Varia radar rear light

stueys

Anyone using one of these? I'm trying to weigh up whether it's worth it, any experiences or thoughts welcome

meanredspider

I use it and, in contrast to a lot of what Garmin does, it's actually worked pretty well from the off.

Obviously it's no substitute for awareness but it does "spot" cars a long way back which is pretty useful - especially if you're on a single track road. It helps you plan swinging into a passing spot. Because it also tracks how many cars are coming, that also helps plan how long you're going to need to slow for - again, no substitute for looking as you pull in but, so far, I've found it 100% accurate.

The one thing that Garmin have got wrong is their out-front mounts. The design muffles the beep from the GPS unit which means the alert is hard to hear - crappy design. The strap-on (rubber band) mounts are infinitely better from this point of view.

Battery life seems pretty reasonable and you also get a warning on the GPS unit.

The other design issue is that the unit is pretty wide which might cause rubbing issues on your shorts - especially with a set-back seatpost

stueys

Thanks MRS, appreciate the detailed write up. Seems to work pretty well from your experience. For me main appeal is the way the light pattern is supposed to change as cars approach, it seems like a more effective way of getting a drivers attention than a static, blinking light.

Have you tried mounting the light vertically to take away the width? Guessing this may mess with the radar.

meanredspider

No - not tried a different orientation. It could really do with a mount off the saddle so it's just further back. It's not a deal-breaker for me but it's sub-optimal.

Garmin are just terrible at finishing things off. I had the front Varia light but returned it because you simply couldn't hear the GPS unit when it was fitted to the light mount. And, to be honest, the feature wasn't worth the cost.

bendertherobot

Stueys wrote:

Thanks MRS, appreciate the detailed write up. Seems to work pretty well from your experience. For me main appeal is the way the light pattern is supposed to change as cars approach, it seems like a more effective way of getting a drivers attention than a static, blinking light.

Have you tried mounting the light vertically to take away the width? Guessing this may mess with the radar.

Before you do take the plunge be aware that the See Sense Icon does that as well. And a few other things. Not saying it's better but, if that's of interest, it's worth checking out.

stueys

Hmm, thanks, see sense looks interesting, missed that product completely. Will do some more research on that

bendertherobot

https://roubaixcycling.cc/2016/02/07/se ... ear-light/
https://roubaixcycling.cc/2016/07/24/se ... f-cycling/