Battery Woes and Software Issues

Hi!

I‘ve recently used my Karoo 2 on a 1700km bikepacking trip across Europe and I noticed a few rather annoying „features“, that I hope could be addressed in the future.

1. Hardware overheating

On long rides (150+ km) I almost always have to charge the device during the ride with a power bank. When riding in hot conditions (we’re talking south of France and Spain in 35+ Centigrade in the burning sun), every single time, the charging would stop at some point and wouldn’t continue until I cool down the device by pausing the ride and moving into the shade. Sometimes switching profiles can help reset charging. All in all rather frustrating when aiming for long distances.

2. Low Battery Warning

When the battery is at or lower than 20%, the battery status indicator field changes its color to red, making it basically indecipherable in dark mode. Bright mode would consume more battery I assume, so that’s not an option. More than once I was racing against the clock in order to arrive at my destination before the battery was drained completely and because charging on the go doesn’t work in all conditions (see point 1 above) it would be really helpful to be able to actually read the battery status field.

3. Turn by turn notifications in Battery Saving Mode

When trying to save battery life (again, see point 1 above), I often ride in battery saving mode. Unfortunately, the device wakes up for turn by turn notifications so close to the actual turn that I missed my respective next turn many times, having to stop and turn around, often at high speeds and in difficult traffic situations. This is extremely annoying. Maybe the device could just wake up a little earlier? Or maybe this could be a user defineable option in the profile settings?

4. Battery saving mode during climbs

While trying to save battery life in battery save mode, during climbs, the display doesn’t turn off. Even when I manually turn it off, it will pop on a moment later, apparently just because I’m on a climb, even though there won’t be any turns for the next x kilometers. In my view that defeats the purpose of battery saving mode. Saving battery life is often a crucial factor.

It would be great if these issues could be addressed in future updates.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Max