Feature Request: Downhill “Descender” Mode for Karoo 3
Hi everyone,
I really like the Climber feature on the Karoo 3 — it’s super helpful to see detailed information about upcoming ascents. However, I think it would be equally valuable to have a similar feature for descents.
A dedicated Descender view could provide basic information such as gradient and distance of the upcoming downhill section. That alone would already be a great improvement. In a later stage, it could even be expanded to include details like sharp turns or technical sections — but that wouldn’t need to be part of the first step.
Since climbs and descents are both crucial aspects of cycling, having dedicated guidance for both would make the Karoo 3 an even more complete tool.
-
Not a bad idea. Having just been in Majorca and doing fast technical descents I always have the map full screen and hide other data fields. A coloured downhill profile would be useful and maybe sharp corner warning but I guess they don't want to open themselves to legal issues, same as Strava don't show downhill segments on head units
-
Not exactly what you are looking for, but my routegraph extension uses blue hues to colorize the elevation profile for descents, and optionally draws wahoo-style color-coded chevrons onto the map:
Gradients from -2 % to -4,5 % are colored white, up to -7,5 % light blue, more than -7,5% is dark blue. Green etc is for ascents (standard karoo colors).
At higher zoom levels, only climbs are shown on the elevation profile datafield (can be configured in settings).
-
Generally when I'm descending, I'm going too fast to safely look at my screen for more than a second or two at a time. For long, technical descents, especially those on which I have no previous experience, I just put my map page on so I can quickly glance to see the shape/proximity/number of upcoming turns.
I'm guessing no cycling computer has introduced this because they don't want potential liability for someone crashing becasue they were staring at their "descent screen" or because they were pushing the limits based on what the "descender mode" was telling them.
-
You’re absolutely right — it’s definitely not a good idea to stare at the screen while descending at 70 km/h on a 20% gradient. Safety always comes first, and the goal wouldn’t be to push limits or rely on the computer for fast decision-making.
What I had in mind is more about showing useful context — for example, knowing whether a descent includes a short flat section or even a small uphill. That kind of information could help riders better manage their effort or decide when it’s safe to recover, without needing to constantly check the map page.
Thanks, @timklge, for the tip — I’ll give that a try! Sounds like a good alternative in the meantime.
-
Wahoo has the option to show the elevation profile on the map page, where sizing of both is well balanced. I used this quite a lot for descending and I am missing this a bit on my Karoo.
While you could enable this, it requires a route to be loaded. Wahoo, however, predicts the upcoming elevation (up to 2 km); this feature is missing on the Karoo. On the Karoo, there is no "fall-back" for the upcoming elevation, when no route is loaded. You're just seeing a blank data fields (this is pretty disappointing, because they essentially have the feature available via the climb detection).
Tim's data field is really awesome, and I use this all the time instead of the Karoo one. However, it's not having the prediction and also no fall-back. @timklge, it would be awesome if you could add this (the fall-back showing history elevation instead of prediction would be sufficient for me, if no route is loaded).
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
5 comments