David Robinson.
I really didn't think I'd be saying this but...
I've had the K2 for one day and I'm thinking of getting a garmin.
I didn't think for one second that I wouldn't be able to navigate to an address or POI directly from the unit.
I should have delved deeper into my research and looked beyond the "best unit on the market" hype. Sad face.
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Lee.
Thank you for taking the time to reply.
Crikey! What a rigmarole! It's almost like an afterthought on Hammerheads part!
After spending an hour creating a few routes this way, it's unfortunately only served to further cement my dislike of this un-intuitive and awkward unit.
I have to say, that for a unit that has been so heavily hyped, I am hugely disappointed in it.
Even to the point that I'm wondering who these reviewers are that have sung its praises so highly. That reviews have missed out something so fundamental, for a GPS unit, as choosing and navigating to an address or POI solely on the unit, without, having to whip out a mobile phone and programme a route, (making sure of course that you have a data connection either via wifi or a sim card).
Yes, thank you Lee, you CAN create a route solely on the unit but... You can't get a list of POI's, hotels, strip joints, coffee shops or bike shops. The unit will just give you one route option, (reminiscent of very early car sat navs). No facility for fastest, shortest, minimise climbing etc (like you can on a Garmin offline). All this needs to be done on the companion app (more on that in a bit) but if you're offline, as I was for several days last year bikepacking in Scotland, your up s**t creek (or wee wee Loch).
Also, the hammerhead companion app won't connect. Fantastic!
Yes, I know most users will probably be using the K2 for pre planned rides and measuring biometrics etc but not all.
So, dear Hanmmerhead! I am a new and ex customer in the space of 4 days!
I will gladly put up with a slower rendering map on a garmin for the flexibility of offline route planning ect.
What's good on the Karoo 2? Map rendering is fast, map quality is great and zooming out gives very good detail.
Anyone interested in a K2, good condition?
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Use the Dashboard or better still buy Komoot and plan & upload the rides beforehand!
I hope you move to Garmin and move to their Forum, but a word of advice, read it first. Whilst Garmin have a much bigger user base, they also have a much bigger complaints base. I sent my 1040 back as navi is abysmal - plus, gradient, temp, cadence do not work etc. (I will not expand on the navi problems here as I have already stated them reasons in numerous posts.)
Not to you, but to anyone reading about this issue and thinking the posts/complaints here are valid, the following:
1) I originally I couldn’t find Help for this function, but it is there:
— https://support.hammerhead.io/hc/en-us/articles/360051738714-Karoo-2-Creating-a-Route
2) The map that comes up is not the same as the navi map, it is more detailed, that threw me at first
2) Once you know how the option works, it’s very simple (note: you have to have WiFi):
- go to the option as mentioned above, it will show you your location
- you need to “tick” this as the start you want
- in the search field enter the destination and “tick” that’s what you want
- that’s it… unless you don’t like the route option it has taken; e.g. off-road or main road etc.
- in that case, zoom in and touch the route you prefer and “tick” that and the route will change
- continue with touch or search address as required to get the route valid for your biking requirements/skills
- yes there are no options such as POI, but if I want to go to a POI I will plan a route with Komoot, not on the fly
NB: IT IS NOT 50 TAPS! (A pathetic post.)I have only ever used this option once, I plan routes! I have had a G-1000, then the G-1040 (sent back) and now the K2. Only once have I had need for this and I do not think many people use the on device route creation, probably only in extremis.
The used case was when I had created a route only to the destination as I was going to take the same route back. However, this route was hairy so I tried to find the few hundreds meters to the known bike path. Unfortunately my attempt failed as I didn’t realise you had to tick each location. It is intuitive as you always have to “accept” something on software otherwise it’s not sure if that’s what you really want. However, it’s not clear on HH as the rendering of the map is much finer and I was put off by that.Finally: I detailed this step-by-step in an original post that has substantially been deleted by HH as there were aggressive follow-up posts.
Bottom line: yes buy a Garmin for more than double the price and post all the bugs and complaints on their website, but enjoy happy navigating.
PS: Komoot is far cheaper.
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Is that a joke? By he tone I don’t think so, so to clarify:
“On-the-fly” in this context means deciding mid-ride to go somewhere else other than the route defined and/or having the need to navi somewhere in an unforeseen situation, thus requiring in-device route creation.
It does NOT mean doing this whilst riding! To clarify further, it means stopping somewhere and creating the route calmly in the K2.There are very few posts either on the Forum or via Google of people using this option and I certainly have not found reams of words on this, especially as you only complained about the “lack” of this feature a few weeks ago!
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Some good points, thanks.
Thanks MikeF.
I'm no stranger to garmins quirks for sure, and I bought the K2 because of this love/hate relationship with garmin.
As you say, I certainly didn't find much info on the lack of this feature in my research on the K2, but there you go.
I'm sure there are loads of riders for whom lack of this feature is not an issue, those who plan routes on the likes of komoot (as I do) and go and ride with no need to re plan or navigate to a new destination on route. There are others though, who use head units for more of their navigation abilities whilst touring or bikepacking etc.
Anyway, thanks for all your input.
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