“Between Predictive Path Tech and Suunto Heatmaps on my Hammerhead, it’s like having a second pair of eyes on the road.”
Sean Gardner
2020 Everesting World Champion
2022 Tour of the Gila pro GC winner
Written by Sean Gardner
We’ve all been there, stranded with our bike on the side of a busy road, trying to find a better, more cycling-friendly route.
It normally starts with a trip to an unfamiliar spot to explore by bike. If you’ve ever traveled to a new place to ride, you’ve probably done some elementary route scouting. You might know a few destinations that you want to see on your ride and not being a local, you build a route using the most obvious roads you can see on the route builder of your choice. Think Komoot, Strava, Map My Ride. You upload your ride to your computer and off you go, only to realize that you’ve chosen congested and bike un-friendly roads. Now, instead of enjoying your ride, you're anxiously scanning the map to find a new way to your destination.
This situation isn’t one we cyclists enjoy and the good news is it’s largely avoidable. Thanks to the partnership with Hammerhead and Suunto, you now have the ability to use heatmaps while you are riding, both with and without a preloaded route. This feature means you can see the most popular cycling roads wherever you are, so you can adjust your route in real time to find the best cycling byways. This partnership is a boon to all cyclists looking to find a new route or simply explore uncharted territory.
Karoo 2 users simply need to register for a Suunto account and connect it to their Karoo 2 to allow access to Suunto’s vast - and regularly expanding - heatmap data. You’ll want to make sure your Karoo 2 software is up to date. When access has been given, simply navigate to the offline maps section, click on a location, and download the heat map. Routes that are highly trafficked appear - you guessed it - a “hotter” shade of red to denote high usage.
The heat map feature is an added bonus to all those that want to explore or who want to take the path… most traveled. As GP Lama puts it, “[The heatmap] adds another layer of intelligence for you to choose where to ride and have a better experience on the bike. I’m a huge fan. There are no questions about the readability of the Hammerhead being far superior to that of the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus. Now, with this popularity routing in place, Hammerhead again takes the cake.”
Aside from the benefits of exploring a new place for fun, the heatmaps, combined with the other features of the Karoo 2, like the climber feature, allow competitive cyclists among us to find that perfect hill or route for their prescribed workout. The Climber feature, which works both with and without a preloaded route, combined with Hammerhead’s consistent two-week software updates ensures that you won’t be lost or regret your route choice while you’re doing intervals. And if the routing features weren’t enough, the Suunto partnership allows you to upload your rides to the Suunto app and gives you access to their suite of 200 different partner applications to satisfy (nearly) every sport, monitor your health - from stress to sleep - and seamlessly navigate your data on the Hammerhead dashboard.
Try the Karoo 2 risk free for 45 days, and see why the Karoo 2 was named the “best cycling computer you’re not using” by Bicycling.com.
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