Do you like the new "in-ride look"?
I always try to be positive about new user interfaces. I always try to recognize the advantages of new UIs. In my previous job I designed a lot of UIs.
But this new updated UI does not work for me. The legacy UI was a very good looking UI (It had some roughness, but was a nice, modern UI). The new rounded corner boxes are pointless, the grey background color is ugly, and not harmonic. The legacy UI was much more modern this new UI is just old fashioned and outdated. The large upcoming elevation graph black background on a black screen looked very good, the new grey graph is just ugly. The legacy UI gave higher contrast feeling, the new grey color brings low contrast feeling.
My suggestions for Hammerhead are rethink and tweak this new UI and/or make an option to use the legacy UI (my main buying decision to Karoo was the good looking UI). The best would be it you keep the style of the legacy UI and make small updates and error corrections on it. It the new boxes layout is a must have (for future functions), you have a much more better way to design a boxed layout.
Please review this new UI!
What do you think?
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Pat yourselves on the back Hammerhead. You must be so proud of yourselves for managing to piss off a sizable sampling of your users with a fugly UI everyone who’s spent money on your product can’t stand. So simple question, how are you going to undo the screwup made worse by Ali’s canned response?
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Looks like Hammerhead is getting hammered by Irate Customers about the crap UI. They’re getting what they deserve
Hi there!
Thank you for reaching out to Hammerhead. We will get back to you shortly.
We are currently experiencing a higher than usual volume of inquiries, which may result in a delayed response time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
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Probably the first time since getting my K2 about 2 years ago?? That I did not update right away, Had other things going on and the next morning I happened to check this forum and it was already on page 2 and now up to page 5 .. Helloooooo HH .. you out there .. feeling the customer heat yet!?!?!? Just do us all a favour, dump this update post the previous update link so everyone can go back to what was awesome. Thank you in advance .. PS I will not be updating anytime soon ..
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5 pages of irate users and growing and Hammerhead essentially remains silent with only a bogus canned response from Ali trying to placate everyone with BS. So here is a middle finger 😤 Hammerhead, given that’s essentially you just did to the folks that have wasted 3 years on the Karoo 2 to only end up with a UI that looks like an old Mio computer that in 2022 received a rating of 5 out of 10. So Hamnerhead when are you going to send a fresh update to calm the waters? 2-years from now?
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This has to be the weirdest designdecision in a long time. One thing is that it looks like the brought in an engineer from the early 00's to be in charge of the UI, but it also seems like the intention was the opposite of what they achieved.
The release notes states that the point of the change is "to make your data easier to see", but how that translates into smaller text-size, forced hyphenation of many headings that could fit on one line before (super strange way to split words by the way!) and less contrast ended where it did is a mystery. Also that nobody stoped this before it got rolled out. Don´t they have beta-testers???
I hope the solve this soon - in the meantime, is there a way to get back on 1.386.1509?
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@Lee A Dorney
By behaving in this manner, you are actually fulfilling your own negative expectations. You are confusing constructive criticism of Hammerhead with rude, offensive, and unhelpful comments that only make matters worse. You don't seem to take enough time to reflect on the situation and, instead, you continue to add fuel to the fire. As a result, you are losing all credibility and any willingness to address your problems seriously.
I also don't think the update is successful, but I see no reason to constantly attack and insult the employees of Hammerhead or portray them negatively in surveys. While the consequences may not be a matter of life or death for you personally, they hold much higher stakes for others involved.
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I agree - having worked in customer-facing roles it can be a pretty brutal, thankless task. We need to ensure we don't treat the staff delivering messages badly. Play the ball, not the man.
My feelings are clear. I don't like it, I think it's a bad update and one that we should have been given screenshots of rather than 'change to the in-ride look', and I think we should be given the option to roll-back or choose the visuals. It's off my bike and I'm using a borrowed 1040 for the time being.
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I, too, am disappointed with Hammerhead's support. From the outset they answer all emails from Monday to Sunday, at all hours, they ask you for logs, evidence, everything is fantastic. They tell you that they have found the cause of the problem and that it will soon be resolved in a software update... which never arrives. I have reported numerous problems with TyreWiz sensors, with errors of the gray track that you leave behind, with the Spanish translation, and others, who told me a long time ago that they had found the cause, but those updates never arrive. Which frustrates you, because you help make karoo a better product for free, but it's no use, and then they go and do this with the interface.
