Can the K2 Audio Alert Tone Volume be Adjustable?
Answered
I'm really enjoying my K2, but one of the new features doesn't seem to work well for "older ears." The alert tones easily get drowned out by wind noise when I am riding 14+ mph.
Two quick questions/suggestions:
- Is it possible to have a setting to increase the volume of the alert tones or is it currently maxed out?
- If yes, perhaps there can be a setting for alert tone volume that increases the volume level as one's speed increases? For example, the tones would be lower when standing still, a little higher when climbing, and on high when going faster than 10+ mph. Think of it as an adaptive volume setting.
Thanks again for being attentive to customer feedback. I love seeing the Karoos evolve and improve with frequent updates.
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Hey Tom. We really appreciate you for sharing your thoughts on Karoo 2. We have created a device fully designed to perform at the highest levels of the sport, from both a hardware and software perspective.
I see that you would prefer to have the volume controller for the alert notification on your unit. We certainly have plans to work on this. However, we do not have this on priority.
Just an additional point to clarify, we prioritize each feature based on the number of user requests, impact on current customer base, usability, market value, etc. I do not want to promise something that we can’t deliver on time, and would rather be happy to announce timelines or apps as they are ready.
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Abhishek.
I'm glad to hear a volume controller for the alert notifications in on the to-do list. I understand the need to prioritize and look forward whenever it is implemented. Please pass on my suggestion of an "adaptive volume" option, where the volume increases as one's speed increases, to the programmers.
Thanks again! Tom
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Hi all,
In addition to the (automatic) volume control I would like to have a choice of different tone/frequencies/pitch of te beeper. Currently I vcannot hear the beeps because the pitch/frequency is too high for my 58 years old ears. My younger cycling buddies hear the beeps but I don't...
Regards, Eric
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This might help, I purchased a single MPOW earbud from Amazon ($25) and paired it with the Bluetooth Audio where I can adjust the sound. Works great for directions, with my Varia, and any other sound that comes out of the K2. I have 70-year-old ears and wear aids when not riding. When I was messing around with the K2 yesterday while in the car it was way too loud and the volume set at about 75%. I can't wait for the weather to get better so I can ride my bike outside. The reason I bought the K2 was for the Bluetooth Audio. I couldn't do this with my Garmin Edge 1000.
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I would also love to have to increase the volume on the K2. I went on my first ride with the K2 today and I couldn't hear any distinct beeps from the device to prompt me when a turn was coming up (I'm under 40 years old)
My primary use case for the device is navigation, and being able to hear an alert regarding upcoming turns on a route are really important so that I do not need to stare at the map instead of the road.
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Interesting to read about the alerts as I feel that the tone is way to loud for me.
I have to turn off the alerts as the tone gets under our skin as it is right now.I would like HH to implement a volume control so that we could have tones that are possible to adjust based on personal needs.
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I would love to see the volume be speed adaptive. I'm either ascending or descending long steep hills. When I'm going slow uphill the sound is just right for me. When I'm going fast downhill I can't hear them. Having the Karoo adjust the volume automatically based on speed would be awesome!
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Here my two cents to this thread, really eager to get a volume adjustment setting, for our older ears the direction warning are way to soft. I hardly hear it, my cycling mate of over one year older not at all. (which leads to potential dangerous situations watching to often on the display or just missing your turn)
Can you update this thread or turn to the developer team. I really think that would be a great asset. Tnx -
I'm new to the Karoo 2, and volume level was one of the first things I noticed on my first test ride. In my case I'd prefer the volume to be slightly higher, but obviously when lots of people want it lower and lots of people want it higher the solution is a volume dial, ideally paired with some sort of speed-dependent auto-volume algorithm. You can model it after brightness on a smartphone - there's a default auto-brightness on, and leaving that alone works for most cases, but one can turn that off and manually set it. But the auto-volume algorithm is icing on the cake. Simply having a slider for volume level would mostly solve this. So as you prioritize this backlog item in a scrum meeting, I'd warn against de-prioritizing this because it's seen as a big item that requires the design of a smart algorithm. That could be a volume level phase 2 item, but volume level phase 1 should be a simple volume slider, with no need to invent anything new. [Yes, I'm a software architect...]
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It just occurred to me that there's a couple of different use cases here:
- If you ride along on a smooth road with a well-tuned bike on a quiet day and come up on a turn, I could see the default volume level being too high, as almost any beep should be audible. That may be what some express above.
- But in my case, the Karoo 2 is paired with a Varia Radar, and if a big noisy truck passes me, I'm listening for the all-clear sound (no more vehicles back) vs. no sound (more vehicles coming). And in that case, the volume level is too low - I can't hear it, and my ears are pretty good.
To me, these two use cases require radically different volume levels. That calls for at least a volume slider, but better yet an auto-volume algorithm. A speed-dependent volume level was suggested above, and speed is certainly going to be a portion of that algorithm, but I also think that whether the Karoo 2 is paired with an active radar or not would be important to factor in. The all-clear for when a vehicle passes you should naturally be a rather high volume, more so than upcoming turn alerts.
Of course I could look down to the visual alert (or just look back...) to see if there are more vehicles coming, but the whole point of a good radar is that we are offered both visual and audio info about whether there's vehicles back, how many, how fast, etc. The only redeeming point is that this will translate to a "false positive" which is better than a "false negative." If there's a sound and I don't hear it, the absence of sound will make me think there's a vehicle back when there's in fact not, and that's far better than thinking there's no vehicle back when in fact there is one. Still, I'd prefer to know, which requires a higher volume level.
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New to the Karoo2, but have to agree the audio alert needs to be adjustable.
I used to have a Beeline Velo2 and whether this was just louder or a different tone, it was always audible.
On quiet country roads, the Karoo2 is loud enough. Go into a city with all the additional noises and the audio alert is easily lost.
A simple volume control or choice of tones can't be that difficult to add in surely?
I see this was mentioned 3 years ago and yet it's still not addressed. Obviously not a priority! Come on Hammerhead, the simple things and all that!
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A workaround at best but I'll reiterate that I started using a $20 single-side Bluetooth earpiece exclusively for this problem and it works just fine, including Bluetooth volume adjustment in the K2 settings menu. I totally agree that the internal "transducer" of the K2 needs to be way more robust and adjustable, but in the meantime my application of the earbud suits nicely and the alert tones don't bother riders around me.
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Put me down on the "I need the alerts louder" list as well. Since I'm riding mostly in a big city the volume is way too low. Since I've previously used the Karoo 1 I'm constantly checking the display (and the rear view mirror as well) anyway out of habit, but in it's current low volume the beep is pretty unusable. I can hear the Garmin and Wahoo headunit's beeps of my mates from about 10 metres away just fine, but I can barely hear the unit on my own handlebars...
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@Ingo: That's the whole point in this thread...it should be adjustable in volume (is also applicable for Garmin and Wahoo but this topic is not about those two brands).
And Guido Del Giudice is right, 3 years is a long time (way to long) for a proper reaction. For me this is a reason that I will not buy a K2 at this moment. -
I provided more feedback on this issue today. I’ve had the Karoo 2 for a few weeks. It’s great….except for the lack of beep/chirp volume for upcoming turns. Interesting that “ there were plans to work on this” 3 years ago. It’s a SAFETY issue. Louder beeps will keep your eyes on the road, not on the device. Make it louder for safety’s sake. It should be a priority, more than small bug fixes etc.
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