Originally Posted by
mattcalifornia
Sort of a surprising comment since one of the biggest complaints people had about the Karoo 1 is that it didn't have a speaker/beeper. And, as I said before in this thread, I have a bit of hearing loss (enough that I have to wear OTC hearing aids in some situations), and I can hear the Karoo 2 loud and clear (without my hearing aids). Maybe you don't have the volume on the K2 turned up enough?
No, it’s turned up all the way.
I’m an electrical engineer and understanding the components available, it’s disappointing that all of the bike computer companies continue to use these crappy beepers when they could, at very low cost, use a real speaker. The K2s is another in that line. I can hear it, but in traffic it becomes tough (when you really need it). It’s also tough to differentiate alerts from Varia from navigation alerts. A speaker would give designers a lot better choices for the audio part of the UI.
With a speaker, the audio verbal turn by turn directions wouldn’t need an external speaker. That’s a huge missed opportunity in my book for a feature no other computer has. And for a feature which has huge positive safety impacts. Navigation prompts typical involve intersections and with a spoken cue one can often avoid looking at the computer and be paying attention to traffic at the intersection.
there are some really cheap high quality speakers available due to the cell phone industry and it’s high volume. Hammerhead and others should leverage that and get rid of this ancient budget beeper tech.
don’t get me wrong here - this is a nitpick on the K2 and, IMO and for what I do, it’s far and away the best choice in bike computers. With this beeper, the K2 is equal to other computers where I find it substantially better in most other things and I’m a fanboy.