New Karoo setup and 1st ride thoughts (Sorry got kinda long)

First things first, this is not a hardcore evaluation of the New Karoo its a simple comparison and my thoughts on it compared to my K2 and my Garmin 1040.

I ride 95% of the time on the trails getting a nice 3 to 4000 miles a year.

The setup went super fast, the new Karoo imported all my rides, profiles and components with one exception ... my old Wahoo HR monitor. 

1st off the unit looks and feels very solid, the online photos really make the unit look bigger than it is. The shape is similar to the K2 but turned around, but on the bike it looks fine. The specs say it lighter but not enough to really feel in your hand. 

The very glossy looking screen online in fact really looks great and is easy to read when out on the trial. The light sensor is a nice touch but like my sunglasses it takes a few seconds to adjust but that's ok. 

Big kudos for adding the separate power button. Speaking of the buttons, at 1st glance the 4 new buttons look odd but in fact they work great. I wear full finger gloves full time on the mountain bike so the placement and shape of the buttons make it easy to use them.

I am a rider not a racer or long distance bike packer nor do I care about all the extra training features like on the Garmin 1040. In fact this is the main reason I bought my K2. I want basic ride data and the ability to add routes for new trails. On this point the Karoo is great.

I had to revert to ridding a eBike years ago (or stop ridding) and the Karoo connects and shows all the data I need. Also I am a diabetic and wear a glucose sensor, the New Karoo and my K2 also receive my alerts from my sensor via the software on my phone perfectly.

As for my 1st ride, I went to a local trail I ride a lot using the Karoo, my old K2 and my Garmin 1040. Now I never had elevation issue on my K2 like some others. All 3 units on the ride had almost same elevation numbers but the big difference was with the extra GPS bands the new Karoo tracked on the course way better than the K2 and much the same as the 1040.

Couple of other things. 1st some have said in the online reviews that the volume of the alerts are loud but on the trials they are perfect to my ears. 2nd I do hope with the extra CPU power and storage size they will add Trailforks soon. Other updates too but this is an important one to me.

In closing, not all riders need or want the same thing from a bike computer so the Karoo's, Garmin's, Wahoo's and other will never fit every riders needs so instead of blasting about what they don't do just buy the one that fits your needs. Believe me Hammerheads support in my option is way better for the many regular updates to the help from Hammerhead tech people on the forum. I never got that from Garmin!

Sorry this turned out longer than I 1st thought

So go ride your bikes and have FUN !!!