From Hammerhead, which became a SRAM subsidiary brand
I'm writing about what I've learned
regarding web-related matters with "SRAM Karoo"
Since I plan to write several more articles
I've created an article category called
"About SRAM's Karoo"
Personally, I never move my laptop from its position at home
(carrying around a wireless LAN-connected computer)
so I only use wired LAN connection via cable from my router,
but in America, Wi-Fi environments are far more widespread
than in Japan,
so a Wi-Fi environment is a prerequisite
for using Karoo.
Below, on the whiteboard,
functions requiring Wi-Fi are written in red,
and functions not requiring it are written in blue.
As a web-based service,
there is a site called Hammerhead Dashboard
(hereinafter "Dashboard") where you can manage ride histories (activity logs)
and create routes manually,
so Hammerhead cycle computer users need to create an account.
I wrote "Hammerhead cycle computer" rather than limiting it to SRAM Karoo
because even users of the company's older models like Karoo 2
can use it, though these are barely available in Japan.
First, creating a Hammerhead account on Karoo requires Wi-Fi.
The Hammerhead Companion App for smartphones,
which I'll describe later, connects
from Karoo to smartphone via Bluetooth,
and from smartphone to Dashboard via internet,
but this connection method
is completely useless for creating a Hammerhead account on Karoo
and downloading maps for the Japan area
as I wrote in a previous article.
↑This is the Karoo settings screen.
From here, select Settings in the bottom right
At the top is a Hammerhead Account
item, and when you select it
a choice appears between sign-in via QR code
or sign-in by entering an email address.
When selecting QR code without Wi-Fi connection.
A deformed QR code appears briefly,
"An error occurred" displays at the bottom,
and you're returned to the previous screen.
Next,
when selecting email registration without Wi-Fi connection,
after filling in required fields
and pressing the checkmark in the bottom right,
a message appears saying "Not connected to the internet.
Check your internet connection and try again,"
but "internet connection" here refers specifically to Wi-Fi.
There's no route via USB cable connection
between Karoo and a PC
(note that Polar sports watches have this option).
When successfully signed into a Hammerhead account
and selecting the Hammerhead Account item,
the registered email address appears on the screen,
and a sign-out option appears at the bottom,
but unless you sign out afterward,
the signed-in state continues
even after powering off the device.
And you shouldn't select this sign-out option.
If you do...
the Profile settings on the right middle of the settings screen get reset!
Since the profile name I set to "Baltan Seijin" disappeared,
I changed the profile part
of the Basic Profile
to the romanization "Profile".
This is in a signed-out state,
but if I sign in again and then sign out...
the default profile I thought I deleted comes back, and
the profile name returns to the original.
Also, in the screen above, Basic is followed by a line break,
then Profile, but
since there's no line break in the profile name input field,
I investigated how it's being split into two lines,
and found that there's a space after the first word,
the next word starts with a capital letter,
and when the next word's character count extends to a second line,
a line break occurs even if the first word
hasn't reached the line's end.
Removing the space from the above name input
and joining Basic and Profile
results in one line.
Adding one more e to make BasicProfilee,
exactly when it exceeds the line display limit,
the display becomes
BasicProfile
e
across two lines.
With Basicp Roflie, adding p at the end of Basic
and capitalizing R,
the display becomes
Basicp
Roflie
across two lines.
So in my previous article,
I filled with spaces until the second line appeared,
but with this input
↑it comes out like this.
Sending manually created ride routes from Dashboard to Karoo also requires Wi-Fi.
Rather, the issue is that there are no other means.
I previously created a route for the perimeter of Nagai Park
on Dashboard and sent it to Karoo,
but the route data also disappeared when I signed out.
It's fortunate that the offline map didn't disappear.
About the Hammerhead app.
↑This is the initial screen after downloading the app to your smartphone.
↑This is the Karoo screen without phone pairing.
Pressing the "NEW PHONE" section in the bottom right
displays a QR code.
When viewing this with "smartphone camera function",
the image shows sram.com
but it directs to the Hammerhead app
download page.
