Karoo 3- significant March feature bumps

We’ve had a few months of minor updates from Hammerhead for its Karoo bike computers, but March will see a return to good-old’ lots of features.’

I already wrote a few days ago bout the new Karoo App Store. (Karoo Extensions Library). Why do companies use these technocentric names…it will eventually be called the app store rather than the “Karoo Extensions Library”. No sane person knows what an Extension library is (as proof…I do know what it means 🙂 ). And why are watch owners ‘users’, rather than ‘customers’? Any company that uses these names inadvertently implies that it is a tech-led company with tech-led products that might not follow what the buying public wants and needs. At least disguising the public-facing language would be my suggestion.

And don’t get me started on the New Karoo… it’s Karoo 3. Jeez. All that said, Karoo 3 is pretty awesome, and yes, that’s a technical word 😉

I digress. Rant over. I feel better.

Data Page Customization

Creating and modifying screens has been improved by adding more flexibility to the layouts.

• Data fields/metrics are now selected first, followed by a drag-and-drop arrangement to suit your visual preferences.
• Half-width data fields have been introduced that morph into full-width versions – some half-width fields display limited information due to space constraints, and some full-width fields occupy too much screen real estate to warrant the size (IMHO)
• The menus where the metrics are chosen have been improved, making it easier to find alternative displays for your chosen metric.

Colour Data Fields for Power and Heart Rate

The data field menu has added a new ‘Zone Colour’ option. This feature enables the background of a power or heart rate data field to display the corresponding training zone colour – very similar to what Wahoo has on the ELEMNT ACE – this presentation is more practical, IMHO, even though the alternative visual options look better. The colour coding applies to all available power smoothing settings.

In-Ride Data Field Editing

We can now modify data fields during a ride without stopping.

• A long press on a data field opens the picker menu, allowing for field replacement.
• Double-tapping a data field toggles averaging options for metrics such as power – instant, 3s, 30secs power…and so on.
• Double-tapping allows for switching between numeric and visual formats.

These updates enhance usability and data presentation, giving riders more control over their training and performance tracking.

More: Hammerhead

Edit: I was just about to add my images when I saw Shane’s YouTube video on the same subject. Watch that if you want to see how it all looks. The YouTube thumbnail below pretty much gives the game away!