Gamin Varia Review

[metalheart]

Originally Posted by nmrt

Would I still need to purchase one if on my ride of 3 hours a total of about 10-15 cars pass me?

Most of my rides these days I can ride 30 miles and get overtaken by 2-3 cars. I never go out without the Varia and a mirror. The Varia keeps me aware when I might be complacent because of the lack of traffic and the mirror lets me know what is behind me without taking my eyes off the road. When I get a visual/auditory alert from my Wahoo roam then I check my mirror to see what is behind me and what that means for the road conditions and what I might need to do. Both tools promote situational awareness while I'm riding.

[tellyho]

Yep, seems to depend on where you live. By me, the answer to "is there a car behind me" is "yes".

[shadco]

Originally Posted by 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.

Which version?
.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Originally Posted by david

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.

Well, the Varia is commonly griped about by following riders for being too bright so I'm not so sure.

Originally Posted by nmrt

Would I still need to purchase one if on my ride of 3 hours a total of about 10-15 cars pass me?

It only takes one. My feelings after my first ride with a Varia were the same as the OP's. I'll bet that's about the same feeling for 90% of users after the first ride.

[deluz]

Originally Posted by eddief

you can use a mirror:

https://takealookactive.com/

I have been using one of these for years and it really works well and makes riding safer. Of course I am not looking at it 100% of the time so maybe the Varia would be a good addition

[david]

Originally Posted by shadco

Which version?
.

Varia RTL515. Doesn't have the camera. I'd like that feature, which comes with the RCT715, but the reviews aren't great. Very difficult to access video files.

[david]

Originally Posted by eddief

you can use a mirror:

https://takealookactive.com/

You can. And maybe should for even more awareness.
But I think rear radar brings to your attention approaching vehicles before a mirror might. And, importantly, it let's you know that a vehicle is approaching without requiring you to take your eyes off of the road ahead.

When I drive a car, I VERY frequently glance in my mirrors to watch my rear and sides. But there's always a potential cost to that, which is a momentary loss of awareness of what's happening directly in front of me. It only takes a split second for something to go wrong up the road, and that split second could be the difference between being able to react in time - or not.

Also, even though I'm a frequent user of my rear view mirror in my car, I've still had some very scary moments when some idiot comes up behind me so fast that they actually were able to sneak up on me between rearward glance intervals.

[nmrt]

Honest question: Do you feel that you are almost constantly looking at the Garmin to see if cars are behind and the sense of isolation and peace many desire from a bike ride has decreased?

Originally Posted by ColonelJLloyd

Well, the Varia is commonly griped about by following riders for being too bright so I'm not so sure.



It only takes one. My feelings after my first ride with a Varia were the same as the OP's. I'll bet that's about the same feeling for 90% of users after the first ride.

[deluz]

Originally Posted by david

You can. And maybe should for even more awareness.
But I think rear radar brings to your attention approaching vehicles before a mirror might. And, importantly, it let's you know that a vehicle is approaching without requiring you to take your eyes off of the road ahead.

When I drive a car, I VERY frequently glance in my mirrors to watch my rear and sides. But there's always a potential cost to that, which is a momentary loss of awareness of what's happening directly in front of me. It only takes a split second for something to go wrong up the road, and that split second could be the difference between being able to react in time - or not.

Also, even though I'm a frequent user of my rear view mirror in my car, I've still had some very scary moments when some idiot comes up behind me so fast that they actually were able to sneak up on me between rearward glance intervals.

I have never really experienced this with this particular mirror.
I have used bar end mirrors and those definitely can take your eyes off the road and the field of vision is much worse.
I do think having both a mirror and Varia makes sense.

[Jdm]

Originally Posted by nmrt

Honest question: Do you feel that you are almost constantly looking at the Garmin to see if cars are behind and the sense of isolation and peace many desire from a bike ride has decreased?

My garmin beeps when a car is detected. The best benefit for me is not constantly looking at mirrors, the computer, or anything else to check for cars. When I hear a beep, I know something is detected so I look at my radar to see how far away it is.

I used to rely a lot on hearing cars, but that's not as reliable anymore with the number of EVs in my area that make no sound.

[david]

Originally Posted by ColonelJLloyd

Well, the Varia is commonly griped about by following riders for being too bright so I'm not so sure.

Yeah, it's not dim at all. It's just not penetratingly bright.

There's a thin line between getting a driver's attention and pissing them off with a light that's too bright. One thing I believe I've noticed with super bright rear lights is that driver's tend to give me more space because, and this is purely conjecture on my part, they want to get out of the direct field of the most potent and focussed lumen beam. Can't verify that, but it feels like it.

The Varia supposedly has a feature that enables it to detect a rider behind you and then dim the lumens. I don't know how well that works, or if it works at all.


Regarding your thought that, "It only takes one. My feelings after my first ride with a Varia were the same as the OP's. I'll bet that's about the same feeling for 90% of users after the first ride."

I agree with this. I'm not sure the Varia would be enjoyable in busy traffic, and the constant beeps would probably dull my receptivity. But I do think that it might be even more useful when you're on lightly travelled roads where you least expect to be overtaken. It would likely snap you out of the complacency that can be a byproduct of peaceful roads.

[Turkle]

Originally Posted by nmrt

Would I still need to purchase one if on my ride of 3 hours a total of about 10-15 cars pass me?

I actually like it much better on the country roads I often ride in where cars are few and far between. Which means the cars are driving fast and not looking for cyclists. The Varia alerts me to their presence long before I could ever hear them, so I can wave and get their attention and let them know if there is oncoming traffic so it's not safe to pass.

For me the value of the Varia is the highest on the lower trafficked roads where long advance notice is a huge help.

[david]

Originally Posted by nmrt

Honest question: Do you feel that you are almost constantly looking at the Garmin to see if cars are behind and the sense of isolation and peace many desire from a bike ride has decreased?

And a good question. I haven't found that to be the case. You don't need to look at the Garmin at all - until it beeps. Then you can look at it to see what's coming. And, as I mentioned before, you can then determine if you want to look over your shoulder, and the ideal time to do so, for additional information.

So it's not perpetually intrusive at all. Only when it's doing it's job. On busy roads, it might get annoying, but I'm typically on high alert anyway when the roads are busy enough for the Garmin to get annoying. I'm not sure super busy roads are the sweet spot for a device like this.

In the short time that I've used it, I haven't found that it detracts from the peaceful experience we seek. And I don't expect it will. On the contrary, I think it has the potential to increase the peacefulness of the experience. It's the cars and the close passes that screw with my peace of mind more than anything. Allowing me to mitigate the effect they have only adds to the peace.

[david]

Originally Posted by deluz

I do think having both a mirror and Varia makes sense.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

[eddief]

the view you see in the mirror...is the car, or motorcycle, or 18 wheeler, or dump truck. how fast, how close, oh my. with the takealook mirror you don't have to take your eyes off the road but simply a mini movement of the eye.

of course i think you should use whatever safety methods that make sense to you. the varia was the shortest-lived gizmo in my ongoing need to try new stuff.