The original Hammerhead Karoo brought about some big ideas, and a big physical product. As in, it is easily one of the largest and heaviest cycling computers we’ve tried, but it packs a real punch in features. Now, it looks like they’re putting it on a diet, but only in size. The Karoo 2 should be even more capable, just smaller and lighter. Here’s what we know so far…
Lance leaked it.
Well, apparently, when you’re an investor, you tend to get excited about things your investments are doing. This popped up on Lance’s Instagram today, showing just the box. Or is it?
Zoom in and we’re betting that’s the new Karoo 2 sitting in front of his stem. It’s still big, but it would need to be to show the mapping features in a useful manner. Here’s our best guess as to how this will stack up against the original:
This pic was from our review of the original Hammerhead Karoo v1, which has been outlined in orange. The new one, cropped from that teaser image, sits over it in our estimation of its final size. Not a ton smaller, but likely a little thinner.
Why would you want this?
Good question. After all, Wahoo and Garmin have a lot of great features. But sometimes we like something different. And if you have a Karoo, you know that they are continuously pushing out meaningful updates to improve its features and performance.
Some of the highlights include running on Android OS, being able to pull Strava rides from others and turn them into GPX routes with turn-by-turn directions, on-device keyboard for renaming bikes, sensors and your rides before they sync, and full color mapping. The original also had the ability to add a SIM card with data plan for completely autonomous real-time use of every feature, too…it’ll be interesting to see if they carry that over and what else they do with that.
So, what’s new? Here’s what Hammerhead’s team told us:
“The Karoo 2 is designed to put your cycling experience first. It’s frustration-free and offers a seamless experience from pre-ride through post-ride, making it incredibly simple for cyclists to use workouts, ride routes, use third-party apps, and get all the insights they need.”
“Karoo 2 will be the ultimate high-performance head unit, fit for champions. We’re creating a device fully designed to perform at the highest levels of the sport, from both a hardware and software perspective.”
“The new device will offer the same revolutionary Karoo experience, now with upgraded hardware to take your ride to the next level.”
They no longer sell the original model, but you can sign up for updates on their website to be alerted when the new one is available. But, they promise they will continue to push out updates and support the original. In fact, they told us that most if not all updates for the Karoo 2 should also work for the Karoo 1, too.
