Beside the big brands as Garmin and Wahoo is relative small company called Hammerhead working hard to “steal” some marketshare with the Karoo 2 cycling computer. Meet this new powerful gadget for on your road– or mtb bike.
Under the hood of the Karoo 2?
Because the cycle computer isn’t available yet we need to do it with the specifications of the Karoo 2. The first thing you should notice is the high resolution 3.2” display panel (active display 41 x 69 mm) with 292 PPI (pixels per inch). The resolution is 480×800 and it has a Dragontrail Glass panel with Acid Etched matte finish. More important, it has a smartphone-like responsive touchscreen and has an Android based operating system.
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With a 2500 mAh battery you can use the device for 12 hours on a single charge. Further under the hood a quad-core, smartphone-grade Qualcomm 1.1Ghz, CPU with 2GB of RAM processor, and a cellular radio and of course Bluetooth, GPS, 4G, 3G, Wifi and ANT+ for connectivity.
The high-sensitivity barometer and ambient temperature sensors helps to measure the temperature and elevation where you are. With a 3-axis accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope provides greater insight into the motion within your rides. A beeper alerts for navigation, training, and smartphone notification cues. Then there is also support for standard ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart sensors, Varia Radar, Shimano Di2, SRAM eTap and your smartphone. With 32GB of storage there should be enough space to download maps. The turn by turn navigation is based on OpenStreet Maps. Unique for this cycling computer is the USB-C port for fast charging the battery. Last but no least the weight of the device, that is 125 gram.
User experience of the Karoo 2
Because the final product is not on the market it’s difficult to judge the user experience in real life. To get an idea on how the cycling computer will look like there are some small movies made which you can see on the Hammerhead site. Two pages that are showing some real muscles are the navigation and the Strava segment page.
Price and availability Karoo 2
The price point of the Karoo 2 is an interesting one if you compare it the the biggest rival, the Garmin Edge 1030 and 1030 Plus the retail price is $200 dollar more then this model. The retail price of the Karoo 2 is $399 and for now only available via direct sell. If you now pre-order your Karoo 2, Hammerhead aims for shipping in December 2020. Read more in depth information about the Karoo 2 at hammerhead.io.
