Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

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Aushiker
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Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:05 pm

Image

Hammerhead have a pre-purchase price on their "forthcoming" Karoo of US$299/AU$384 and whilst I have a Wahoo Elemnt and I am pretty happy with it, the routing is not exciting me as much as I would like. Delivery but is scheduled for early 2018.

The Hammerhead Karoo looks interesting [DC Rainmaker] or see ...



Curious as to whether any has received one, has considered and jumped on board or ...

am50em
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby am50em » Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:55 pm

I have one on order.

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Tue Oct 03, 2017 9:56 pm

am50em wrote:I have one on order.
Cool. Do you have an idea as when you should be getting it? Do they keep you in the loop?

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby am50em » Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:25 am

Their communication is not very good. Middle of this month is expected first shipments but when I actually get mine well??

march83
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby march83 » Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:37 am

Yeah, I've ordered one. I have a Garmin 520 with a really terrible battery which needs to be replaced. I tried with the latest Lezyne models and they're fine, low feature devices but I couldn't get a satisfactory light + computer mount going.

US$300 is a big chunk of coin, but seems pretty competitive for what it is. Not that much more than the 520 and wahoo offerings. I doubt they'll be selling amazing volume at US$500 though.

Physically, the thing is enormous, like as big as a Garmin 1030. That doesn't concern me so much - I'm really intrigued by where they go with the O/S. Android-tier functionality in a bike computer sounds great to me in theory and there are lots of things that can be done with that hardware so I'm interested and optimistic.

Shipping time, no idea... Communication hasn't been overwhelming since ordering, but they're updating their blog and social media so things seem to be moving. My gut feel is that it will be late so I'm not expecting to see it before the end of November.
Last edited by march83 on Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Aushiker
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:42 am

Thanks. I am still trying to decide whether to come on board or not. I have the Wahoo Elemnt and I am pretty happy with that map bar the maps [no street names].

Differently would go near this at $599 but $299 is tempting.

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boyracer
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby boyracer » Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:46 pm

After reading online reviews on the other players i have been holding back for ages. Not sure if i'm ready to commit to a beta unit but looks like HH could be a good user interface.
Have signed up for more info.
Presently don't even run a speedo and only use phone/map my ride for long distance ride data retrieval.

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Crawf » Thu Oct 05, 2017 1:47 pm

Also signed up many months back. I'd be very surprised to see it this year - that's just the vibe I get.
When I emailed them 2 months back I queried whether they were legit and if this was just vaporware, as they have provided FA updates.
They responded and said they expect to ship in September... now we're told October.

am50em
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby am50em » Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:20 pm

Clicking on link in original order email
Thank you for pre-ordering your Hammerhead Karoo. Karoo starts arriving on doorsteps in fall of 2017, in the order in which purchases were made. Demand has outpaced production, however, so the most recent purchases will arrive towards the end of the year and into early spring of 2018.
So no idea where I am in the queue.

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby am50em » Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:07 am


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MichaelB
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby MichaelB » Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:25 am

It is huge and doesn't appeal just from the looks. The changing delivery times also would put me off.

Despite a few teething troubles and minor gripes, my 520 works well enough for me and has the features in need

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:57 pm

Hammerhead have posted a comprehensive explanation about the delay and the delivery timeline at https://blog.hammerhead.io/the-state-of ... 6bf93c60a3

Given this I think I will jump on board over the weekend.

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby am50em » Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:27 pm

Earlier this week, we received the unfortunate news from our manufacturing facility that they had received news from one of our plastics partners that they were approximately 20–24 days away from being able to deliver a critical proprietary material we need to initiate Karoo’s production
https://blog.hammerhead.io/recent-devel ... 70ef99d6ae

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Fri Oct 27, 2017 2:25 pm

A bit frustrating to get another delay but at least they are keeping us in the loop now.

march83
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby march83 » Fri Oct 27, 2017 2:48 pm

Yeah, not terribly surprised. Anyone expecting these sorts of projects executed by small teams, doing new things and manufacturing with minimal financial clout to keep to tight timelines is extremely optimistic. Some of the negative reactions on social media are childish and comical. It's essentially a kickstarter - you're a $300 beta tester with no guarantee of ever actually seeing a product, not a customer.

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MichaelB
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby MichaelB » Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:32 pm

Hence why I shy away from these things.

Seen too many good ideas not work in practice due to optimism that didn’t match talent or reality

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:48 pm

march83 wrote:Yeah, not terribly surprised. Anyone expecting these sorts of projects executed by small teams, doing new things and manufacturing with minimal financial clout to keep to tight timelines is extremely optimistic. Some of the negative reactions on social media are childish and comical. It's essentially a kickstarter - you're a $300 beta tester with no guarantee of ever actually seeing a product, not a customer.
Agree, plus at least in my case I pretty sure I have 180 days to bail in terms of my credit card payment.

am50em
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby am50em » Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:14 pm

Yes it is a risk but then the big companies screw up as well e.g. Samsung Note 7, Apple iOS6 maps.
Time will tell.

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Sat Nov 11, 2017 11:47 am


march83
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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby march83 » Mon Nov 20, 2017 8:39 am

updates: https://blog.hammerhead.io/an-exciting- ... 93cb37fdfb

looks like things are moving forward, but no mention of dates. fingers crossed for christmas at this point...

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:20 am

march83 wrote:updates: https://blog.hammerhead.io/an-exciting- ... 93cb37fdfb

looks like things are moving forward, but no mention of dates. fingers crossed for christmas at this point...
Thanks for the update.

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Wed Nov 22, 2017 3:36 pm


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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby rifraf » Thu Nov 23, 2017 1:58 pm

Aushiker wrote:Thanks. I am still trying to decide whether to come on board or not. I have the Wahoo Elemnt and I am pretty happy with that map bar the maps [no street names].

Differently would go near this at $599 but $299 is tempting.
No street names?
That seems harsh :shock:
Surly Ogre, Extrawheel trailer.

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby biker jk » Thu Nov 23, 2017 2:30 pm

rifraf wrote:
Aushiker wrote:Thanks. I am still trying to decide whether to come on board or not. I have the Wahoo Elemnt and I am pretty happy with that map bar the maps [no street names].

Differently would go near this at $599 but $299 is tempting.
No street names?
That seems harsh :shock:
You don't need to know the street name just whether to turn left, right or go straight. I had a Garmin and having the street names on the map didn't help, indeed it was a distraction. You do get the name of the street displayed as part of turn-by-turn navigation if there's a cue sheet with the route. I find the Wahoo approach to navigation much easier to follow than Garmin's.

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Re: Hammerhead Karoo .. Any takers?

Postby Aushiker » Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:49 pm


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