In town I wouldn't use it. the beeping would drive me nuts for 4 hours.
In the country, where I ride and the frequency of cars passing, I just keep to the side of the road at all times. Car are slightly too frequent, or too intermittent to ever stray from the edge of the road.

I guess I could see some benefit in some situations but carrying the extra weight, at the extra cost, and having to recharge just about every ride, etc etc, I just can't see the point.
I just ride with really bright flashing red lights on my bike and my helmet, day and night, and that's a reasonable step to take to avoid getting hit. Radar? I don't think it increases my life expectancy.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

Hello PubliusValerius and All,

Good plan not to trust motorists .....

While it may appear that drivers intentionally buzz at times .... it may be that they are just distracted or impaired drivers.

The result may be the same to the cyclist but the motorist intent to buzz is probably lacking.

Consider:


http://www.theinjurylawyers.com/...ents/ltd-visibility/

Excerpts:

The DOT reports that motorists do not see motorcycles very well even though they are in the center of the travel lane ….or if motorists do see the motorcycle …. still crash into it. (Motorists are horseshit drivers.)

“Limited visibility, or poor rider conspicuity, is a major cause of motorcycle accidents and responsible for 38 percent of fatal motorcycle crashes in 2011, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

What is a Limited Visibility Accident?

The term “limited visibility accident” refers to any type of motorcycle accident in which motorcyclists are injured due the inability of drivers to recognize and yield to motorcyclists on the street, on the highway, or in dense traffic.

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/...ewPublication/809540

“approximately 29.7% of all crashes in the year 2000 were rear-end crashes. These crashes were responsible for 30% of all injuries and 29.7% of the property damage”

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812032.pdf

Police reported motor vehicle traffic crashes each year in US: 2012 … 5,615,000 …. That is 15,383 crashes each day and 4,568 motorist rear end crashes each day in the US ....

Considering that 4,568 motorists have a rear end crash each day ...... and have difficulty perceiving another motorist or motorcycle in front of them ...... it seems prudent for cyclists not to be an available target ..... if possible ... (even though the odds are not great that you will not be seen.)

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

tridork, i think you owe it to yourself to keep an open mind and give new things a try even though you may think it's not useful. And I am quite certain once you do with the Garmin radar, your mind will change; they are not solving a non-existing problem, they are providing MORE information to the rider and let you make a better decision.

While I totally understand your reservations, it's clear from your comments that you don't understand how the product works and how well it works. If you have a compatible head unit, I would suggest that you and others simply give it a try courtesy of Amazon for 30 days -- free shipping, free returns, free of hassle. That's how I separate the wheat from the chaff in sports technology, anyways. I always return products that suck. And this one doesn't.

Good suggestion but I can't be bothered.

Even 30 day trial means I gotta pay.
I'd need a head unit, which I don't have, and won't be buying.
Garmin isn't my favourite brand. (we have 3 garmins in our cars and they routinely pop off the windshield and set off the car alarm in the middle of the night. Note that the super cheap Sat Nav I got for the 4th car, and had to buy a window sucker from the $2 shop, hasn't popped of in the 1-1/2 years we've had it. If Garmin can't do better than a $2 shop window sucker, then I might have to send The Donald their way)
And not to mention all the "how do I get my Garmin XXX to work" threads here on ST.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

I currently ride a reasonably light KHS Flite 900 carbon bike, most days.
It has a small spares bag under the seat, an ass saver too. Up front I have 2 bottle cages and one bottle half full of water. On the bars I have a small wireless computer that only seems to register single digits (surely I can't be riding THAT slowly) I also have a bright headlight with remote battery pack. And I have an old GoPro for actually registering licence plates of bad drivers. I'm not sure I have room for any more kit.

And, I have a rule of not riding a bike that's heavier than I am, and I'm a fat bastard!

In spite of the list above, I endeavour to NOT join the consumer society.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

LOL, with all that stuff, and you decided not you join the consumer society?

I am not going to try to convince you, and you sounded like someone who's made up his mind about this thing not being useful. On the off chance you didn't know, this thing can also be in your pocket (if you don't care about its function as tail-light) so it won't take up all the space your non-consumer stuff have taken up.

"Like"

guess I shouldn't mention my 12 bikes in my dedicated bike shed then eh?

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

Assuming 6-7 seconds warning, here's how i assume my use of the product would work on a low traffic road.

