Hammerhead Karoo 3 Review // The Ultimate Bike Computer?

[@runrhi]

Thanks!

[@DesFit]

Thank you!!

[@seanvk]

Great coverage on the new Karoo features. As a Karoo 2 owner, I’ve been looking forward to this launch. Well done review for a significant upgrade!

[@DesFit]

Thanks so much!

[@michaellanger5671]

Great review. I use the 840 and won’t change any time soon! But it seems to be quite a good alternative if you’re not into Garmin

[@DesFit]

Thanks!

[@Mememewant]

I used to use karoo 2 and switched to 840 recently and to be honest besides Battery life, karoo is way better to set up, to navigate, workouts are clearer and i prefer the data screens (but i guess that is personal). These are all features i use But having a battery which you don‘t have to think about is very important to me. as my battery on the karoo died twice on me. To be fair on very long 12 h rides. Still this is a very important part of a device that is supposed to bring you from a to b. I even used it on di2 with ki2 (amazingly implemented even prefer this to garmins real di2 integration) and i had a sim card installed which probably makes it feel a lot like the smartphone integration now. But i guess i am stuck to garmin as long as the battery is not on par. And since the garmin screen looks horrible compared, i have started to look around more and less on my power numbers : )

[@Jarymut]

Di2 support is missing, because Shimano terminated licence, not because Hammerhead did not want to support it.

[@Jarymut]

@@jarhead4657 What sdk? You mean to write 3rd party app to support it? After that there would still be no official Di2 protocol documentation AFAIK.

[@sruo42]

Great video Des, thanks for the review!

[@DesFit]

Sure thing and thanks!

[@jefftse123]

Great review! Thank you! I am in Boulder too, nice to see the same trails and roads.

[@DesFit]

BoCo represent! 🙌

[@mlegrand]

Feels like they covered all of my old complaints but that price is at a tricky spot. 🤔 Amazing work here on this video Des! 👏

[@DesFit]

It will be interesting to see how it plays out compared to it's closely priced competitors 🤔 Thanks Matt!

[@SvenfromKiel]

I still miss a better map with more details for trails…looks still like a piktogram-map compared with my old Garmin. I have now the K2 for half pricd and don’t see a reason for to upgrade.

[@rabomarc]

4:17 now that’s an awesome watch!

[@aaronedgeart]

Great review, any chance that the turn by turn direction text can be made larger (for us older folks)?

[@jeffreyanthony7348]

Would it be great to have another computer when you have multiple bikes

[@pacosenderos]

Buen reportaje, bien explicado y con mucha información util . Enhorabuena !!!!

[@sportfittech]

The UI speed compared my Garmin is insane!

[@ross-morozov]

More fps - more battery consumption

[@boogzpromo6424]

Great review! Does the Karoo 3 have text message notifications?

[@mm-levo]

Hola , seria compatible con el mando de mover pantallas de Garmin?

[@roa5359]

Garmin still doesnt allow to substantially increase/customise field/grid size. My £69 Bryton does! Does the Hammerhead?

[@DuaneBall-s9f]

How do you hook the safety cable to it?

[@feendos]

Hi! I've been struggling with my bike computer and wonder, with your deep knowledge this subject you could help me. I currently have a Garmin 840 solar, but I struggle to see the display with my aging eyes. I'm 52 and ride with distance prescription glasses, but not readers. I love the data fro computer, and and wear a Garmin 965, so with both of these I feel like it is helping me with sleep and recovery. I borrowed a Karoo and I can see it so much better when riding, but fear I will loose that part of the Garmin world I really like. It seems like a silly problem, but I thought you could have some thoughts. Love your channel! Matt

[@Abomai]

Get a karoo and a garmin watch, record your ride on both 🎉

[@feendos]

@@Abomai Thanks! I was thinking about this, I will give it a try.

[@BarryJHoffman]

Great vid. When the varia radar picks up a car and the vertical bar appears with little car.. Does that cover part of the data fields? Thanks.