For many of us who have presbyopia this is not just a design issue, it's a disaster... I think this forum post says it all, and they should seriously reconsider from Hammerhead. It is clear that losing your temper, insulting, etc... makes you lose your mind, but I partly understand the despair of some users, because they know that their tantrum will not help.
Hammerhead will continue to introduce small changes, but the path (for a reason I don't understand) has already been taken, and they don't allow going back... Little more positive to add, and little hope of having a solution. They are very far from the crowdfunding company that was excited to create a product by and for cyclists. Now it's another loveless product from another big company.
They are no longer a close development team. that is my feeling -
I bought a new bike 2 weeks ago, so I wanted to buy new gps for it. So when I saw Karoo2 on sale, I ordered it yesterday, since it was always my preference. I was really excited, but then I saw this UI change and all my excitement is gone. From beautiful and readable UI to this really not good looking and worse readable, since information you really want is smaller?
I really hope that they would quickly change it. I don't need to go back to previous, they can have plan what to do in future with new UI, I'm OK with that. But they really need to adjust fonts and background at least. If not, it's good, they have 45 days trial period...
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Is it really possible someone at HH said "Well done guys, lets push this update to users !" ... I don't think so ... espacially at the exact same moment a really agressive price is coming ? cauze all new customers probably only know the "old" modern look through screenshot, and I cannot imagine how disappointed they are when they start it the first time !!!!
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While I think that the UI-design is not optimal, my biggest concern being the unnecessarily big data field names. However I think that it is being overdramatized and I am confident that Hammerhead will address it very soon and provide a fix with which we be happy.
To be honest it bugs me more that the profile pages cannot handle longer names. Since the UI update in October every time I start my device and select a profile my OCD-Self dies a little bit inside. The support solution was to use maybe Super Caliber but they did not have a solution for Cannondale. :)
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I think it's not off-topic, but rather directly highlights the lack of willingness in HH's response. Personally, as an HH employee, I wouldn't be happy to be constantly attacked by a group of users who believe that a one-time payment of $399 gives them the right to behave like bullies. My response rate would certainly suffer from constantly receiving claims or demands, as well as ongoing complaints that they haven't been fulfilled.
Unfortunately, it's true that when users are given the opportunity to participate, many see it as a right to new or modified features. But the truth is, there's no entitlement to new features! Even if HH were to immediately stop all further developments, there's no legal claim to it.
Some posters should consider this and express their wishes as requests rather than commands. That way, communication with the HH staff would likely be better.
It's simply not acceptable to behave on the internet, under the guise of anonymity, like a bully.
However, to honor your request, this will be my final "off-topic" comment, and I'll leave the field to "ON-Topic" comments.
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Totally agree.
I updated my Karoo2 last week and when I restarted it I could not believe my eyes.
The new interface (sorry Hammerhead) is really awful. One of the main reason I picked up the K2 was the high quality display and the very simple+elegant+readable interface. The K2 was my dream device.
I loved the total black look.
I was so upset with the new look that was really hard to have a ride.
With the new interface:
1) simplicity and style are gone
2) readability is awful
3) the black data field "floating" on a grey background made the total look messy and ugly.
I wish I could bring back my K2 to previous style.
Please Hammerhead do something! At least give the users the option to choose between old and new interface.
Hope this thing will be solved soon or I will switch to Garmin ...
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Just in case nobody has noticed. Apple just did a warning shot across the bow of Garmin, Wahoo and Hammerhead. In the incoming soon-to-be-released Apple Watch and IOS software updates, they have substantially updated their cycling app. Doesn't have maps or Strava segments or hill climb mode, but for many, it will be all they need. And it looks beautiful.
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Hi @Galeb, I do not want to enter your debate, I just would like to respond your opinion where you said "...who believe that a one-time payment of $399 gives them...". I fully agree that some of the comments have strong and exaggerated tone, but I also fully agree the dissatisfied and indignant users here. Modern technical products which are software (firmware) driven have to be a continuous software maintenance and development. When you purchase the item you not just pay for a hardware product, you also pay for a software product. You are right, there isn't any contract between Hammerhead and the buyer which obliges Hammerhead to upgrade or maintenance the software, but, in the real world when there are multiple competitor on the market it is necessary. And it is also necessary to achieve the current users to upgrade to a newer hardware in the future. And it is also necessary to achieve new buyers to choose Karoo over other competitor products. It is a race. Race for the clients (client's money). And I think it is justifiable if a current user (who invested in to this product) gets upset if the manufacturer do not get the software maintenance or development right. They upset because an update spoiled the device which they liked before. This thread has the far most comments on the Hammerhead forum. It shows that the look of the UI is an extremely important thing for the users, it shows that lot of user choose this product because of the UI, and it shows that the users don't like / hate this UI.
