Hammerhead Karoo 2 Review: Better than Garmin & Wahoo? 

I jumped on the Karoo II wagon so to speak around Sept. 2020, got it in hands in Jan 2021. Loving it ever since!, navigation is snappy and instantly familiar. Software updates (some really major) roughly every 2-3 weeks. Fellow riders turn to me when we missed a turn and have to re-join the route. Usually their units route BACK to the point where we took a wrong turn.. Karoo routes to the next opportunity to re-join the route (as one would like). With all whistles turned on it consumes about 8-12% battery an hour (depending on brightness)

Great review, David. Had a Karoo 1 and, now, 2. Never experienced battery issues. Their new cover accessory kit resolves the issue with the USB ‘plug’. Graphics are sharp and precise.

I had the edge 205 back in the mid 2000s to late 2000s. Absolutely loved it. Life got in the way and stopped cycling for about 5 years. Then started again in 2016 and picked up the edge 820. It's a bit long in the tooth now so I'm using my fenix 6x. Definitely in the market for a new cycling computer.

Love the thoroughness of your video review. I hovered around the Karoo 2 but I found the absolute best value was the Wahoo bolt bundle. Great bike computer plus heart monitor, speed and cadence sensors all for a price that was noticeably cheaper than the Karoo.

This was my first cycling computer and have really enjoyed using it. One warning, the proprietary mount inexplicably snapped one day, while going downhill around 25mph (after using it for around 6 months). Unit didn't fare very well to say the least, but I have to say Hammerhead were very helpful in helping me out. Moving on with a replacement, now use a Garmin mount and never without the tether.

I have both a Karoo 2 and a Wahoo Element. Both work, but the Karoo is, in my view, much better overall, particularly for navigation. If I’m just recording a ride on my regular routes, the Wahoo is simple and does the job. But for other features the Karoo does more and is easier to work with. It’s not cheap, but in this case you do get more for your money.

Just connect the Karoo 2 to your phone Wi-Fi hotspot to easily sync data. Hands down one of the best cycling computers I’ve experienced.

Love your content David. Thanks for the channel.

I bought one this summer after my Wahoo Elemnt Roam developed a 'leaking screen' . It was replaced on warranty but I fancied one of these. So many good point BUT the elevation is way off for me. I'm not talking by a hundred ft of so. On my regular loop of roughly 2000ft this'll come in at 3000ft. The biggest thing I can say, is if I had my time again, I'd re-buy the Roam .

Thanks for the video. Have had the K2 for a year now. Wifi connectivity is not an issue for me as when away from home I just create a hotspot on my phone. Wish that they created a smartphone app to access info quickly, though you can make a bookmark. Battery life is around 10hrs. Would love longer life for when i do rides over 250km. Typically i take a small battery pack with me and charge when stop for coffee. Usb c means that it can charge quite a bit in 15mins. Biggest issue for me is shimano’s decision regarding di2 connectivity - mainly so that i can see the battery of my di2.

I’ve had both the Karoo 2 and the 1040 Solar. I like both for different reasons. I actually really like using the Di2 buttons for laps and screen changes and am irritated Shimano took it away from the Karoo. I find that, in practice, there’s little difference between the routing for both the Garmin and the Karoo. Garmin wins big on the battery, but the Karoo wins on the screen (although I did have issues with glare with the Karoo 2 despite it being matte). Garmin also supports some sensors that Karoo doesn’t (Aeropod and a couple of other things). The Garmin is very buggy at times and Karoo is always pushing out helpful updates and features. The 1040 has horrible (and I mean horrible) gradient lag. 15+ seconds. The GPS on the 1040 is extremely precise.

I will never go back to Garmin having owned my Karoo 2 for over a year. A few tips - Buy a screen protector and silicone case from Amazon etc. Cover the USB plug with a small piece of electrical tape to prevent loss. Only use a 1amp charger as you can damage the battery. This happened to me and Hammerhead gave me a free exchange. Finally - enjoy!

I used to use Garmin 530, then change it to Karoo 2, it has been 1 year, and im still very happy about it, UX UI is awesome, if they solve the battery problem it might be fantastic. Also another problem with Karoo 2 for me is that i need to add route everytime on their website but not automatic like Garmin devide so its a bit annoying.

