Geo_Zegarra2016

Hi Everyone,

Looking to get my first bike computer. Looking at Bryton rider 750 and Karoo Hammerhead 2. Karoo 2 is the only one that is supported with streva live segments. I was wondering if it's worth it. To me, Bryton has an amazing deal price at $350 a bundle that comes with sensors. While Karoo 2 price comes to $399 plus taxes $430. I'm not sure what sensors to use for Karoo 2 since it doesn't say. Will buying the Garmin sensors work with it? I'm also looking at Garmin 830 but the navigation on the Karoo 2 is much better.

Badger6

Karoo can pair to just about any ANT+ or BT sensor available on the market. No ides how it does with a smart trainer (ANT+ FE-C protocol). The screen is neat to look at on your desk, but in practice on the road, it was pretty much useless for anything other than its map. The fields were hard to read/decipher because use different sized fonts: the numbers are big and generally readable at a glance, but the field descriptions were unreadable at a glance. The mapping was better in that it was clearer, but in reality I only noticed it updated the view faster. I wouldn't say it is much better, just that it is different...though the folks at Hammerhead may take issue with that since it is the primary selling point of the device. Also, and for me the real deal breaker, it is really a map with the ability to record (without analysis) the various performance data you are recording with paired sensors (speed, HR, watts, cadence). And comparable battery....my 2 year old 1030 will last between 7-8 hours depending on what I am doing, more than enough for an imperial century or more, and with an auxiliary battery pack, I have done rides that far exceed that. The Karoo2, with the screen brightness at 50% and mapping was at 12% after a 5 hour ride started at 97% battery.

As for Strava Live Segments, it will only work if you're a Strava subscriber. And, in my experience, testing it on only one segment, it is not very good at it, yet. They need to improve the software integration, or something...it's beyond my tech expertise to understand the issue I had, but the segment I used it on returned a funky result. I rode it and the Karoo displayed a time of 52 seconds, 4 seconds slower than my previous time, which was 1 second off the KOM. When I uploaded the ride...my actual time was 42 seconds and Strava sent an "Uh-Oh" email previous KOM holder (I know this because he texted while I was in the shower!).

YMMV, but in my experience the Karoo is a great GPS enabled (with map) cycle computer, where the Garmin is a great GPS enabled training tool (with good enough, but definitely NOT bad, mapping).

jpescatore

I have a Wahoo Roam and pay for Strava. The live segments pop up on many of my rides (you can turn that feature off) but most of the time I'm not out to beat my last time anyway - I'm out riding for fun.

When I'm out on a loop I pretty much only do for training/exercise, it is kinda motivating to try to beat my old time. But that would not swing my decision on which bike computer to use or whether to pay for Strava or not. So, it depends on your goals for your rides.

Chuck M 

I found the live segments to be annoying so I disabled them on my Garmin. Were KOMs important to me, I may look at it differently but the routes I ride seem to have a lot of Strava segments and them constantly popping up is a nuisance to me.

I don't have any input on the features of the two units you are interested in though.

chaadster

Any user can select which segments alert on their GPS head unit, so Live Segments is not an on/off feature, but one with granular control. It should not be that users get lots of LS alerts because they ride lots of segments…unless they select to receive those alerts.

I, for example, ride routes with tons of segments, but only have two Live Segments set to alert regularly, both for climb pacing, on my ELEMNT Bolt. I don’t use the feature much otherwise, but can see how it could add fun and dynamism for lots of riders.

msu2001la

My main complaint about the live segment feature on my Garmin Edge 530 is that when it pops up it occupies the entire screen, hiding all other data. I have to manually scroll back up to the main screen each time, and then I cannot see the live segment timing/info. There may be an easy solution to this that I just haven't bothered to figure out.

I get very little out of live segments, as I'm nowhere near strong enough to KOM any of the segments on my regular rides. In most cases, the fastest times on a segment among my friends/followers were set during fast group rides, so chasing better times on those is somewhat pointless. I do like the segment feature in general on Strava, and always find looking through my ride data and comparing past efforts to be interesting, I just don't get anything out of having this info displayed live on my head unit during a ride.

If you are hunting KOM's on Strava this feature probably has a lot more value.

genejockey 

I had accidentally clicked on one segment of one of my frequent rides so it kept popping up every time I got near it, which was annoying because as mentioned above it takes over the whole screen. I eventually figured it out and turned it off.

Then I turned it on for one segment, a 3 mile climb on which I'm always hoping to better my time. Within the first half mile, it told me I was "Off Segment" and reverted to the regular screen, even though I was RIGHT THERE ON THE DAMN ROAD. GPS doesn't like trees, I guess. So I turned THAT off, too, after it did the same thing to me 3 times.

