Rearview cam

burnthesheep

I've seen a variety of products online. I may not be good at searching. I've found the Garmin radar and the Fly6 and other products.

However, the one thing missing is active accident avoidance. I'm not a fan of the mirrors as the field of view is limited and the distraction of turning to look.

If you could display on your phone the current view from a Fly6 or similar you could make the decision to bail out or dump your bike on the side if a person from behind was on a collision course.

Here on secondary roads in the US the rednecks text and drive and often run off to the side.

The Garmin radar only lets you know it is there. When it isn't noisy or windy I can hear a car probably 200 yards back coming anyway. Also this radar doesn't tell you whether it is going to pass safely or too close.

Anyone found this in a product?

The Gopro seems to have an "app" you can live view.

I know battery power of the phone could be an issue, but there are battery life extenders. You can also just click to shut the screen to black if you're in a safer area of no concern to safe battery life.

I appreciate any buying advice. I'm also open to hacks or bodges. I'm very handy with electronics, Arduinos, and the such. I thought about hacking up a motor vehicle reversing camera kit.

bendertherobot

You'd spend so much time avoiding rear collisions you'd probably crash into something in front.

sungod

uk drivers, mostly, aren't that bad, but i remember some ridiculous minor (car) collisions in the usa that were down to inattention - i.e. the woman who drove slowly into us as she did her lipstick, we were watching her in in the mirror and laughing uncontrollably as she hit - another was an actual redneck in a pickup, that time we did wonder if things were going to end badly and with bullets, i can understand your concern

but, as above, i'd think watching a screen closely enough to detect this sort of thing is more likely to increase risk

stueys

I got a garmin varia rear light in the sales, mainly to try as it wasn't something that had ever massively appealed. Have to say I've been really impressed with it, the visual and audio alert when a car is approaching from behind quickly becomes very nice. It feels odd without it now and I've been riding years. Well worth it.

burnthesheep

I don't intend to be watching the cam instead of the road in front. I can usually hear the wind noise of the approaching car. I could then glance to make sure it's going to "miss" and then get back to going. There's not many cars at all on some of these country roads so I wouldn't be watching the display very often.

I appreciate the feedback on the Garmin. If it adds a level of safety at least seeing the dots on the display. I wonder if a LBS would allow a "demo" since it isn't the cheapest thing in the world.

Just found the GCN show review of the Garmin and it seems to be better than I thought. I could at least be more aware.

I need to log more actual "road" miles before a back to back 100 mi race in May. I log a lot of miles in the city on our version of bike-ways and bike-lanes or in areas where the speed limit for cars is lower.

These roads have speeds of around 45 mi/hr. The city either 25 mi/hr or 35 mi/hr.

StillGoing

Personally I can't see the point of something that lights up your Garmin to tell you a car is coming from behind. I can hear them unless they're electric and even then there's usually tyre noise. Having a constantly flashing distraction on the screen would surely make people more nervous, but how can you tell the car approaching from behind is an imminent threat and on collision course with you? You can't. If it is on a collision course with you, how are you going to avoid it and in time? You won't know until seconds before impact and by then it is too late anyway.

bernithebiker

philthy3 wrote:

Personally I can't see the point of something that lights up your Garmin to tell you a car is coming from behind. I can hear them unless they're electric and even then there's usually tyre noise. Having a constantly flashing distraction on the screen would surely make people more nervous, but how can you tell the car approaching from behind is an imminent threat and on collision course with you? You can't. If it is on a collision course with you, how are you going to avoid it and in time? You won't know until seconds before impact and by then it is too late anyway.

I agree. I don't get the Garmin radar thing. So it tells you a vehicle is approaching from behind. OK. And? What should I do exactly? Prepare for impact? Clench my buttcheeks?!

If there's a young, 'just-passed' driver coming, texting away, (gotta let Facebook* know we're driving right?!) and on a collision course with me, the Garmin ain't gonna save me.

And it's very rare not to hear a vehicle approaching anyway.

*and Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

stueys

I was the same until I tried it to be honest, one of the guys in my club was riding with one which led me to try it.

Is it going to stop someone hitting you, no, clearly not. Does it add to your awareness of what's around you, absolutely it does. I would peg my awareness as normally pretty good but I will readily admit that when I'm fatigued or pushing it then I'm less aware, the Varia helps with that, it's consistent. And if you can always hear cars then you aren't going fast enough ;-)

What I like about it;
- It's a fairly decent rear light, I'm always going to have a flasher on the back so this isn't a supplemental device.
- it's light pattern changes as cars get closer, so there is more chance of this attracting the drivers attention, it's not a consistent flash that they will zero out
- a quick glance at my edge tells me what's around me, I can see how many cars, how close and how fast they are going without looking back. It's improving my awareness

So for me I suspected I would try it and send it back. First ride and I was sold, YMMV.

StillGoing

Stueys wrote:

And if you can always hear cars then you aren't going fast enough ;-)

What I like about it;
- It's a fairly decent rear light, I'm always going to have a flasher on the back so this isn't a supplemental device.
- it's light pattern changes as cars get closer, so there is more chance of this attracting the drivers attention, it's not a consistent flash that they will zero out
- a quick glance at my edge tells me what's around me, I can see how many cars, how close and how fast they are going without looking back. It's improving my awareness

So for me I suspected I would try it and send it back. First ride and I was sold, YMMV.

If you can't hear cars when going fast, you need to service your bike a bit more often.

Again though, I prefer to view ride data than be looking to see what vehicles may or may not be around me. But, one man's bread, is another man's poison. Not for me, simply can't see the point.

fenix

For the limited use of it - I cant see its worth it. I'm struggling to think of a time when this gadget would have been of use to me.

If you find yourself using it all the time I think there may be something wrong with the way you ride.

stueys

philthy3 wrote:

Again though, I prefer to view ride data than be looking to see what vehicles may or may not be around me. But, one man's bread, is another man's poison. Not for me, simply can't see the point.

You still get the ride data, the varia display is a small row of dots on the right hand side and an audible beep when it detects something.

This shows it https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/20 ... eRadar.jpg

I think it's one of those things you need to try to get it. I wasn't expecting to like it I have to admit.