Nice video. There is a battery cover update and std at new delivery 😁 I really like the Hammerhead web app and potential it has. Shimano will not be my next choice because the bold move they made this year. The buttons on the GRX Di2 are really handy and improves safety. Next to the battery soc of Di2 really missing features.

No hood buttons with Di2, better Battery life, more data in Dashboard, more connectivity options was reason to go with Garmin 1040 solar……and it just delivers - no bugs no Screen lag, no glare issue…..and it even helps with Music skipping back and forth.

I love my Karoo 2, my only gripe is the battery life. For all day or multi day rides you will need to charge. Generally after 6-8h the battery will be very close to needing a recharge which can be a problem depending on the rides you are doing.

I love my K2 so I am biased of course. The biggest downside according to many is battery life. Last week I did a 6,5 hour bike ride with an average temprature of 8 degrees, it left me with 36% of battery life when I ended the ride. Sensors connected were HR, speed, dual sided power and radar. I was navigating the full time and showed graphical screen for the vast majority of the time. Screen brightness was 40% while it was still light (5hrs) and the remainng time it was 8%. Battery capacity works fine for me. Only thing I'd wish that Hammerhead should add is an integration app on my smartphone.

Battery life is one thing but Battery wear is another. Even if the device lasts enough for a day, you'll still be charging it more frequently than some other devices. After one year you might have been through dozens of more cycles. I say this from experience, I had a Garmin Edge 1000, did La Marmotte and almost had the battery fail, had I not charged it during the ride. That device was maybe 2 years old at the time. It's the same with modern phones, they never last as long after a years worth of usage. I also have a Fenix 3 which has a mammoth battery life and because it needs charged less often it is still going strong. That being said, the Karoo 2 looks great. Just not for me given my past experiences with battery life during important events.

Have a Karoo 2 and a Wahoo Roam v1. Really enjoy my Karoo 2 and use it for most rides.

In the States, the 1040 is $599, 200 more than the Karoo. And the 840 with it's tiny screen is $450, 50 more than Karoo. After the Edge 1000 died, I bought a Bryton Rider 750. It has all the features of the Edge 1000 that I need. Didn't look at the Karoo because of the lack of di2 support. But I guess you can now load an app that fixes that.

I used a Garmin Edge 800 for years, mainly on road i was familiar with, which is a good thing because map is unreadable and rerouting inexistant (uturn) I moved from one region to another and finally choose to updated it, my main reason to change was a readable map display, and rerouting features Was very disappointed to see Garmin is still displaying road to follow in purple and all the other road in blue, on a reflective screen, still seems unreadable, even on the latest model Bought a Karoo2 last week, it's great, big yellow path with arrow trace over white road, on a mat display, on this feature it's far superior.

Another great review, been waiting for this one! The only question I had was did they fix the charger port cover so it no longer falls out? I’ve seen different responses and can’t seem to tell from their website. Thank you.

Wish Wahoo/Garmin would implement that Climber feature, showing your unplanned climbs to come.

I have both a garmin 1040 and Karoo 2. The Karoo 2 consistently drains at 10% per hour. The Garmin also has more stats that I enjoy keeping up with. The Garmin tells me I have roughly 55 hours when fully charged

Hand up! I've had 2 205's, a 305, edge 800, edge touring, and edge 1000. But wasn't particularly happy with edge 1000, too many bugs that caused it to lock up requiring constant rebooting where you had to hold the power button down until it restarted. Never happened during use, always locking up when you take it off the charger. So the power button eventually broke and would not push the micro switch to turn on. I noticed several people selling 1000 on ebay with broken power buttons. Looks like a common problem.

You can use your phone as a hotspot to sync routes. Works no problem.

Thanks for the great review and information. My older Garmin has yhr ability to set the screen to automatically turn off to save battery power. Doed this Karoo 2 have that option? Looks like a great alternative computer

What bike do you ride? 9:06 I’m thinking about buying the Trek Dual Sport 3 Gen 5. I’m a fan of the drop handle bars and I want a bike that can do both road and light gravel.