[@DuaneBall-s9f]

HELP. How do you change the metrics on live track? (What others see)

[@zihaoye2382]

the battery life is the limitation for this device like my K2, good for 4-5 hours training ride, but anything like long distance tour you need to bring a power bank charging while riding. I guess you already bike packing with all the bar bags or top tube bag, so it will be ok to put a power bank with a L connection cable to charge while riding

[@SvenfromKiel]

Strange, my K2 is good for min. 12 hrs with no sensor used and 75% Display. Maybe your device has a defect with the battery!?

[@alexmseu]

At nearly a similar price point ($25 difference), which would you go with between the Karoo 3 and the Garmin 840?

[@rcuadro]

I wonder if it would be cheaper to just use the Garmin mount vice having a special mount and then also supplying the adapter

[@mkeiper15]

K Edge also makes an adapter that's compatible with their mounts. I have the Karoo 2 and use the K Edge Karoo style mount on my out front mount.

[@Thomas-yr9ln]

Is it only available in China.?

[@bushcamo223]

Will it sync routes from Trail Forks? Great review!

[@danbaxter3597]

Total fail that the new companion app doesn't work with old Karoo models. Way to support early adopters and your biggest fans SRAM.

[@TiZon220]

Isn't this a hardware limitation? Still riding my karoo 1. It's also missing some of the karoo 2 functionalities

[@danbaxter3597]

@@TiZon220 I don't buy the hardware limitation. The Karoo is based on Android and is very capable. I've sideloaded music apps and more. If a simple Wahoo or Garmin can figure it out, they can make the app work for older units.

[@dgmast]

I think backwards support is hardware related;

[@uk-expat]

From comments I have seen on Facebook, the new app will connect with the K2 and upload rides from it, but that’s the only functionality with the older model.

[@shuponahmed]

Excillent review!! I bought my karoo 2 last year for 240€ but the new one is 499€. Hyper expensive to upgrade.

[@DesFit]

Definitely hard to beat that price!

[@offdagrid877]

where didithe music come from a minute from the end?

[@thedronescene7474]

I can get the Edge 1040 brand new for 485….. Karoo 3 or 1040? My rides are normally 3-6 hours max.

[@ceeskes412]

Karoo3

[@KlaasjanM]

Nice review, but serious it's the Karoo 2.5

[@twowheelsandcroissant]

Great detailed review as always!! The way each company makes their own proprietary mount is just dumb, why not just standardize the mount?? for me if i have an aero handlebar and there is lack of aftermarket mount, it would be a dealbreaker for me

[@kt9493]

With a better battery life this would be a no brainer. But 10-12 hours is not enough. I already had longer days. :/

[@georgeirvingnormaniii3291]

As always sweet review***** one question on the mapping does the New Karoo have the name or identify the bike trails as in Mountain Biking like Trail Forks on the maps? Thanks*** George SLC UT

[@lukee8237]

Hallo. This app is only for hhk3 ?

[@piotrremiszewski9301]

"Simple" question ;) which is better? Karoo 3 or Garmin 1040?? which one is better to buy?

[@cyberpoet8666]

1040 ofc

[@RobBlazoff]

Who is Shram? 😉

[@cesar0610]

Great review, and just few hours after the product was launched to the market. For me the poor battery duration is a deal breaker, and Sram knows it. No matter what you have the best software, companion app, and product design, but if battery doesn't last more than reasonable time (13 hrs. is a joke still), I don't see Garmin's and Wahoo's heavy user jumping to the other side of the river. The best example is precisely Garmin, with a hard to die computer, with a crappy Tamagoshi kind of software, the worst companion app ever, but amazing battery life, that's why most people stick with Garmin. When Sram comes up with a 25+ hrs. duration battery life, then Karoo maybe considered a reliable computer IMHO I have a Garmin 530 and most likely will jump to the 1040, and passing the 530 on to my wife or daughter

[@orsations]

"you can get a 30% charge in 30 minutes if you're in a rush" - that's slow

[@user-ie8vn6yr1r]

Sorry Hammerhead, still no competition for my Garmin Edge 1040 battery wise. If you ride ultra races 10 / 11 hours of battery life is not enough!

