Karoo 2 Take 2: Part 1

Forget the past- This is a new unit = new review.

 At the end of June I fired off my original Hammerhead Karoo 2 unit back to the Mothership because I had been frustrated beyond belief with the device and was at my wits end. You can read why that happened here if you missed that. In the return box I sent along a hand written note detailing my frustrations and advising them that they 'could' send a new unit out if they wanted to, but that I would not be upset in the least if I never saw one of their products again. 

Yes. I was upset.

Anyway, a nice representative got in touch with us and spoke to my wife on one occasion, (because she actually purchased the unit as a gift for me, so they talked with her) and she explained to them that she thought the unit was defective. So, the Hammerhead rep said that a new unit would be shipped out ASAP and that he would like to walk through the new one with me when we got it. 

Well, that was uncommonly fair and a pleasant interaction, which I totally appreciate. Hammerhead didn't have to do anything. So, kudos to their customer service and willingness to make things right.

However; as I stated in the linked post above, I don't think it is fair in terms of what anyone should expect from a device from any company to be asked to do a walk-through with a representative unless you require that of every new user of your device. Hammerhead does not require this, or even suggest this as being an option, when you receive their device.  So, if it is supposed to work without technical advisers, then it should work. Period. Therefore I did not contact the representative for a "walk-through" this time. I am taking this as a 100% reset as if I never had a Karoo 2 before. That's where we're starting off things here....

There were some set-up issues.

Okay, out of the box and the first thing I noted was that the USB cord was a completely different version of the same format USB connector the old unit had. This cord was a definite upgrade. It is a cloth covered cord with what feels like a much more robust wiring. It was much longer than the previous USB connector as well. Okay then. That was nice.

Firing up the unit revealed the next difference. The welcome screen image was of a rider going down a road in a rural area. It was animated, and I know the old unit did not have this. Okay, that's different as well.

Then I had to have Mrs. Guitar Ted enter the top-secret, "no-one-else-can-know-it" WiFi password for the house here. Man! If something happens to her we're screwed when it comes to a LOT of things, and WiFi is just one of them! Talk about closely guarded secrets! 

Now, on to the set up. After entering my password like three times (Arrgh!) I get in to my dashboard and the set-up procedure. I had to download maps according to the unit. No surprise there as Karoo 2 units don't come pre-set with maps downloaded. I chose my preferred maps from the menu and continued to download them. Okay, so far, so good.

Now on to measuring preferences. Easy-peasy.  Next- Bluetooth pairing with my iPhone. Hmm..... Would not do it. Tried several ways. No-go. After 15 minutes of that I decided, "You know what? I don't HAVE to have a phone tethered to this thing." Moving on then, but noted that I could not get the iPhone and the Karoo 2 Bluetoothed together. (Note: I don't really need to have push notifications on my GPS device. In fact, I'd rather not. So, if it doesn't matter for anything else, I won't pursue this. You may find that to be a negative here though.)

Okay, on to checking routes. Obviously there was nothing there and the unit asked that I login to the Hammerhead dashboard on the unit. More wrasslin' with the login procedure (Arrgh!) Okay, now it wants me to download maps again?!! Whatever. I do this and wait. Then the routes I had saved previously show up. 

Allrighty then! We'll see how this goes....

Okay, so that all took 45 minutes and I did not get a Bluetooth connection to my iPhone. Honestly, that is the least of my worries, but I still note that as a bit of a concern for the device as a whole. 

Next up will be a ride test of the Black Hawk County route I tried to use on the last unit I had. That should happen soon, (if it hasn't by the time this posts), and I'll be back next week with some more news on how it went.

Keep in mind that the number one reason I even wanted this sort of a device is to be able to follow GPS file routes from others. Events use these almost exclusively now, and many popular rides are in this format. Unless I have a GPS enabled device that allows turn-by-turn navigation, I will be effectively shut out of several events and routes without doing some of my own cue sheet research. That may or may not be possible with many events now days.

Many people get these to instantly share data on social media, or to monitor sensor driven data from power meters, or heart rate monitors. I don't do any of these things currently, (although, at my age, monitoring heart rate might be a thing to consider). So, I'm "over-deviced", you could say. To be completely honest, this isn't a thing I necessarily would get if it weren't for GPS routing. Because of this you are going to find a lot of "I don't care" when it comes to things like Bluetoothing my iPhone and similar things when it comes to the Hammerhead Karoo 2. 

Basically, the success or failure of this device is founded on how it performs in the expected manner for me, and that's a narrow range. So, there are the expectations and we'll see how this new unit holds up.