'm not sure if they are still doing it, but Garmin used to have a replacement cost policy.  I think I got a new 705  3-times for $107 shipped.  Yes, it sucked that it failed so often but back then there weren't many alternatives.  It may be worth looking into this for your 1030, getting a new one, then selling it new-in-the-box even if you don't want to mess with a Garmin anymore.

Yep, I can send the 1030 into Garmin to get it repaired for $140. I'll probably do that and either keep it as a backup or sell it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I love mine. Everything about it is better than my old Garmin 1030, except that the Hammerhead is bulkier and heavier.

It does not support bluetooth pairing with a phone, it connects to your wifi network. So if you want to do uploads or downloads when you're away from home, you'd have to do a phone hotspot. So there is no getting phone call or text notifications on the Hammerhead while you're riding. I don't care much about that.

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2 hours ago, mcfly said:

So there is no getting phone call or text notifications on the Hammerhead

I imagined something practical like a device that would allow you to see a larger version of the little device's screen on your big phone screen.  Or something. 

Who am I kidding.   Every electronic device that I've purchased has caused me unremitting irritation and misery, except for my Chromebook, which I like, except that it sent a successful print request to our blue tooth printer on Day 1 and every since it's acted like it's never heard of a print command, or it might send a print command but, gosh darn it!  it's Thursday on an even day of the month, so NOPE. 

Anyhoo,  I've used my Garmin (830?) twice in the last year, but it's button activated; no swiping or touch screen.   The Karoo's largish navigation screen has a touch screen/swipe function, which gives me hope.  Post up if anyone sees deep discount coupons. 

Edited by June Bug
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23 hours ago, June Bug said:

Every electronic device that I've purchased has caused me unremitting irritation and misery, except for my Chromebook, which I like, except that it sent a successful print request to our blue tooth printer on Day 1 and every since it's acted like it's never heard of a print command, or it might send a print command but, gosh darn it!  it's Thursday on an even day of the month, so NOPE.

HP printer?  If yes, toss it.  Get something else.  I would have recommended Samsung except now HP bought their printer division.  Brother is the other brand I was considering.

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19 hours ago, June Bug said:

Yup, HP laser jet.  It's not going anywhere. 

You'll continue to be frustrated.  Ours was maybe a year old.  We donated it, but it was rare that it was actually online and would work for us.  Power cycling, reconfiguring, nothing worked.  We donated it.  Someone that can just plug into it is enjoying a nice printer I hope.

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1 hour ago, AntonioGG said:

 Someone that can just plug into it is enjoying a nice printer I hope.

Well yes, it's plugged into my husband's computer.  So here's the drill.  I email whatever I want to print to myself in gmail.  Go to his computer and access my gmail account there, open up Word on his computer and then waitwaitwait until Word finally opens, copy and paste my text into a Word document and then print. It makes me feel cheap and tawdry; I write a lot of lists by hand these days.  He's fine with the arrangement.  

Two worst words in the English language, in combination: work around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Lately my Karoo has started locking up on me after about 2.5 hours into a ride. The screen and buttons become unresponsive, and the map stops updating. This freeze will last for a few minutes before the Karoo will respond again. Then after some amount of time it will happen again. Anyone else have this issue? I've tried doing a factory reset but that didn't resolve it. I've opened a support ticket with Hammerhead and am waiting to hear back.

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  • 1 month later...

How are the Karoos holding up?   My Garmin HRM strap died, so I'm once again looking at alterrnatives.

Things I'm looking for:

  1. Does the Karoo's 15 hour battery life change when paired with sensors or the phone?
  2. Simple menu navigation.  The 520+ is horrible compared to the older devices (Edge 500, or Edge 705).  Based on the zoom map features, the Karoo is already ahead here, but more feedback on other menu navigation would be welcome.
  3. Non cycling specific.  Can you use it for running?  i.e. does it have running type stats (e.g. min/mile pace) or only cycling?

Things I like about the Karoo:  

  1. Di2 compatible
  2. Easy zoom when in map view (seems like gesture zoom in/out is big plus on the Karoo, the Edge520+ sucks even compared to my old 705)

 

Anyone looked into wearables as an alternative to cycling/GPS computers?  It's weird that those things seem to have longer battery life than the Edge devices.

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Love my Karoo except for the issue with it locking up that I posted about last month. I've been working with their tech support for the past month on this. Sure seems like a hardware issue but they are giving me the run-around on it. 

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I'll take a shot at answering your questions:

Does the Karoo's 15 hour battery life change when paired with sensors or the phone?

I've always ran the Karoo paired with a heart rate monitor and wireless drivetrain. Longest ride I've done is 6 hours, and I had about 25% battery left when I finished. The Karoo does not pair with your phone, unless you're talking about turning on a wifi hotspot on your phone and leaving the wifi running on the Karoo. In that case I'm sure the battery life would be affected.

Simple menu navigation.  The 520+ is horrible compared to the older devices (Edge 500, or Edge 705).  Based on the zoom map features, the Karoo is already ahead here, but more feedback on other menu navigation would be welcome.

I'd say the menu navigation is better than my old Garmin 1030, but I still find myself poking around and having trouble finding certain settings.

Non cycling specific.  Can you use it for running?  i.e. does it have running type stats (e.g. min/mile pace) or only cycling?

You're probably already aware, but this thing is big and heavy. Would you carry it in a running pack? I'm not sure if it has running type stats. I'm not built for running.

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