How's the karoo 2 with mountain biking? Will the climb meter work for off road trails when the climb starts or is this only for roads? Thanks

Had it ages ago. Battery life is shocking. Touchscreen and system is fab tho but drains battery. I got in touch with them and they told me to disconnect power meter and heart rate monitor and turn brightness down and not use maps. Sent it back to sigma who were top class as always and refunded asap.

I have been using the Lezyne mega xl for more than two years. But the low quality platic used for the lock mechanism has finaly broken (twice), so now I am in the lookout for a new computer. I could get the Karoo 2 for $260 or a Bolt V2 for $230. I know the battery would be the biggest difference, but at the same time I would be winning better maps, better data and climbing pages. Regarding the mounts for my bikes, I have to get new ones no matter which brand I pick. I feel more tempted to go with the Karoo 2. Any thoughts?

Isn't it possible to create a hotspot from your phone and connect the Karoo 2 to thh hotspot? or use the Sim Card tray in the device?

The lack of live tracking without a SIM and or Hot Spot connectivity. Added with the fact you need to connect to wifi and or hot spots to upload post ride activity not to mention lack of crash detection should be mentioned. I'm not sure why the Karoo 2 simply will not connect via bluetooth the a smartphone for post ride uploads and to send live track links is a concern some riders will want to know about that should be addressed in the video.

i love my K2 but i have to say that i find the Live Segment experience a bit poor. I find the layout of the screen fussy and not clear. In fact, i find the general design, layout and font sizes not as clear (for my older eyes) as the Garmin. But for mapping and route following its sooooo much better than my Garmin 530

"Remember this?" Actually, I am stilling using my Garmin Edge 305😉I actually have four of them since I love their simplicity. Don't need colour or a map or a touchscreen, just an arrow to follow.

I am looking for a high end bike right now,I like this computer so I guess Shimano D12 groupsets are off the table I will only buy SRAM,Good job Shimano!

I’ve just bought a Karoo 2 at a bargain price. Okay, my biggest gripe is no iOS app but is it the be all and end all? I’ve just watched this video and I’m still glad I bought it. I have a Garmin Edge 530and an Edge 1030 plus. I have been wanting to try the Hammerhead Karoo 2 for ages but was put off by the price as well. The added Climber feature seems to be better than Climb Pro. Only time will tell.

Did they address the home WiFi only for syncing limitation? That's almost a deal breaker for me, as I tend to us Strava Routes when traveling and looking for quick ride/route at a new location. Sounds like I either won't be able to the route onto the device or I would need to setup a new home wifi setting?

Had Karoo 2 for over a year and my new Roam V1.1 is on the way (I wouldn't say that's a V2 honestly :p , what have you done Wahoo! ). Compared to 1040, K2 screen and color are much better, however GPS route drifts on sharp corners, 1040 GPS is more accurate. The reason I give up Garmin is touchscreen, it's gorgeous, but when it's wet and with gloves, it's gone. Consindering I do gravel and mtb riding more often, I switch back to Wahoo again. To be honest, there are Karoo 3 rumors on IG, if batter life and screen flare issues solved, GPS be more accurate, better with an app, I'd say Karoo 3 will dominate.

Hi. I have the wahoo roam which is good but I am thinking if the Karoo 2 is it worth the upgrade? I ride off road and road routes , but want to ride different areas etc

When out of the house I connect my K2 to my iPhone hotspot to download any maps I may need or upload my latest ride to Strava. Very easy

100% the Karoo2 is a better product. Shimano should be ashamed of themselves for taking away open architecture for consumers. I have 12 speed Ultegra dI2 on my BMC Roadmachine and I was enjoying the visuals on the Karoo2. Sorry even the Garmin 1040 Solar with its ridiculous logic is like using old clunky DOS. Solar is a slow to charge gimmick. And the screen is not that great in my opinion. OK so I lose the visuals. Hammerhead was bought out by Sram so Shimano doesn’t want to let their competitor use it’s so called proprietary software. I think they won’t make any friends and the only people it hurts is Shimano users and won’t make any difference in their sales or SRAMS either. Sent the 1040 Solar back and I’m sticking with the Karoo2. I’m not saying Garmin doesn’t make great products, I paid $1000+ for their Power Pedals and I love them. Their radar is great also. Wake up Shimano, you don’t need to punish your customers.