Geo_Zegarra2016

Wow! The battery life is killer on the Karoo 2. Do you say is worth investment even tho the battery is not good? The Garmin training tool sounds like something that would meet my needs. Tho, I know some people have issues and frustration with Garmin. Will there always be issues and frustration regardless of what computer I get?

mstateglfr 

I know where some common segments are on various roads that I ride, but I dont keep segment tracking as live on my gps because...
1- it is just too much overall. There is already data tracking on the screen that is continually changing.
2- I am presumably already riding hard. I dont need/want something to tell me a dozen times over 30mi to ride harder than hard.
3- I like seeing how I do on segments relative to my history, but I just dont care very much how I compare to others YTD or all time since its pretty meaningless. I may be on mile 30 while they are on mile 5. I may have wind with me while they have wind against them. etc etc. All that affects the standings a lot. And that doesnt even get into the actual weight/ability combo. Ill look at segments after a ride and then move on since I care more about the ride overall than segment hunting.

shelbyfv

^^^^This. I wouldn't pay extra for Live Segments. I'll never have a KOM and I can always check a segment after the ride to see if I've improved. Check out the Wahoo Bolt if you haven't already.

burnthesheep

I got paid Strava so I could create and see how I do on my own private segments over time, after the ride. During the ride if I'm going that hard, it's just a glance at the gps for power or HR. Not watching. When I saw a live segment come up (I had it off, but somehow it came up due to being a 'starred' segment), I did not care for the eyes off the road bit.

I could see somebody watching the +/- figure and slamming into a parked car.

caloso

I disabled the live segment notification on my Garmin. Really annoying when you're in the middle of a hard workout.

Viich

I hate strava segments in normal riding. They're such a temptation to go harder than your plan is for a given day.
I really only joined Strava because my city subscribed to the Strava for cities data service for bike infrastructure decisions. Strava seems to be moving away from that, but I kind of use it as the .fit file repository now.

Long story short, Strava live would be of negative value to me. They'd have to pay me quite a bit for it.

Badger6

I wouldn't either, but the Live Segments is a nice feature to go along with the features I do care about.

Badger6

No, it is not a good investment for me. The Karoo is a nice display with a fast processor that renders a map beautifully, that also displays some raw data collected from various linked sensors. Yes, people complain about Garmin, but I'll be honest, I just don't have all the problems that most people claim to have. It might be because when I am navigating with it, I am not doing things like blasting segments or riding structured workouts. When I am doing that stuff, I am riding without the active navigation. Meaning, I am not taxing the operating system or processor. The Garmin, even if it doesn't have a modern "smartphone screen," is still readable at a glance and easily interacted with, even in bright light. Having the training metrics and analysis of them (after the ride) is just something I am unwilling to forgo.

Yes, the reality is that there is no perfect computer. Wahoo people think they have found a superior device. While those tend to have better battery life than the Karoo, they don't do much more than the Karoo and their maps look like they were rendered in monochrome 16bit paint in 1984. Garmins can be glitchy (I just haven't experienced it like some folks claim), and their map rendering can be a bit slow, but they have some exceptionally high end fitness metrics in their ecosystem and that's what keeps me coming back. But, that may not be the draw for some people, and if it isn't, I can understand why they just want a data recorder with a scrolling map and TBT nav.

Geo_Zegarra2016

Is 1030 worth it even tho is 4 years old? Is pretty cheap on ebay

chaadster

Why would you— or anyone— have to go without training metrics and analysis with a GPS head unit other than Garmin? Even if not native to the head unit company, aren’t there tons of ride data analysis platforms out there beyond Garmin Connect, like Training Peaks, Golden Cheetah, and Strava (just to name a few of the big ones) for example?

Badger6

Hard to say. Garmin is pretty tight lipped on new models, but the 1030 is long in the tooth, though they did refresh it last year. Hard to say if there will be a new flagship this year.

Badger6

Theoretically, no. I was actually referring to the Training Peaks metrics (specifically IF and TSS) that the Garmin calculates in real time. AFAIK, they’re the only company that has integrated this to their head units. And, I use TP along with Conenct, so this is a huge factor in how i view the world as it related to GPS cycling computers. I don’t use Strava for detailed training analysis. But, this is me. Each person is different.

I don’t know anything about Golden Cheetah.

Badger6

Except that the OP specifically asked about Strava Segments, so while unimportant to you, they are important to the OP.