Leave Radar strip on screen all the time
Planned
Currently, on my Karoo 2 the radar stripe on the left edge of the screen disappears once all the cars pass by. I think that the stripe should remain on screen all the time the radar is connected and be green if there aren't any cars. That way you know that the radar is actually turned on and connected. The Wahoo Bolt does this and it is really handy. This morning I forgot to turn my radar on and didn't figure is out until cars started passing and I didn't get any warning from my Karoo.
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Agree finicky AF. I've taken to leaving the radar on when I stop for a break and just muting the notifications via the swipe down menu.
@Gerry. I'm sitting here in my office, so can't play with it. But curious about the app. Do you see it causing much battery drain on your phone? Does it wake the screen up on each event? I've started riding with bone conducting earphones and really like it (quiet background music, but can still hear the environment clearly).
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@Scott the app uses very little battery on my iPhone 11PRO and it does not wake the screen on alerts. The advantages are that I hear the alert clearly and I don’t have to be glancing at the K2 all the time. When I ride on bike paths or trails I go to settings on the Varia app and turn off the sounds until I get back on the roads again. Also no one else hears the alerts as this might annoy some riders.
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Agree, but for me, it is a rather "peace of mind" feature. I'd like to see this green side field all the time to know that there are no cars behind. When it is not there you are not sure if it is safe or there is something wrong with the connection and it takes too much effort to look at the tiny icons on top while riding at high speed on the road, - keep the green field, please.
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Hi all!
Thanks for the suggestions here! I have seen other requests for an option to keep the Varia bar visible at all times. I think it is a good suggestion that many users would enjoy. If we see enough demand for this feature, it will move up in priority and could eventually get added to the roadmap. We definitely monitor community feedback and suggestions - many great ideas start that way!
Regarding using the app on your phone to monitor the audio alerts through your headphones is a great idea. As mentioned, it does add a little more battery drain on the phone, and on the Varia. It is a BLE connection so it is slightly less efficient than ANT+ - and the Varia has to broadcast both in this case. Another possibility is the Karoo has the capability to pair with BLE headphones (or speakers) - Varia alerts as well as voice TbT navigation prompts will play through the headphones. Some headphones will pair with and play music from your phone and prompts from the K2 at the same time. You can always use a battery pack as a backup with the K2, phone, or Varia for longer rides.
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Having the ability to mute the radar is a feature some may like. Having the only way that you can mute or unmute the radar be a small icon on the touch screen is a problem, however. Following scenario happened to me. Riding in the rain - the rain drops can accidentally trigger the mute - while it continues to rain, it is impossible to tap the little icon to unmute. Imagine riding in the rain in need of/wanting your radar to work and it doesn't. Only way to turn it back on is to stop, dry off the touch screen (if you can) and then try and unmute the radar. If you lock the touch screen in the rain, then you lose the ability to mute or unmute. Please consider a way to mute and unmute other than the little icon. It creates a dangerous situation if the radar is accidentally muted and you cannot unmute it. Thanks much.
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I also like the way the radar stripe goes away when all is clear. However, I don't like how the radar is not visible when a drawer is open all the way. On a long climb I'd love to keep the Climber drawer (or SLS) open all they way, but the fact that I lose my radar stripe, means I can't.
I'd also like a screen option where the stripe is much wider -- maybe even half the screen width. When I'm doing a long fast downhill, pretty much the only thing I care about is the radar (since the wind noise makes it impossible to hear cars approaching). And I often can't hear the audio (especially when it's cold and I have a beanie or balaclava on). If the radar was much wider, I could more quickly look down to see it. I already have a downhill screen, with only two fields, so that there's less info and the font is bigger. A 50% left side of screen radar option would be really nice!
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