Instead of the smartphone camera function,
selecting "Get Started" in the app leads to this page,
and selecting "Next" further leads to
launching the "app camera function",
which you then point at the Karoo QR code
↑After being shown a yellow spinning circle on the screen
for several seconds,
you're prompted to enter a 6-digit pairing code.
Since this number changes each time,
there's no issue posting it here.
Pairing between the app-equipped smartphone and Karoo is complete!
The concern is that Karoo's identification number
was visible on the screen.
↑If you allow this (though I have),
smartphone notifications reach Karoo during rides,
and at unrelated moments during your ride,
a suddenly loud beep sound plays
and startles you, so be careful.
↑Subsequently, pressing the app icon
displays this home screen.
This app-to-Karoo pairing also,
like the Hammerhead account on the Karoo device itself,
should not be deleted.
This is because deleting the pairing from the app here
(to delete, select "Details" in the bottom right
and then select "Unpair" in red at the bottom of the next page)
results in only the smartphone returning to the pre-pairing home screen
and appearing to have cleanly broken up with Karoo, but
Karoo still thinks it's in a relationship with the phone,
creating a complicated situation.
This happens because
in your smartphone's Bluetooth settings,
the device name "KAROO+identification number"
remains.
Deleting it restores Karoo's display
to its pre-pairing state.
Then, when trying to reconnect the app to Karoo again,
you might see "Pairing failed" the moment you scan the QR code,
or the 6-digit pairing code appears without the yellow spinning circle screen,
but "Pairing failed" appears when you enter it,
creating confusing situations frequently.
So don't disconnect the app-to-Karoo pairing.
If you only get pairing failure results,
turning the smartphone off once and restarting it
sometimes resolves the issue.
When Karoo still thinks it's in a relationship,
the QR code screen can't be accessed,
so the initial connection method doesn't work.
Looking at the bottom of the "app camera function" screen,
there's a prompt saying "Having trouble?
Tap here," so I press it
(there's only one device in Bluetooth range at this moment),
a screen appears asking me to select my Karoo from a list,
and when I do, the connection completes again.
...Wait? This is the first time this method succeeded.
For some reason, this method
always resulted in pairing failure before.
After pairing is complete, on this smartphone home screen,
pressing the icon in the top left
opens a page where
selecting "Upload Logs" at the bottom
completes in a brief moment
with a checkmark appearing!
By the way, the Launch Tour at the top
plays a simple video explaining the app's features,
but currently only the English version is available, and besides,
it was completely useless to me.
Regarding what happened after uploading logs from this app:
ride histories (activity logs) reach the Dashboard
without going through Wi-Fi!
The browser refresh right after this checkmark appeared
already showed the record added—it was that fast.
This is extremely convenient, and the reason this app
doesn't support Karoo 2, likely the most-used Karoo model currently in America,
has led to complaints filling this app's reviews.
I created a 4-second ride log.
Names like Morning Ride or Night Ride
are automatically assigned based on the ride time, but
since it's 4 seconds, I changed the name to "Yonbyou".
This is the PC version Dashboard ride history page.
There are only two logs, but that's fine.
After selecting "Upload Logs" from the app
and refreshing the browser right when the checkmark appeared,
Yonbyou was already added.
It's possible the log was added immediately due to small file size (requires verification),
but the fact that this works without Wi-Fi is certain.
Further, after creating 5 and 6 second logs,
even without pressing the app's "Upload Logs" icon,
the logs appeared when I refreshed the browser.
Next, I created a 7 second log with the phone on the home screen,
and the logs appeared even when I refreshed the browser without opening the app.
Further, I created a 12 second log with the phone screen asleep, and the logs appeared
when I refreshed the browser.
Just putting it on the home screen or sleep should still have the app running, so it's expected.
To avoid the embarrassing situation of "wait, was it actually connected to Wi-Fi?",
I've turned off Wi-Fi in Karoo's settings.
Next, I created a 17 second log with the phone powered off,
and refreshing the browser showed no new log.
Even after powering the phone back on,
the log hasn't been added.
When opening the app, Karoo couldn't be found no matter how long I waited.
This... feels like a bad omen...
But if I can write a troubleshooting article from this, it might be worthwhile content-wise.
