Hammerhead Karoo 2 Review
The Hammerhead Karoo 2 is a GPS cycling computer that really brings the fight to Garmin and Wahoo; slick visuals, intelligent features and a desire to do things properly make it a worthy competitor.
I’ve tested a fair few non Garmin GPS smartwatches and bike computers and I always reach the same conclusion; it’s good but it’s not a Garmin. The depth of data and user experience of the American behemoth’s devices is unparalleled. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s often the most complete package that’s on offer, so when the Karoo 2 from Hammerhead came across my desk I was intrigued. Could this GPS cycling computer finally topple Garmin from their lofty throne?
TL:DR
It sometimes takes a new player in the market to shake up the established pecking order and Hammerhead have truly put a shark among the minnows. The screen is a beautiful thing to look and interact with and inputs are fluid making the Karoo 2 a cinch to operate. The features derived from mapping are impressive too, the live gradient readout and smart navigation make the Karoo 2 an attractive proposition if you aren’t interested in delving deep into metrics.
For
Beautiful screen
Custom Android OS is silky smooth
Mapping features are unparalleled
Web dashboard makes route management a cinch
Against
Fewer performance metrics
Flimsy charging port cover
Proprietary mount
The Lowdown
3.2” Dragontrail Glass display
167 grams including mount
2500mAH battery for 12 hours ride time
Quad core CPU with 2GB RAM
32GB onboard storage
Smart routing and navigation
5/5
£349 | Buy from Hammerhead
First impressions are strong, the matte black box unfolds to reveal the head unit nestled in the box, the mounts and brief instructions live below in their own drawer. There’s something very Apple about the packaging; everything is very deliberate and thought through. You’ll notice we said mounts plural, as the Karoo 2 comes with an out front mount as well as an adaptor that allows the ubiquitous Garmin mount to be used if you’ve already got a fleet of bikes with mounts.
Sliding the head unit onto the mount is a straightforward affair, however we did need to consult the instructions when removing it as it requires some force to dismount, both twisting and pushing.
Power up the Karoo 2 and it becomes obvious that this isn’t a knock off Garmin with underpowered internals and a confusing menu system. The slick start up animation offers hints that the Karoo 2 is packing a punch; a quad core processor and two gigabytes of RAM drives an custom android operating system so the Karoo 2 is essentially a mini phone. The android OS means inputs are slick; the initial setup of the device requires data to be entered via keyboard; this would normally strike fear into our hearts, the thought of using a tiny keyboard on a slow and clunky device can incite many to rage but not here. Inputs are accurate and effortless, the keystrokes are buttery smooth and it really feels like a phone screen.
The final part of setup involves downloading the correct maps for your region; this forms the foundations for some really impressive features that we’ll get into later. Maps are installed to the 32gb of internal storage and adding additional maps is as easy as delving into the settings and hitting download on the correct bit of cartography. No faffing about connecting the device to a computer via USB and dropping bootleg copies of maps into folders on the device.
Connecting the necessary sensors such as heart rate and power metres to the Karoo 2 is laughably simple too, choose either ANT+ or Bluetooth and wait for the sensor to appear. We had no problems with either protocol and it found our sensors within seconds of powering up. If your bike is equipped with SRAM AXS, the Karoo 2 can display the current gear but unfortunately Shimano is no longer supported since SRAM acquired Hammerhead.
Heading out for a ride is a simple as choosing an activity profile; there’s a handful of premade ones for indoor and outdoor riding and they can all be customised, with new ones added too.
Customisation is the name of the game with the Karoo 2, as many data fields as you can manage can be added to the ride page which can be swiped between. There aren’t as many training metrics as Garmin so don’t expect to be able to see left and right power balance and other pedalling metrics but we think there’s enough for even the majority of riders to pour over post ride.
