Hammerhead Karoo 2 GPS

[warthog1]

DCRainmaker has a review for those interested.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2024/05/ham ... grade.html

[CmdrBiggles]

^^^
I don't know where that correlation with the KKK came from!
Spoke with CCACHE earlier (where the Karoo 3 is $749), it is "odd news" to them, too. The name as we know it, Karoo 3, may come across as potentially onerous and inflammatory in the perennially strife-prone US market, but in Australia? No. Karoo 3 it is, now that the Karoo 2 has been discontinued (though still serviced/updated).

I note that DCRainmaker made a few very telling comments in his review wrap-up, among them the K3 is not particularly faster than the 2, and screen brightness was the weakest of the three units tested in parallel in varying illumination (TL:DR; it took a while to get to that point of reading! ).

[Andy01]

^^^
I don't know where that correlation with the KKK came from!

Forth paragraph down in the same DC Rainmaker review you read

"Except, technically, it’s not called the ‘Karoo 3’, but rather just the ‘Karoo’. Hammerhead is specifically concerned about associations with the term ‘K3’ and its connection in some regions to a bunch of dumb white-sheet-wearing morons."

Note on Hammerhead website it is called Karoo (no mention of Karoo 3).
https://www.au.hammerhead.io/products/karoo

But yes, I would imagine that most people will call it K3 to avoid confusion with the long obsolete original Karoo.

CCache has sold out of the K2 models at $319, and there are still a couple of sites advertising stock of K2 for $398-415, which is still a good price. On the Hammerhead website any reference to the original RRP of $639, sale price $470 (I opened it the same day I got the email announcing the new Karoo) is gone and now it just says $750. Not sure if that was a glitch when they "converted" the K2 page to Karoo ?

According to the DCR review, the K2 units are in short supply because HH stopped making them 6 months ago, and has been stockpiling the new model ready for launch. Certainly nothing in the review that got me even mildly interested in updating to the new one - hopefully my K2 keeps going for several years to come.

[CmdrBiggles]

I did see that commentary about Hammerhead's 'concerns', but it still struck me as left-of-field. Is the term K3 really a pointed reference here to the silly buggers playing 'BOO--! "? What would the term K9 correlate with? Heaven forbid it isn' t something the world could do without...

Meanwhile, my LBS in Geelong - - the one I specifically favour over the others I avoid - - doesn't stock any computers now. Changed hands, being dressed up, family-oriented; lots of Trek bikes, but thin on serious accessories, and especially computers.

[AUbicycles]

Wonder if they fixed the mapping… my two sticking points with the karoo 2 was that I could not create route to suit my riding (they limited route options) and the data screens on the wahoo and Garmin that I could setup myself were more suited than the preconfigured options. Hammerhead pushed the simplistic options “choose what sort of riding you want to do?” and it felt like they were trying (and failing) to create a cycling experience… but I just want to ride, quickly have a route and get the data I want… without an experiencevof having to engage and setup a device for too long.

The setup of conoatible sensors and the menu / interface was good.. that was a plus point.

At Eurobike Hammerhead was not pushed. SRAM had (like last year) a small box and not much focus is given to it. Garmin are obvious attracting more attention while wahoo skipped the show again and did separate stuff for their new HRM.

[Andy01]

I haven't set up many routes, and those I did do, were set up on RidewithGPS and seamlessly uploaded to the K2 in the background. They push out updates every 3 weeks or so, and I have seen quite a few of the updates mention navigation improvements.