More layouts?
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Anybody else think it's time to have a refresh on the available layouts and add more? Garmin has much wider set of choices.
Ultimately, how about a dashboard based layout editor so we can make our own?
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I really want a new layout option with three graphical fields plus two regular data fields. I submitted it as a feature request several months ago, but Hammerhead promptly labeled it as “not planned “.
If there is ever a Karoo 3, a user defined layout option is #1 on my wishlist.
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@Hari - we’ve had the same layouts for the past several years. I’d suggest a three step process:
1. Add more layout choices. You can look at Garmin's for some ideas.
2. Add more graphical layout options to the current canned choices. Introduce a few new fields like a cadence meter or gears that scale to the smaller fields.
3. Build a layout editor on the dashboard that would allow users to design their own including field size, text justification and colors. Allow these layouts to be shareable between users in a similar way that routes are.
Even my Garmin Epix watch has more diverse choices than does the Karoo with 21 page formats and specifically 13 formats up to 7 fields each of which could be a graphical field. And that's for a wrist watch!
By contrast, the Karoo has around the same number of base layouts but only specific fields can have graphical elements and none with more than two in a small subset of the layout choices.
I know for sure that Garmin has greater layout diversity with choices of field size and relative layout than does Hammerhead and that any field can contain a graphical element. There is also a virtually unlimited selection of layouts and added graphical fields through the ConnectIQ store.
But here's the thing - the Karoo has a much more capable CPU and a dramatically higher resolution screen that is really not being used. So I don't understand why Hammerhead is not leveraging the maximum advantage out of this hardware configuration.
And in the long haul, I don't think it's possible to make everybody even remotely happy with canned choices. A completely ground breaking feature would be to create a layout editor and allow users to make their own. That means no more layout gripe sessions. It means Garmin and Wahoo really can't compete given their legacy code bases and/or operating systems
Finally make the system Climb and Lap pages user configurable. Chris Froome may want to know what his VAM is but I want to know my %FTP, distance I have to struggle to the top, and my HR. We have different needs, let us configure those pages accordingly.
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The one layout thing the new Garmin Edge units do that makes me envious is the ability to change the data type for any data field during a ride.
On the plus side for my Karoo, it shows me everything I want to know about my AXS gears in a single graphical field. I didn’t keep my trial 1040 so I’m not sure how many fields Garmin takes to show the same info, but it’s more than one.
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I got my first Karoo on the original Kickstarter campaign. There, and in the original website when it was open to the public, there was a heavy push on graphical display of data. There used to be a field where you could graphically display gear selection and it would work in any field or at least the half width fields. Then they removed those layouts.
There was also talk and promises early on of a graphical display of cadence and speed. Those never happened. I want those back and I want to show my AXS gear selection graphically in smaller fields than full width.
Instead, there seems to be this looking at Garmin and Wahoo and deciding which of those features to add and to try and improve instead of being the "Apple of bike computers" that was the original goal. So now, the development of features seems to be driven ever more by a racing mentality instead of the computer for the rest of us. It seems to be to be a Garminization of the Karoo.
The way out of this is to make a layout editor that runs in the dashboard. I can design any layout I want where I can justify the text in the field the way I want and I can make the font size what I want (can you say 'Don't need readers?'). I want to be able to put any graphical data available in any field and I want it to scale to the size of the field. And that includes the route or the map - even a route and where you are on the route in a half width graphical field is really useful.
FWIW, I don't think Garmin can follow this lead, and Wahoo certainly can't with their zoom style scheme without a major rewrite (never mind their financial woes). Garmin has a giant legacy code base that probably makes this all but impossible. Therefore, this is a high differentiation and a killer feature for HH.
I also want to modify the Climber and Lap pages to say what I want them to say. Make those system pages and let the fields on them be user editable. I presume Chris Froome (one of HH's advisors and investors) wants to know what his VAM is. I don't care about VAM, but I really want to know the distance to the top, my heart rate and my %FTP so I don't blow myself up on the climb. Chris Froome and I have radically different needs. He's trying to win WorldTour races in the Alps, I'm trying to grind my way to the top of a 9% grade on a credit card bike tour in Norway on routes I need to share with the other 3 people on the trip.
So I think this is a big deal. Give us the ability to design our own layouts as above. Convert the Climber and Lap pages to be permanent "system" pages that have user editable fields. In the short term, give us a better selection of canned layouts.
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+1 on this:
I also want to modify the Climber and Lap pages to say what I want them to say. Make those system pages and let the fields on them be user editable. I presume Chris Froome (one of HH's advisors and investors) wants to know what his VAM is. I don't care about VAM, but I really want to know the distance to the top, my heart rate and my %FTP so I don't blow myself up on the climb.
I would actually select 3S power - Lap Power - Lap time - HR - and distance to top.
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