Why is live tracking is so poor?!?

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Roland
  • Edited

I can't believe how poor the live tracking implementation is on the Karoo 2!

  1. You or your family member etc. don't get a text or email when I start a ride.
  2. You or your family member etc. have to remember the same link each time.
  3. You have to have a SIM card or Wi-FI connection! Seriously?

My old Wahoo Bolt had this feature years ago and it was so simple and so useful.

  1. It automatically emailed my wife a new link every time I started a ride.
  2. It connected via Bluetooth to my phone for the data connection.

Come on Hammerhead, I love the Karoo, but this is poor.

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8 comments

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    Felix Pruemmer

    I agree - people need to be automatically notified about the beginning of a ride with a link.

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    Michiel

    +1. Hammerhead really needs to put some effort in creating a proper companion app, allowing live tracking via the Bluetooth tether connection with the phone.

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    Byron Brewer

    I don't care about a mobile app but having the Karoo send out a link each time I start a ride would be nice.

    Personally I like the design of having the network connection on the Karoo rather than using a mobile app for that. For maybe $5 /yr you can get service from someone like Keepgo (after the cost of the SIM plus initial data top up).

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    Petr Sedlacek

    @Byron, lucky you to have such a nice option for a data SIM. Unfortunately many people don't, and getting a separate data SIM might present a significant monthly cost...

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    Byron Brewer

    @Petr my bad on that assumption. I could be wrong but I believe mobile data rates where I am (USA) are pretty expensive compared to most countries. I didn't even bother looking at the carrier that I use for my mobile phone (T-Mobile) because of the price. Keepgo has an International Lifetime SIM that has coverage in a long long list of countries so perhaps that's helpful. I always suggest it to anyone I know who has a Karoo because sometimes finding information on these smaller prepaid services is difficult and it's worked well for me so far.

    The SIM itself is $50 USD and comes with 3GB of data which never expires. The only catch is that you need to add money/data to the SIM at least once per year. Given how little data the Karoo uses that 3GB will last me many years so my plan is to simply add 100MB every year which is $3 USD. 

    SIM Card Bundles with Prepaid Data Valid Forever – Keepgo

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    Mikey

    @Byron.  Thanks for the tip on the SIM card.  I never really looked into it, since I didn't want to pay for another monthly fee.  Never occurred to me that something like Keepgo was an option.

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    Petr Sedlacek

    @Byron, apologies for reacting without checking the SIM first - they actually offer a European data SIM as well which would be very cost effective over a few years. Surprisingly, thinking about just one year, I can actually get a cheaper local SIM that gives 1 GB per month for ~$21 per year.

    Still, it might be because that's what I'm used to having used Garmin for many years, but I would prefer the option for Karoo to use the connected phone's internet connectivity. (Although I'm a realist so I'm not expecting that to happen :)

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    Damon Murphy

    @Byron, that's a great deal actually, thanks for highlighting.

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