First, I opened the "app camera function"
I'm writing about what I've learned
regarding web-related matters with "SRAM Karoo"
Since I plan to write several more articles
I've created an article category called
"About SRAM's Karoo"
Personally, I never move my laptop from its position at home
(carrying around a wireless LAN-connected computer)
so I only use wired LAN connection via cable from my router,
but in America, Wi-Fi environments are far more widespread
than in Japan,
so a Wi-Fi environment is a prerequisite
for using Karoo.
Below, on the whiteboard,
functions requiring Wi-Fi are written in red,
and functions not requiring it are written in blue.
As a web-based service,
there is a site called Hammerhead Dashboard
(hereinafter "Dashboard") where you can manage ride histories (activity logs)
and create routes manually,
so Hammerhead cycle computer users need to create an account.
I wrote "Hammerhead cycle computer" rather than limiting it to SRAM Karoo
because even users of the company's older models like Karoo 2
can use it, though these are barely available in Japan.
First, creating a Hammerhead account on Karoo requires Wi-Fi.
The Hammerhead Companion App for smartphones,
which I'll describe later, connects
from Karoo to smartphone via Bluetooth,
and from smartphone to Dashboard via internet,
but this connection method
is completely useless for creating a Hammerhead account on Karoo
and downloading maps for the Japan area
as I wrote in a previous article.
↑This is the Karoo settings screen.
From here, select Settings in the bottom right
At the top is a Hammerhead Account
item, and when you select it
a choice appears between sign-in via QR code
or sign-in by entering an email address.
When selecting QR code without Wi-Fi connection.
A deformed QR code appears briefly,
"An error occurred" displays at the bottom,
and you're returned to the previous screen.
Next,
when selecting email registration without Wi-Fi connection,
after filling in required fields
and pressing the checkmark in the bottom right,
a message appears saying "Not connected to the internet.
Check your internet connection and try again,"
but "internet connection" here refers specifically to Wi-Fi.
There's no route via USB cable connection
between Karoo and a PC
(note that Polar sports watches have this option).
When successfully signed into a Hammerhead account
and selecting the Hammerhead Account item,
the registered email address appears on the screen,
and a sign-out option appears at the bottom,
but unless you sign out afterward,
the signed-in state continues
even after powering off the device.
And you shouldn't select this sign-out option.
If you do...
the Profile settings on the right middle of the settings screen get reset!
Since the profile name I set to "Baltan Seijin" disappeared,
I changed the profile part
of the Basic Profile
to the romanization "Profile".
This is in a signed-out state,
but if I sign in again and then sign out...
the default profile I thought I deleted comes back, and
the profile name returns to the original.
Also, in the screen above, Basic is followed by a line break,
then Profile, but
since there's no line break in the profile name input field,
I investigated how it's being split into two lines,
and found that there's a space after the first word,
the next word starts with a capital letter,
and when the next word's character count extends to a second line,
a line break occurs even if the first word
hasn't reached the line's end.
Removing the space from the above name input
and joining Basic and Profile
results in one line.
Adding one more e to make BasicProfilee,
exactly when it exceeds the line display limit,
the display becomes
BasicProfile
e
across two lines.
With Basicp Roflie, adding p at the end of Basic
and capitalizing R,
the display becomes
Basicp
Roflie
across two lines.
So in my previous article,
I filled with spaces until the second line appeared,
but with this input
↑it comes out like this.
Sending manually created ride routes from Dashboard to Karoo also requires Wi-Fi.
Rather, the issue is that there are no other means.
I previously created a route for the perimeter of Nagai Park
on Dashboard and sent it to Karoo,
but the route data also disappeared when I signed out.
It's fortunate that the offline map didn't disappear.
About the Hammerhead app.
↑This is the initial screen after downloading the app to your smartphone.
↑This is the Karoo screen without phone pairing.
Pressing the "NEW PHONE" section in the bottom right
displays a QR code.
When viewing this with "smartphone camera function",
the image shows sram.com
but it directs to the Hammerhead app
download page.
Instead of the smartphone camera function,
selecting "Get Started" in the app leads to this page,
and selecting "Next" further leads to
launching the "app camera function",
which you then point at the Karoo QR code
↑After being shown a yellow spinning circle on the screen
for several seconds,
you're prompted to enter a 6-digit pairing code.