PS.: I started this topic, but I also started the "What we like on Karoo ?" topic before.
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@Kristóf Szabó
My comments were never intended to defend Hammerhead. I have owned the K2 for about two years and have experienced all the initial issues. I am aware of the advantages and drawbacks of this device.Additionally, I work in the software sector and have a good understanding of the expectations and hopes, especially in terms of competition. Here's a brief story: I had a Wahoo Roam device with a significantly deteriorating battery. After lengthy discussions, Wahoo replaced it. However, the replacement device could only charge up to 96%. Wahoo explained to me in multiple emails that this was completely normal and I shouldn't expect it to charge to 100%. This is something that one can rightfully complain about. So, I returned the device and got the K2.
All these concerns can be addressed without resorting to offensive, demeaning, and rude behavior. Even in moments of great frustration, I consider such conduct to be absolutely unacceptable. That's the point I brought up and asked for a civilized and respectful atmosphere in the forum.
Just to clarify once again: I am equally unhappy with the new user interface, just like most of the comments here, and I wish for either a return to the previous version or a new and improved version of the current one. I appreciate that you opened this thread and that controversial discussions can take place. I just wish that the discussions refrain from descending into offensive language, as this has been a common occurrence in this setting.
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What most of us are outraged about is that Hammerhead is not going to do anything, he is not going to speak out or take a note on the networks saying, "listen guys, we got the message and we're going to try to fix it, give us a few days." There is total silence for the brand. Then there will be users who are more respectful than others, like life itself, but the fact is clear. After the loss of the di2, probably the worst update ever.
Those of us who trust in the good work of hammerhead, and update every 15 days, when we read, "better visibility of the data" we thought, oh that's great... and then we found ourselves with such a hoax. Also, there is no option to go back, why? Because a user can now go months without updating, and others cannot go back to the previous update. It's doubly outrageous.
In my case, I have never insulted or failed in this regard, but after this thread so well exposed and constructive by @Kristof that there is no official statement and a response, for me it is an INSULT and disrespect to your community.
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In all fairness, it should be noted that the blame for the loss of Di2 does not lie with Hammerhead, but rather with Shimano flexing its muscles after Hammerhead was acquired by SRAM. I agree with your point that there was no adequate response. I also wish for an official statement that outlines the future course of action. Even if they do not plan to undo the update, it should be communicated. This will enable us to consider the potential consequences and would calm the heated discussion.
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An extremely contentious topic this UI update!
I normally ride with white-on-black, but as luck would have it, I changed to black-on-white at the same time as the upgrade. I was very confused then when I saw the screens. (I have since gone back; b-on-w.)
I personally don’t see it as a catastrophe. As I always ride with sunglasses, I actually like the larger data text fields as I couldn’t always see what was what before. I wouldn’t like to see any text fields going over two lines though (check the Spanish screenshots shown). The colour of the icons showing the sensor connected status is also an improvement. However the actual data fields themselves need a fatter font to make them much clearer.
I looked at the Wahoo site as a lot of poster seem to think this is a better option. For me, that is a real step back and an old-fashion device, tiny screen, buttons everywhere. But “you pays yur money and you takes yur choice”. I had a 1040, but have subsequently sent it back, it’s an expensive piece of junk (all the R&D budget spent on the Solar gimmick).
Final note on HH Support: I think it’s excellent; for me they have supplied fast and extremely detailed responses. I have sent numerous questions and they have always replied exemplary, I even got a feedback at a later stage when they rolled out a bug fix to a problem I raised. (Try getting Garmin to answer properly, let alone to actually do something.)
I think they will be very unhappy about the negative and, at times, aggressive response to the new UI and their recommendations to Product Development will be interesting to see over the coming weeks/months.
I remain a K2 fan and hope HH will respond in a manner acceptable to the majority.
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