Buzzzzz
1-2 time to comprehend the buzz and make sure nothing is immediately in front of me to swerve around
3-4-5 time to turn my head and look back at the vehicle coming from behind, and assessing whether the vehicle seems to be in the middle of the lane and paying attention, or if it has drifted and incoming to the edge of the shoulder. At that point i can either turn back around and maintain my riding, or keep watching and get ready to potentially hit the ditch.

maybe add a second if you are in the aero bars to get up to the hoods, still should be plenty of time to react

I have the garmin varia and have been using since mid summer, all i can say is how did i ride without it before. It does an amazing job letting you know when cars are behind you from 150meters away and you can view the car getting closer on the 520. To me its a huge safety tool to have, because when you are riding 20+ mph with wind noise you dont here the traffic coming from behind, know it can give you the heads up. I can be on country roads with no cars and then out of no where someone comes from behind at least I know they are coming vs not hearing and someone almost hitting me. To me if you ride on any road its a most to have it. To those that complain about the price, its just like a helmet it to help protect you if something would happen. I would much rather pay the $200 for it and know when a car is coming then get hit and never ride again or have some huge medical bills. Just my 2 cents but I love it.

RL

Glad to read so many people enjoying the Varia Radar. I just recently decided to buy one for myself now that less and less riders are wanting to ride outside due to the cold weather and also for the extra safety factors mentioned already. I grabbed one from RibbleCycles since they currently have it for 28% off (best price I could find). Figured I would share in case anyone else was on the fence about grabbing one.

I like this feature.

I wonder if turning on video recording could be integrated.

Granted I know Fly6 has a 5 hour battery life, but toggling between sleep and record may enable either a) Longer Run Times b) smaller units w. smaller batteries.

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I talk a lot - Give it a listen: http://www.fasttalklabs.com/category/fast-talk
I also give Training Advice via http://www.ForeverEndurance.com

The above poster has eschewed traditional employment and is currently undertaking the ill-conceived task of launching his own hardgoods company. Statements are not made on behalf of nor reflective of anything in any manner... unless they're good, then they count.
http://www.AGNCYINNOVATION.com

It's actually interesting to see the same trend here, that I saw in comments on my review.

All of which can be summed up as:

Those who have bought it, generally love it. They also generally understand where precisely it fits well.
Those who haven't tried/brought it, generally are opposed to it.

For me, while I've bought it, I rarely use it in the city since it's useless there. However, in the mountains, country roads, and such, it's quite useful for picking up the odd car on non-bike-lane roads that may try and overtake you at excessive speed.

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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com

There's also purchase bias. :)

I haven't bought/tried it. But I could see where I could like it in some cases. Before races I do at least one or two rides with full TT helmet, etc, just to make sure everything works. And I'm usually going fast, so I take the full lane a lot in 25/35MPH zones. And I can't hear a thing with the wind-noise of the TT helmet. So I get paranoid not knowing if cars are right behind me. I could see this thing helping in those situations.

Why does the neck function as a swivel? Why do we have peripheral vision?

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Wait, there's articles on this site?


One of my teammates has one and loves it. I am not as convinced for 99% of my riding. There have been a few rides where I am out on country roads with 20-30 minutes in between cars where I've taken the lane and I think it would be beneficial to know when a car is coming other than sound of the engine/tires alone. For most of my riding there is enough traffic that I am aware traffic is there frequently and I/we have intentionally picked roads that are safe.

Coupla things. "Varia" is a product LINE. It's what Garmin bundles it's various bike lights/safety devices/HUD under.

The Varia Vision is the HUD - http://www.slowtwitch.com/...ite_Part_1_6077.html

The Varia Radar is the light-with-rearview-radar - http://www.slowtwitch.com/...ite_Part_2_6100.html

(This is more for folks in general than you specifically, just because I saw some confusion in here)

As far as the radar, I'm not sure it is YET a super compelling product. I see the obvious use case - you ride a lot in places WITHOUT a lot of cars, so that it's useful to have a reminder when a car IS behind you. But that's of limited use and applies to a pretty specific situation.

This is clearly a first-generation product. The light needs to be better. MUCH better. The radar itself could be improved to help distinguish lateral position rather than just "car back" though of course this is highly complicated because of things like road curvature.