Karoo has Xert built in too. It's super cool.

Can't you give a Hotspot with your phone for the download? Or does this not work?

What are your thoughts on the use of a Sim card with the Karoo 2? I’ve had my Karoo 2 for a little over a year now and don’t feel like I’m really missing anything not using a Sim card.

Was going Karoo 2 but since Shimano no longer permit the Karoo to use the Di2 protocol, I’ve stuck with a 1030 plus. The inability to use the hood buttons is a vote loser for me.

a better comprison is again the 1030plus which has just dropped to £299, certainly the choice for me..and that's they I ordered one

Does karoo2 take a hr broadcast from Garmin or apple broadcast. Will this work to get hr data to the Karoo 2

I'm a bit of a luddite but thinking about this fella. Is it easy 3 set up and user friendly. I've seen it now for£180 which seems a bargin

you can use your phone as a personal hotspot to send routes to your karoo 2 i use it all the time

Hammerhead are doing a 25% discount for a few days. At £235, I couldn't resist!

Tried it, but battery life was bad, and even with decent eyesight found it a little difficult to read whilst riding especially in comparison to my Garmins. In the end sent it back using the free trial they offered.

how about setting your phone as wifi mobile hotspot?

I have had just about every bike computer made and still own 8 of them i think.......i liked the concept of the smart phone style screen and i use navigation a lot. i ended up selling it on eBay because the battery life was absolutely horrible. I understand that if you set everything a certain way, you will get reasonable battery life, but if i spend this kind of money on my bike computer i kind of want to be able to use it and see what i'm doing on the display, if i didn't care about seeing the ride info i would just record the ride on my Garmin watch and look at all the details later. I even bought a SIM card so my rides could upload easily, and then i was like why am i paying an extra fee on my cell phone plan when literally EVERY other GPS unit sold has bluetooth, and a lot of them have an app to change all the settings that is very handy. So even with keeping the settings on a high battery usage set up, the screen was horrible in the bright sun...i live in SoCal so for most of my rides, the sun is shining.......not everyone will feel the way i do and everyone has different features that are important to them, but for these reasons i'm out.

Can hotspot phone to K2 to download routes etc when out and about just FYI

And, great review.

The lack of a phone app is a deal breaker for me. I really like the Karoo except for that.

I use the K2 myself but the terrible battery life and dropped Di2 support are a pain in the rear

I'm still using the Garmin Touring

Can confirm. Karoo 2 is a beast, and they update it about every 2 weeks too.

Just looking at the most recent reviews on wiggle and they are awful, I was going to buy one on the strength of this video over the wahoo roam, not sure now? thoughts anyone

PLEASE read the may MANY posts on the Hammerhead forum about the continuous issues with re-routing in the navigation software Basically it just does not work, it keeps getting worse and worse with every update that HH launches. No matter if you are on the road, gravel, off-road or single-tracks it keeps failing. Many users are requesting an option to be able to turn rerouting off for months now, but HH is unwilling to implement this.

Can you charge it while on the move to help extend the battery life?

Useless for me since it has no elevation curves. My partner has the first gen K1 and some tracks cannot be uploaded at all, and others are a pain to upload. The detail in the maps is not the best, but decent enough.

Had too many issues with the Karoo. Random in-ride reboots, resulting in lost rides, and battery life is terrible compared to wahoo or Garmin

I would like apple to make a bike computer, it would so much better than what’s out there now. The drawback would be that they would find a sway to squeeze every penny out of us

WiFi requirement to share maps is a HUGE issue - what on earth were they thinking? Battery life is also really poor.. these two things make Garmin 40 series the obvious choice for bikepacking and ultra style riding imo

Whenever I do 10+ hour rides, I carry an extra, light battery brick. Easy solution. ;)

I also feel that my new garmin is outdated and not intuitive to use. Karoo is my new computer even though it is not compatible

Climbing pro features?

you can use the map on the Karoo2 in 3D

2 things I hate about it: can't turn the Lap button off AND you can't search for a place by typing a place into anything and you HAVE TO DESIGN A ROUTE not easy at a massive heart rate.. other than them things that piss me off, it's ok 🤔

I switched to the Karoo 2 a year ago. I gave up on how laggy and antiquated the Garmin UI was even though it was the flagship model. I'm still running the old firmware for Karoo 2 since Shimano's douchebag move of removing the Di2 integration.