The Karoo 2 does however include some environmental metrics which includes the climate impact of your ride so if you decide to commute to work by bike, the Karoo 2 in partnership with Suunto will provide an estimate of the CO2 emissions you’ve saved. It’s an interesting feature that might satisfy a curious rider but beyond that we doubt it’s that useful.
The ‘homepage’ of the Karoo 2 is a map with a couple of data fields at the bottom; some will prefer to have a full page of data but we liked the map and data combo, even on routes that we rode regularly. The party piece of the map is its ability to provide live elevation profiles of the enormous hill you’re riding up, breaking down the elevation and distance left into a graphic that we could still understand having gone full blast up sed hill.
Long press on a spot on the map and the Karoo 2 can navigate you there using data gleaned from Suunto heatmaps to make sure the route is cycling friendly and if you do miss a turn, the Karoo 2 will intelligently re-route you rather than beep and flash at you to turn around. If you fancy exploring new roads, the Karoo 2 highlights cycling friendly roads with a blue outline
The team at Hammerhead are committed to releasing fortnightly updates for the Karoo 2 so the features will be continuously evolving and improving over time.
All of this data is displayed on a beautifully sharp and vivid Dragontrail glass panel with an acid etched matte finish. It’s got a stupid name but boy does it look good, displaying 16.7 million colours across its 3.2” screen and the matte finish means that even in direct sunlight the display is easy to read. The touchscreen uses smartphone esque capacitive technology to make sure every tap and swipe is accurate and smooth. Droplet rejection technology means that if you’re riding in the rain, water droplets won’t cause havoc with the display giving it a mind of its own.
In the depths of winter riding with gloves becomes a necessity, and as we know gloves are a touchscreen’s nemesis. Not with the Karoo 2 as four buttons on the chassis mean the majority of operations can be completed without having to use the touchscreen.
Connectivity is hugely impressive too, the device can download routes from Hammerhead’s online only portal via Wi-Fi so no more faffing about with wires. If you’re out and about the Karoo 2 has a sim card slot hidden under a cap on the back so it doesn’t need to rely on WiFi. Downloading live segments to see real time comparisons from Strava is simple too, simply star the segment on Strava and it’ll appear on the Karoo 2 when you approach the segment on the road or trail.
I’m indifferent as to whether I’d prefer an app to manage routes etc, an app would be handy rather than having to navigate to a web page which sometimes didn’t quite scale correctly to my phone screen but a quick refresh sorted that out.
On the other hand it means the dashboard can be accessed from any device with a web connection so if you’ve forgotten your phone you can still manage routes from other devices
The Karoo 2 is packs a 2500mAH battery which Hammerhead claim is good for 12 hours of riding and thanks to USB C fast charging, it only takes three hours to fully charge. We’ve found these figures to be fairly accurate, we haven’t logged at 12 hour rides but the battery drained about 15% on a two hour ride with heart rate and power sensors. Your mileage may vary depending on how many sensors you’ve got and if you’re navigating a route. The fast charging is a great inclusion as it prevents the panicked midnight charge in preparation for the morning ride.
The charging port cover did baffle us though, it’s just a loose piece of rubber than plugs the socket so when the device is on charge you’ve got a tiny rubber grommet to keep track of which is a task if your desk is a cluttered as ours.
My time with the Karoo 2 has been a genuine pleasure, the fluidity of the device is something that really impressed me; I’ve wrestled with other devices, both trying to get them setup and just in general use and don’t even get me started on loading routes and live segments on but the with the Karoo 2 everything was a breeze. I especially liked the live elevation graphic on climbs even if there was no route loaded; it’s intelligent and is such a breeze to use.
The screen is another highlight of the device, it’s clear and crisp even in bright daylight and the resolution is high enough that it’s easy to make out road names on the map which is handy for navigation.
It doesn’t have the same enormous spread of metrics like some competitors but if you’re looking for a cycling computer that has 95% of the functionality of its competitors as well as a couple of extra features but does it very well then the Karoo 2 could be for you.