The HUD (Varia Vision) is fantastic. The Radar is certainly useful in some cases, but I don't consider it nearly the same sort of "must have." For reference, I have not ridden without the HUD since I got it. The Radar is off my bike for general use, but I can imagine quite a few routes I ride where I will put it back on, though only in concert with my Dinotte lights.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

The reason people like it is because as soon as they put it on the bike, regardless of use case scenario you can think of, it becomes clear that this device simply makes the rider more aware of his surroundings, and that's the first step in being safe. There is no perfect product here: sure more lumen would help, but this is a radar, not a light. For my own safety, I want more information, as much as I can get, I certainly wouldn't let perfection be the enemy of good enough.

Mixed opinions here. Having ridden it on some busy roads, it can be overwhelming. Sort of like advocating that Twitter is the best way to stay informed about the world. On some of the routes I ride, the "information" about cars was so constant that I basically just tuned it out.

This was much more of an issue when testing it while synced to the Edge, where it beeped every time. When paired with the RDU, on the other hand, you had to look down to engage. I thought the subtle vibrations of the Varia Vision were the best option, but even here, I think you can risk information overload.

I do not at all disagree that being more aware - which I think very often means what you do NOT do (no headphones, for example). But I think it would be nice to have some more options to fine tune the flow of information coming from this device.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Hello klehner and All,

Good points .... "situational awareness"

klehner wrote:

"It is, actually.

The Varia is situational awareness. It's not really needed, but it's nice. Why do we have rear view mirrors on cars? Why do we yell "car back" on group rides? It helps to know what's going on around you.

Why does the neck function as a swivel? Why do we have peripheral vision?"


I would like to see a bike helmet with the ReVu rear view mirror feature ..... all that is required is to just look up (inside the helmet) for a clear view of threats from behind ....... same as using the rear view mirror when driving a motorcar. It would be icing on the cake to also have a radar alert.



http://www.revzilla.com/...r-view-hi-viz-helmet

Motorcycle helmet $399 with built in rear view mirror out the back of the helmet ...

When the rear view mirror is implemented in a bicycle helmet ..... it will be useful in training and non WTC races.

For WTC races ...... a small piece of masking tape placed over the lens in the rear of the helmet would blind the cyclist's helmet and cripple the continual situational awareness to the rear ..... providing compliance with current WTC mirror rules.

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

Has anyone seen an option to buy just the rear light/radar part? For people intending on using it with their Garmin computer, the front radar viewer is unnecessary (and i'd love if it was a bit less expensive)

EDIT: never mind, they do sell it individually :)

To the first point...yes. It is way more useful for country/not congested riding. If you do a lot of that, it is hugely compelling. If not, then sure, it would be annoying in a busy city area. In that case, I just turn off the beeps. The little dots don't distract.

And the second (and third). Agreed. A supplementary tail light is a good idea. If you want it to look more sleek, put your bright tail light on the seat post and the varia in your pocket or the saddle bag. It will still work.
I don't understand your point regarding lateral position. It doesn't matter if a car is on your 6 or off-center due to a curvy road. It will eventually get close enough to come right by you. The radar doesn't pick up cars trying to T-bone you, so any dot on the screen will be coming from behind. Are you on the shoulder of multi-lane interstates that you'd like it to filter out those cars coming up from behind, but 3 lanes over?

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I got this because I was a little spendy for awhile and it seemed cool. I figured it would just be a novelty and I needed a tail light anyway. After a few helpful warnings, I am super glad to have it. My only complaint is that the light should be quite a bit brighter. Even still, I wholeheartedly recommend it. Cool product, works great.

I ride quite a few two lane roads with wide shoulders where people nevertheless sometimes squeeze me. So knowing if a car was closer to me (laterally) would be useful in this case. But I suspect that this is me just wanting something very specific to where I ride...

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

I've been using the Varia radar and 520 for the past year. Mostly riding rural Ontario roads, with minimum shoulders. There are a number of situations where I find it particularly useful:
1. When more than one vehicle is approaching from the rear, I can know the number of vehicles and their approximate spacing.
2. When avoiding pot holes or debris, it is helpful to know if there is an approaching vehicle.
3. On hills, where vehicles have poor visibility, I prefer to know if a vehicle is approaching from the rear. If no vehicle I'll give myself more room on the pavement, with a vehicle approaching I'll try to stay closer to the edge.
4. When vehicles are passing other vehicles or riders approaching me, it is good to know if a vehicle is behind as well.

The Varia has even identified groups of cyclists approaching from the rear, often quietly.

This is a big one that I had not thought about. With your permission, I'd actually like to include your whole list of "use cases" in the article as an addendum.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp