Karoo 2 Everything: Unboxing, User Interface, Ride Along Tour

This is a long-form video that supplements my main in-depth reviews (video or post). It's not designed to be a review (those other ones are), but rather just a complete and not-time-limited look at the Karoo 2 from end to end. I start with unboxing it, then setup, and then weight/size comparisons and continue onto all the indoor user interface pieces before we go out on the road together to watch me iterate through feature after feature. I give the pros and cons along the way. Let me know if you find these sorts of long-form videos useful, I might do more of them in the future.

0:00 Intro
0:30 Unboxing
3:15 Turning it on/update
4:35 Weight/Size Comparison
7:01 Initial Setup
7:57 Profiles & Data Pages
9:44 Sensors/Pairing
10:59 Settings Control Panel
11:30 SIM Card/Cellular
13:30 Phone Pairing/Notifications
14:27 Sideloading Android Apps
15:03 Outside: Loading Route
17:19 Outside: Notifications
18:12 Outside: Varia Radar
18:50 Outside: Routing Navigation
20:33 Outside: Gloves/Rain
22:33 Outside: Re-Routing
23:45 Outside: Strava Live Segments
26:03 Outside: Waypoints/Routing

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#Karoo2 #Hammerhead #Karoo

[Dcrainmaker]

Hi folks! Don't forget to use the YouTube Chapters option by sliding along the bottom of the video to see all the sections!

[jeffreyalex]

I am so impressed by DCR's ability to keep focus on what's important and how the details serve the big picture. With so many devices and variants to deal with, he can dive into small issues but not lose track of how they fit into overall goals and values. Plus, I appreciate the humor he throws in. I'm a huge fan and trust his judgement on most things. I have the Karoo 2 and he really gets what's good and what's not so good. Thanks!

[hamilton]

Thanks Ray. I really appreciate the time you took to publish this extra video.

[cypercharged]

Karoo is to head units what Tesla is to cars (in term of mindset, changes at the speed of thoughts, ...) Ordered mine and received it 2 days later. Amazing piece of tech!

[Aspireonthego]

Just got mine, super nice piece of tech. Like others have mentioned, really intuitive interface and new features being added with each update is definitely a plus.

[louchalifoux-chabot]

Thanks for the extra content! By the way, you make some great content, very professional and you already helped me chose my Garmin Instinct last year and now I am hesitating to buy a Garmin Edge 830 or some thing in this range so yeah thanks Ray!

[scottjones]

Excellent product review again Ray. Mine should be arriving next 👍🏽

[stramtb]

It’s quite a record. Zero down votes. You’re doing good man!

[utube]

Great job, as usual. One item not covered that may not be of interest to most readers/users is the accuracy of the elevation gain. I use my computers mostly for mountain biking and the many short/steep ascents and descents are a huge problem for Garmin Edge units (my specific experience is w/ the Touring, 510, and 820 units). All of the Garmin units do fine recording elevation grade on relatively shallow slopes (less than 10%). But, as is common on mountain bike trails, these same units almost always reset to 0% as soon as a steep slope is encountered and they then gradually reset to the actual slope, taking on the order of several hundred meters to gradually go from 0 up to the actual slope, really rendering them useless for recording theses steep slope grades. In contrast, the Karoo2 almost never resets to zero on these slopes; instead it consistently records what appears to be accurate slope data, meaning it gradually goes up and down almost instantly as you traverse changes in slope. For mountain biking in particular, but also road riding on hillier terrain, I find this to be a huge advantage.

[MJarthur]

This good in-depth review made me think twice about getting de Wahoo Elemnt Roam. Just sucks that it isn’t available before March

[raptorxxxx-ddfh]

glad they added sound ques. I was one of the early adopters and returned it promptly once I've learned of that missing feature.

[icebeam]

This was so awesome. I'll need to get this one as an upgrade for sure.

[whazzat]

I understand your aversion to proprietary mounts, but the Garmin quarterturn was designed for watches.
Mount failures are a big warranty issue on bigger devices, tabs and attachment points just fail.
Many features have changed with updates, but appreciate the intro

[dakrisht]

Great review as always.

A few issues stand out with this device off the bat: 1) the UX is just way too sloppy for a new device that’s had a decade to learn from user feedback and competitors. This and previous Karoo review use-case videos show a completely cluttered and bloated interface.

2) the hardware running this custom flavor of Android is *severely* underpowered for the data it needs to show, including real-time mapping. Why they’re using a $50 piece of hardware makes zero sense (well it makes perfect sense since they need to grow the margins). However, the jittery map, extremely laggy loading screens (are you serious with these load times?) and generally 1990s style animations is unacceptable on a 2021 device for $400+. Add a few months of software updates and offline maps and data, and this thing will come to a halt.

3) the navigation data and turn-by-turn directions are inferior to Garmin, as stated in the video, which is another inexcusable item (chock this up to bad algorithms and poor map data).

So while a great new device with a lot of fluff, and a “pretty screen” (ooh ahh) they could have built this on top of much more powerful hardware while continuing to improve the UX.

As an aside, I wonder why nobody has used Google Maps instead of these pure garbage OpenMaps or TomTom maps or whatever this might be.

[JKLturtle]

Nice review. What are you using for cell phone holder?

[nothinghere]

are you dutch?, because if so than you’re english is so perfect.

[BerniePottrell]

Straight and honest. Great vid again Ray. I'm currently using a Karoo 1 with BT earpiece (hearing aid) so other than the physical size/weight, is there any advantage for me in shelling out 399USD on the Karoo 2 do you think?

[Drpepperuk]

Ray, what are you using to show the actual Karoo screen footage? Moreso when you are out on the bike, can't see any wires etc so guessing it's a mirroring app?

[FRamirezA]

If you have to pick between the karoo and the wahoo roam, which one would you prefer?
Thanks for your time!!!

[stephans]

Great review, Ray. Does it support the connection with Varia Vision?