Since this number changes each time,
there's no issue posting it here.
Pairing between the app-equipped smartphone and Karoo is complete!
The concern is that Karoo's identification number
was visible on the screen.
↑If you allow this (though I have),
smartphone notifications reach Karoo during rides,
and at unrelated moments during your ride,
a suddenly loud beep sound plays
and startles you, so be careful.
↑Subsequently, pressing the app icon
displays this home screen.
This app-to-Karoo pairing also,
like the Hammerhead account on the Karoo device itself,
should not be deleted.
This is because deleting the pairing from the app here
(to delete, select "Details" in the bottom right
and then select "Unpair" in red at the bottom of the next page)
results in only the smartphone returning to the pre-pairing home screen
and appearing to have cleanly broken up with Karoo, but
Karoo still thinks it's in a relationship with the phone,
creating a complicated situation.
This happens because
in your smartphone's Bluetooth settings,
the device name "KAROO+identification number"
remains.
Deleting it restores Karoo's display
to its pre-pairing state.
Then, when trying to reconnect the app to Karoo again,
you might see "Pairing failed" the moment you scan the QR code,
or the 6-digit pairing code appears without the yellow spinning circle screen,
but "Pairing failed" appears when you enter it,
creating confusing situations frequently.
So don't disconnect the app-to-Karoo pairing.
If you only get pairing failure results,
turning the smartphone off once and restarting it
sometimes resolves the issue.
When Karoo still thinks it's in a relationship,
the QR code screen can't be accessed,
so the initial connection method doesn't work.
Looking at the bottom of the "app camera function" screen,
there's a prompt saying "Having trouble?
Tap here," so I press it
(there's only one device in Bluetooth range at this moment),
a screen appears asking me to select my Karoo from a list,
and when I do, the connection completes again.
...Wait? This is the first time this method succeeded.
For some reason, this method
always resulted in pairing failure before.
After pairing is complete, on this smartphone home screen,
pressing the icon in the top left
opens a page where
selecting "Upload Logs" at the bottom
completes in a brief moment
with a checkmark appearing!
By the way, the Launch Tour at the top
plays a simple video explaining the app's features,
but currently only the English version is available, and besides,
it was completely useless to me.
Regarding what happened after uploading logs from this app:
ride histories (activity logs) reach the Dashboard
without going through Wi-Fi!
The browser refresh right after this checkmark appeared
already showed the record added—it was that fast.
This is extremely convenient, and the reason this app
doesn't support Karoo 2, likely the most-used Karoo model currently in America,
has led to complaints filling this app's reviews.
I created a 4-second ride log.
Names like Morning Ride or Night Ride
are automatically assigned based on the ride time, but
since it's 4 seconds, I changed the name to "Yonbyou".
This is the PC version Dashboard ride history page.
There are only two logs, but that's fine.
After selecting "Upload Logs" from the app
and refreshing the browser right when the checkmark appeared,
Yonbyou was already added.
It's possible the log was added immediately due to small file size (requires verification),
but the fact that this works without Wi-Fi is certain.
Further, after creating 5 and 6 second logs,
even without pressing the app's "Upload Logs" icon,
the logs appeared when I refreshed the browser.
Next, I created a 7 second log with the phone on the home screen,
and the logs appeared even when I refreshed the browser without opening the app.
Further, I created a 12 second log with the phone screen asleep, and the logs appeared
when I refreshed the browser.
Just putting it on the home screen or sleep should still have the app running, so it's expected.
To avoid the embarrassing situation of "wait, was it actually connected to Wi-Fi?",
I've turned off Wi-Fi in Karoo's settings.
Next, I created a 17 second log with the phone powered off,
and refreshing the browser showed no new log.
Even after powering the phone back on,
the log hasn't been added.
When opening the app, Karoo couldn't be found no matter how long I waited.
This... feels like a bad omen...
But if I can write a troubleshooting article from this, it might be worthwhile content-wise.
First, I opened the "app camera function"
Related Products on Amazon
* Amazon affiliate links — prices may vary