Quick Varia question

[trener1]

Originally Posted by fourflys

question- can you put your good light down on the seatstay (car-side, of course)? I have done that in the past as, in my opinion, it's more light.. you could even have that one on steady and the Varia blinky..

I am not sure if they can fit on the seatstay

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by trener1

I am not sure if they can fit on the seatstay

fair enough.. the ones I've used in the past would work well enough with a rubber insert..

[trener1]

Good point, I have to try it and see, it might work.
Only thing is, on the seatstay wouldn't it be pointing towards the sky?

[callmeishmael]

One thing I've noticed is that when running the Varia and another rear light, the unusual pattern of lights have very noticeably caused drivers approaching from behind to slow more and give more space, I suspect because they don't immediately recognise what the weird flashing object ahead of them is...

[parallelfish]

I run the radar only unit. Radar on the seat-post and tail light mounted on the saddle rails. Works great.

[djg21]

Is there a problem with having more than one light? I fail to see it.

I used a Garmin seat post mount for the Varia R515, and had the Fly6CEattached to a mount that fit into the ICS slot on my Fizik saddle and a Fly 12CE on the front. That is until the Cycliq devices stopped working (garbage) and I didn’t want to deal with Cycliq ****ty tech support ever again.

I’m thinking about a Garmin Varia R715 this year, but was hopeful there would be a new generation. I also use the Varia UT800 front light. Unlike the Cycliq lights, the Garmin products actually work when set up as a light network with my Garmin Edge 1040, and they really work nicely when set to work as smart lights.

[Andy340]

Using 2 rear lights at night - one steady and one flashing - may be advantageous as flashing lights grab attention faster, but it's also much harder to estimate the distance and speed of a flashing light vs. a steady one

https://bikelightdatabase.com/faq/

[Baron Blubba]

$50 means different things to different people, but I think that extra $50 for the lit version is well worth it. It's visible from a loooooong way away and will go into hyper-flash mode when it detects cars from ~490 feet away.
You can also set it to group ride mode, where it will remain dimly lit until it detects a vehicle, at which point it'll start flashing.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by trener1

Good point, I have to try it and see, it might work.
Only thing is, on the seatstay wouldn't it be pointing towards the sky?

my light clicked into a mount that was able to swivel up and down.

[caneye]

Originally Posted by djg21

Is there a problem with having more than one light? I fail to see it.

I used a Garmin seat post mount for the Varia R515, and had the Fly6CEattached to a mount that fit into the ICS slot on my Fizik saddle and a Fly 12CE on the front. That is until the Cycliq devices stopped working (garbage) and I didn’t want to deal with Cycliq ****ty tech support ever again.

I’m thinking about a Garmin Varia R715 this year, but was hopeful there would be a new generation. I also use the Varia UT800 front light. Unlike the Cycliq lights, the Garmin products actually work when set up as a light network with my Garmin Edge 1040, and they really work nicely when set to work as smart lights.

side topic. I moved to the R715 from a Fly6CE.
(I had replaced the 6CE battery a few months back. It worked for a very short while then the battery life became erratic. Unsure if I got a dud battery or it's Cycliq-related. Couldn't be bothered to troubleshoot further)

No issues with the 715 apart from its bulk. During long rides, eg 200kms, I sometimes run it in Camera + Radar but no lights, because like the OP, I have already invested $$ in good rear lights.

Have to say the 715 images are not as good as the 6CE, but that's partly due to a lack of image stabiliser.

Interestingly, this week I accidentally found out the camera was switched off. Not sure how that happened cos that would defeat the purpose of the 715 in the first place. Perhaps when the 715 went into battery-saving mode at the end of a long ride, it auto-switched off the camera and never turned it on after that?