Gamin Varia Review

[david]

One 60-mile ride and my conclusion is: This is a must-have for safety. Not kidding.

I know this topic has been covered before, but my experience today made me feel I should bring it up again in the hopes it nudges more riders to buy one.

I didn’t think it was going to be that transformational. After all, I can usually hear when cars are coming up behind me and I often look over my shoulder in critical situations just to be sure. But this let's you know far ahead of time compared to just relying on your ears or a glance over the shoulder. Really gives you a heads up well in advance so you can plan accordingly.

Also, it tells you how many cars are coming up behind you and it allows you to see the progress of each vehicle. For example, you can see a car from about 100 meters away and you can see how it progresses. Sometimes, ithe vehicle turns and the alert goes away. Sometimes you can see that it’s slowed down and is waiting to pass you. And other times, you can see that it's just proceeding at the same pace and will soon overtake you. Remarkably informative.

There were so many times on just this one ride where I felt much more aware of what was going on and was able to adjust my speed and position on the road to put me in the safest possible situation. I found myself double-checking with an over the shoulder glance and I anticipate that I will never, nor should I, rely solely on the Varia. But the advance notice compared to using my ears and looking over the shoulder is huge.

I also noticed that I didn’t need to look over my shoulder as drastically, or for as long, or as many times as I would have if I didn’t have the additional info from the Varia. I think this would be huge on the long fast descents where the wind interferes with your ability to hear anything coming from behind.

In those situations, cars are often flying and their closing speed on a cyclist can make their presence known to the cyclist in very sudden and unsettling ways. Again, you might still look over your shoulder to confirm the presence of a car, but you’ll know ahead of time so you can plan the most opportune time to do that. This advance notice makes it unlikely you'll find yourself suddenly aware of a car barreling down on you, reducing those instances where you feel compelled to look over your shoulder regardless of the road situation in front of you.

My only small gripe is that the light isn’t quite as bright as some other lights, but the additional information makes it well worth that small compromise.

There are other brands that make rear radar devices, so feel free to investigate the options if you'd like.

I just can't overstate how much safer I felt on the road today.