Karoo users look stupid ... without Bluetooth route uploading
As the only Karoo 2 user among a group of friends, I often find myself looking stupid. Why? No direct Bluetooth route/location sharing.
Scenario:
- Bob: OK it's going to rain, we're going to ride to a different place. I'll create a new route and share the GPX with everyone.
- Alice : Thanks for the new route, I'm uploading it to my Wahoo Roam via bluetooth
- John: OK give me a sec, I have to add it to Garmin Connect after which it will be on my Edge
- Me: wait ten minutes guys, I have to first download it, then open my browser and visit dashboard.hammerhead.io, then import the route, find it in my filesystem (tried finding a gpx in downloads on Android yet?). Then I will start my hotspot, enable WiFi on my Karoo and wait another five minutes for it to sync.
Why is it still impossible to upload a GPX directly to the Karoo? It looks utterly stupid and makes it insanely annoying to do ride any route other than the one planned before.
Another scenario:
Bob: Holy beep, we're out of water/snacks! On a Sunday!
Me: I found this place on Google Maps that sells snacks and it's open today! Wait fifteen minutes guys while I pan and zoom with sweaty hands on the Karoo, trying to find the same location on the label-less map.
Alice: hold my bidon while I just share this location from Google Maps to the Wahoo, which calculates the fastest route there in seconds.
Why the hell can't we do the same? Given the amount of interest that my Karoo 2 garners among other cyclists, I really really hate telling my friends that I suggest they buy a Wahoo instead because you cannot Bluetooth GPX routes directly to the device.
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I am using a sim card, so do not have the problem with route syncing.
I fully agree though that navigating to cafes/supermarkets etc. is a pain on karoo. I simply do not want to create a new route for that.
I do not know if a bluetooth connection really solves this problem but I would rather be able to see and search for cafes etc. directly on the karoo.
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I spent years in Garmin ecosystem and they only recently made the functionality available and ONLY to the newest devices (x40 series). For any other you need to stop the activity (or use a hacky app), do the connect sync and only then you'll have the route. This requires internet connection. Good luck doing this in any remote location or in mountains.
That said - the BT connection needs to change to accommodate a wider communication spectrum, including routes, live tracking without sim card and the hacky notifications. Wahoo does it really nice, I'd say they are the benchmark, although I love garmin's quick reply system. -
Or, you know, they create the route on (say) Komoot and instead of antique methods like gpx files over Bluetooth (lol) just share it with you all at which point it instantly syncs over to your HH account and is a button tap away from syncing to Karoo.
For the second scenario create a new route and search for the address. Ideal? No. But you might want to question whether it really is the Karoo that's making you look stupid...
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How is the route going to get from Komoot (which by the way is a paid service and really offers little that free and better alternatives like cycle.travel do not) to my Karoo without WiFi? Right, it cannot. So if you're out in the sticks and need to change the route, you're out of luck.
Nothing about Bluetooth is antique, but I get the feeling you're just being flippant.
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Sander: i pay less than $20 a year for a data sim but hotspot is also fine, doesn't take many seconds. Or do you mean when there's no cell signal whatsoever? Touché I suppose, but also niche af...
I said the combo of raw files and BT was antique. It really is though.
Komoot is free for a single region fwiw!
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Joen, I'm afraid you're missing out on a very large segment of cyclists: those that do mountainbiking, gravel rides and long-distance riding (crossing country borders). Mobile data availability is really not something you want to have to rely on (or pay for) when you're out in the boonies. I mean why not load the maps over WiFi as well and do away with internal storage? Why not slam a cheap phone on my handlebars and use google maps instead?
Even if data is available, going the extra step of uploading a route from another app via a web page and then downloading it again on another device means relying on the availability of a lot of things. It has already occurred that the hammerhead dashboard was unavailable. Why go the long way when the short way is the most reasonable. Olivier is right: they want your data and I find that horribly unsettling.
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@Sander It's not just sending gpx over WiFi. You need to process this gpx into step by step navigation. Hammerhaed uses server with web UI to process gpx. Wahoo uses mobile app to do that.
So Hammerhead should build mobile app if they want to allow sending gpx over Bluetooth. So it's not so simple as you think.
It's not that they want your data, Wahoo can collect you data through the mobile app. It's just different philosophy.
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I again want to push it. I recently was on a gravel expedition far in the outback and got in a tricky situation. Had to change the route to a safe place, but was not able to upload it, because no celluar. That meant having to use my phone at every turn in a situation where I had low energy, was cold at nightfall. I really hate that this elementary function is missing and will have to leave HH.
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Are you talking about this function that the new Karoo (3) has: https://youtu.be/jVLyTi4lpfw?t=802
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