[@dbri34]

You're right! "IF you..."

[@bazwillrun]

I have the 2...its ridiculous that the one and mainly only thing i use it for is following loaded routes and that is the biggest battery drain, def wont be getting the 3

[@DesFit]

Navigation and routes is unfortunately the biggest drain on any device, not just the Karoo 3. But other devices can do better with battery life with other kinds of display technology.

[@lhzsdgsfbvv]

Love the Graphics and UI speed. It sets the standard! ❤

[@captainswift8465]

It feels ridiculous how a bike computer priced similarly to an flagship garmin edge it gets pretty much the same batter life as my garmin edge 130 plus. It seems much more like a low end android converted into a bike computer rather than a dedicated bike computer which is the kind of impression I get from garmin's Edge line up. Great video of the product tho 👍

[@DesFit]

The 130 is a great device but it's hard to compare battery life between devices which have completely different display types as well as substantially different feature sets. Using Android is just a means to have a base OS but doesn't mean it's just a repurposed smartphone. While the battery life may not be what you can get from a high end Garmin, the navigation capabilities are very comparable and quite competitive!

[@Allride_]

Not compatible with Shimano for 500 bucks? No can do. I'm not sure what group set I'll go for next so I need a bike computer that works universally. Shame. Looks like they were on to something great here but as I said. I'm not letting my bike computer dictate my group set choice

[@Thosewhowander]

It's all Shimano's fault, not Hammerhead. Shimano refuses to support their wireless transmission to a Sram unit :)

[@roa5359]

Doesnt change the fact its not compatible, whoever’s fault it is

[@galenkehler]

For a third the price, my lezyne has 4 times the battery life. All the useless stuff like full colour screens and touch really suck up the juice

[@roa5359]

Anyone spending more than 12 hours on a bike in one go needs to have their head examined 😀.

[@Mr.And.Mrs.swanson1522]

People sound like it’s very expensive. I thought it was like seven to $800 $1000. That’s not expensive at all475 - chunk change.😂😂😂😂😂😂👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿

[@driventomadness117]

Chump change you mean. And it it's so little, I'd be happy to take a donation ;)

[@sgtted7580]

So this is Android, So it needs a signal like your phone. Were I live coverage is very poor for phone signals. So I am guessing if you have no Android signal the Karoo turns off or screen goes blank. That's not very clever.

[@DesFit]

Android requires no outside signal to function. This computer works with or without a “signal”

[@sgtted7580]

@@DesFit Ok thanks, The Android thing put me off a bit. Thanks for explaining. Some of my cycle buddies though the same thing. Which is why none of us have gone for one of these.

[@DesFit]

Android just provides a base operating system so it can be used for many applications with or without cell/wifi signals. In fact, the primary signals this device would use are GPS and Bluetooth, just like every other bike computer on the market.

[@zyghom]

so Garmin gears not compatible with Karoo - that kills audience by 50% (EDIT: Shimano, not Garmin - sorry - time for siesta)

[@DesFit]

Sorry, Garmin gears?

[@zyghom]

@@DesFit DI2?

[@DesFit]

That’s Shimano but yes, it’s a limitation

[@zyghom]

@@DesFit yeap, I meant:... SHIMANO ;-)

[@DesFit]

👍

[@turner02]

so, to summarize...the UI and processor are still slow AF. this is a complete garbage of an update.

[@NeutralGenericUser]

$700 CAD LOL (the 840 is ~$500)

[@eyedaddy]

This or garmin 1040 in your opinion? Thank you in advance.

[@AjithSuyambuJeya]

Karoo if you are in SRAM Ecos System as I used Garmin 1040 the display feel cheap and UI is like old window Machine ui is not friendly unable to put a direct address in the device