Make data field test bolder= more readable
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When the UI is updated it is my opinion that if the font was made bolder it would be easier to read. Maybe a 50% increase in line width. My reading vision isn't good with my glasses off and I find that bike computers that use bold fonts are easier to read. For example, the fonts on the Stages Dash and Wahoo Bolt are bolder than the Karoo, and for me, easier to read than a regular font that is the same size. On the Karoo I think that most pages could benefit from a bold font
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Hey David,
Thanks for sharing this suggestion! I can certainly understand the need for bolder, easier to read fonts - especially while riding. We prioritize each feature based on the number of user requests, impact on current customer base, usability, market value etc. - because of all these considerations, we are unable to provide an exact timeline for these changes.
We value your feedback & thank you for being part of our community!
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+1 More readable fonts. Especially while under cognitive and physical stress!
Usability testing should be done on bike in a group ride or race. Even justin a Zwift race indoors would show the “light/thin” of modern web design isn’t the correct font for glace-ability under stress.
Also suggest usability testing with a wide age range. Especially for a device like this one, which I would guess you primary demographic is older (and with higher income) than the competitive devices.
Even riding with bifocal sunglasses (recommend dualeyewear.com for any 45+ athletes out there) — it’s nearly impossible to read the phone messages, the pull down settings screens, the field labels, … especially in a group, on less than perfect roads, on a busy street, etc.
Possible deal breaker. Super happy so far otherwise.
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TO ALL who want to support this request: Pls focus your votes on this request: https://support.hammerhead.io/hc/en-us/community/posts/1260803144990-Use-the-Space-How-it-is-vs-how-it-could-be-
Otherwise votes are diluted over many different low-vote requests, however they all target the same big issue with the Karoo software: Waste of space and missing flexibility for data fields formatting / screen real estate economy... The link takes you to the top-rated request regarding this weakness, so let's combine all our votes on this one to finally make the dev team moving - after TWO years of ignoring us...
Thank you! :-) -
Reinhard -- I agree with your passionate plea to find a solution. Not sure what the right method of motivating the team to prioritize it.
- "Now sucks less" is a very difficult marketing message
- Those of us who have purchased the device are no longer a direct revenue source. We are an indirect revenue source through our recommendations to our friends who constantly ask if we would recommend it. (NPS score)
- Investing in improvements is directly traded off against creating something new. The development team has a finite capacity so what they are NOT working on is as important, and sometimes more than what they are working on. (Opportunity costs)
Help focus on the what and the why, and not the how.
- What I care about is "glacability." Why I care is my riding is mostly in tightly packed group rides where anytime looking at my head unit is exposure to getting my front wheel taken out. This puts me in a fairly small user segment. Potentially a very influential one, as my level and passion for the sport, make me a (tiny) influencer.
- I don't know the limitations of their UI framework. Going from 4 equal-sized rows of data to three equal-sized and one larger one slightly larger as Pit Neitemeier's post suggests might look great, but would (likely) be extremely costly to implement.
By the way...
- Pit's suggestion for color gradient bars WAS implemented in the climb screens!
- The upcoming elevation only works if you have a route loaded (rare in my case) OR you are doing "pin drop riding" -- which (imho) is THE BEST FEATURE EVER and major selling point. The Karoo will use its data connection to discover the elevation profile without needing a pre-determined route.
Readability does come up a lot in the forums. I agree "readability" improvements are desperately needed. What I am sure about is showing UI mockups to potential buyers will always favor the "pretty" and "stylish" look they have achieved.
But when I jack my heartrate to threshold, have sweat streaks on my glasses, jittering on bad pavement, in the middle of 25 riders, watching the rider in front of me trying re-cage a bottle, then I'm going to pick blocky, bold, and boring. (And I really shouldn't trying to look at my head unit at all -- but I really want to know how much longer this climb is!)
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@Dan Klaussen
100% agree with what you said.
To add to it:In the short term it might be possible to get people to buy your product by agressive advertising (as hammerhead is doing), but in the long term word of mouth marketing is way more important. I regularly have people ask if I recommend the Karoo, and at the moment my answer to that is always no. Do not get me wrong here, all the feature additions in the last year were great, but 99% of the time I am looking at the in ride screen and that has not seen a single update in the last year.
This seems to be a case of prioritizing to look good on instagram ads (homescreen update, flashy climber feature) vs actually listening to the top complaints from actual users.
This is fine for me, but then do not expect me to recommend the device to anyone. -
@Pit -- you nailed it. Tricky to balance a marketing campaign with the current state of the product.
"The Karoo has so much potential" is the line I use most often. I'm rooting really hard for them.
- Mapping and routing is just amazing. #karoo-love ❤️
- This display sharpness, brightness, and colors are refreshing #karoo-love ❤️
- The frequent OTA updates #karoo-love ❤️
Even trickier is which platform functionality to build, buy, or partner with. Creating routes is getting to be a very high bar due to strava/garmin/ridewithgps/komoot having the heat maps. Workouts via TrainingPeaks is great but not for me. Post-ride data analysis is pretty well covered by Strava, TrainingPeaks and others.
The potential of an after-market developer community and marketplace are very exciting. Sideloading apps is teasing that potential. (But way too clunky to move between native and non-native apps easily.)
Garmin is saddled with their legacy device OS. It has had years (and plenty of my money buying devices) to get it to where it is. Garmins biggest strength is also its biggest weakness.
I wish I could find a way to contribute in some way. I don't know who their target audience is, so I don't know what new or existing features to suggest. And they are already plugged into many great folks. I will say that some of their influencer/creator efforts have really missed the mark.
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