So its almost a good as a smart phone with less than a smart phone battery, requiring apps without a SIM card. Why not just use your phone?

Garmin makes some of the best instruments in the world (avionics) yet there cycling division is mediocre..

No di2 support tho

Biggest issue is Hammerhead is cycling only. If you do other sports as well (Running, Triathlon etc..) then having everything in one ecosystem outweighs the Hammerhead benefits.

reading the instruction manual is like reading war & peace, right?

Incredibly petty and short-sighted move by Shimano to block Di2 integration. All they’re achieving is decreasing their own Di2 users’ experience who happen to have a Karoo 2.

A device that relies on you only being at home and on your own wifi, is surely flawed ??? Whats the point of a top end bike computer ...that only works at home ?? Barking mad

If the iPhone Ultra gets dual Bluetooth - I'd say ANT+, but I've given up on that - the bike computer industry is dead as disco

About not being to push routes on the go--- can't you just make a WiFI Hotspot on your phone and use that as the Karoo's WiFi? Also: damn you crashed a few times in just the last 6 months?

I feal like there isn't much it does that a smartphone can't.

Battery life could be better

There is no comparison if Karoo isn't compatible to with Shimano users to be able to use it fully. Yes its Shimano being a little bitch, but at the same time it has done what it set out to do, cripple half of Karro's market share. 95% of all my friends and I use shimano di2, therefore, none of us can/will use Karoo no matter how good the reviews are. Its unfortunate, but that is the reality of the world we live in.

Wifi is one issue and the battery is another great unit but battery life well its horrible

Why not just use your phone instead? 🤷

No.

Garmin is better ...

Garmin killer my ass.

Shimano’s approach to Karoo…..stupid, stupid, stupid.

Ahhhhhh... that comment... first. 🤣

Cyclists can catch citrobacter while riding

🤮🤮🤮 android

I have both iterations of the Karoo (i.e., the original and the Karoo II). They have, to date, the best UI of all extant cycle computers: the maps and the UI elements are beautifully crafted. The Karoo units sport the highest resolution screen out there. Updates are relatively frequent. But they're far from perfect. Here's why. - The Karoo II (my sample, anyway) is slower to boot and to load maps than the original Karoo! - The battery life of either model is mediocre. - The omission of the following features is regrettable: - Solar charging (exclusive to the latest generation of Garmins only at this point in time) - No provision for click-on batteries (a feature that Garmin models sport). - While the navigation is superior to some of the competition (i.e., Wahoo), the lack of an extensive POI database (such as in Google Maps) is problematic. - To get from A to B using the Karoo, one has to have the route drafted in advance, on the computer. You can't set up a route on-the-fly, except for navigating back to the starting point of the track. This is an insufferable limitation. - Drafting a route, using the dashboard is a bit tricky: the interface will bypass on-way traffic or non-navigable for cars streets and instead draw a route around them - and in so doing increase the distance to the route unnecessarily. - The original Karoo housing has cracked (this happened randomly and out of the blue; the unit has never been dropped). - The storage (10 GB or thereabouts in total for the original Karoo and 32GB in total for the Karoo II) is highly insufficient for local rides. This is particularly limiting, given the relatively high-resolution, high quality Karoo maps, compared to competition's lower resolution maps, visually-mediocre, maps and cruder UI. The Karoo ought to have at the very minimum a 128GB internal storage. Even a 128GB internal storage would barely suffice for the maps of a single continent (i.e, Europe) plus updates (the unit has to contain at least the double the amount of map data for updates to be installed without running out of space). I would prefer 512GB of data as a minimum, upgradeable to double that. For local rides, even 10GB will easily suffice. But for cycle touring the 32GB is grossly insufficient. - The map updates are very, very slow. - The bezels ought to be significantly smaller (or altogether absent) and the screen - significantly larger. - The Karoo smartphone companion app is as good as useless as it currently stands. My verdict: good, but far, far from perfect - and in a dire need to be improved.