Trek now competing with Garmin Varia
 

https://bikerumor.com/trek-enters-th...ck-bike-radar/

Same price as the Varia.
240m sight distance vs Varia's 140m
Usb-c charging.

No mention of run time in the various light modes.
Trek specifically says it will improve the user experience vs Garmin Varia. I have a Varia and can't say I have ever been frustrated with it.

The Usb-c is nice compared to my Garmin. And this Trek model oicks cars up from 100m further away, but I am unsure if that is actually a valuable feature.

Looks like a good light. I may try this one instead of picking up another garmin varia!

Seems to be the same MSRP as the Varia RTL515?

Not sure I dig what they did with the mount, it's not very clean looking. Would have preferred if they just used the garmin one.

Oh, well look at that- same price! I didnt realize the Varia w/ light was $200. Edited that, thanks.
Well thats certainly one less reason to buy it.

The usb-c is admittedly appealing, but wouldnt be why I buy one product over another.
And the extra 100m of notice doesnt seem actually useful to me in how/where I ride, based on a few years of Varia use. 140m of notice has been plenty for me up to now.


That mount isnt great, I agree. I really like my $10 Amazon seatpost mounts for my Varia- they are pretty unobtrucive and compact and lock the radar in both easily and solidly.
Tough for me to think of how that style is lacking in form or function.

See the video on the Trek website. I'd be interested in the actual run time. The Flare RT doesn't run as long as the Lezyne strip lights I have that are just as bright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dNnJLtifHM

Seems like a weird move branching out to yet another product if Trek is supposedly having trouble (didn't we see something about them cutting bike models and/or employees and doing a re-org?).

Of course this is probably a case of a calling a supplier overseas and re-branding something that's in the catalog.

It looks like they're using the same mount design as their previous lights.

I don't really like the square form factor, it's too wide for me. Garmin and Magene units are narrow which just looks better.

Being able to gauge the battery level at a glance is an improvement in the Trek. Not sure that the Trek ability to see a lane change would matter to me. I don't want another batch of mounts for the seat post.

I want Garmin to give me the battery levels for both the head unit and the Varia as part of the report at the end of the ride. The uncertainty before starting a ride around "Are the garmins charged up" is a nag I don't need.

For me, the battery level is the only compelling feature vs Varia (maybe the light is better, Varia seems ok for me). Agree with above that the Varia's detection distance is adequate; my phone is always in my pocket so the lane detection is irrelevant.

get a mirror...
 

look like a dork, avoid the over-engineering. My experience with Varia was the fastest resell of any gadget I've ever owned. Why look down at your head unit to see little dots coming at you on the screen when you can see reality in a mirror? And the groups I ride with yell "car back" religiously so you know they're coming whether you want to or not.

https://takealookactive.com/

I use one of those end of handlebar mirrors and its nice, and trustworthy, though a bit small. I also have the Garmin, and use it more for the light than the radar. It's a good light, and has three modes. In the rare cases when I ride alone the radar is nice as it does give a heads up on vehicles coming up behind you. Same if you have rolled off the front and are on the back. As far as detection distance, the Garmin offers plenty.

I rather my varia than a dangling mirror. With the varia I don't have to constantly keep watch for cars approaching from behind. I live in a area with very few cars once I get out of town, the varia gives me a heads up so I can position myself in the lane.

The Bontrager unit I'm sure will be fine. Big and chunky looking though. As for battery life my varia battery level is displayed on my Garmin screen with the network light control.

It seems to do its job, and Trek has a history of making excellent lights.
It might seem unnecessary from a consumer perspective, but there is a point to this existing outside of Trek simply trying to acquire a piece of the pie: Garmin margins are small if one is a Garmin direct dealer, and even smaller if one purchases their Garmin inventory through a distributor. If Trek can provide their dealers with a similar device and let them make more than 35% margins, then it serves a purpose.

I might be mistaken, I seem to recall Giant sending me an email sometime in the last couple of years saying that they were coming out with something like this, too; but nothing ever materialized.

You make a good point. That said, the shorter, from top to bottom, Trek unit may work better for those who don't show a lot of seatpost and use a seat bag. I have half a dozen lugged steel vintage bikes and to get the Varia up where it needs to be, so it "sees cars, the seat bag hides the tailight. In that case I use a small blinky on the seat tube that shines thru the seat stays.