The RTL515 is kind of old at this point as it was released in 2020. It's predecessor the was released in 2018. They released the RCT715 last year so it appears they're operating on a 2 year cycle. The RCT715 isn't really a direct successor of the RTL515 in my opinion as it incorporates a camera and is much more expensive. Reviews I read on the RCT715 didn't think the camera was as good as having a separate camera.

I would personally go ahead with the RTL515. I can't imagine if they refreshed it what additional functionality I would want that isn't within the RTL515 other than maybe better battery life and a USB-C charger. To get a camera you're spending was more money on a RCT715 and personally I think $400 is a little much. I won't ride without my RTL515 at this point.

I will say that a few of my teammates have the RTL515 and at least 4 of us have had to have a warranty replacement of our original device. Garmin was very responsive to replacing it when it malfunctioned as is typical for Garmin. Even with that experience I would have no qualms recommending it at $150. I've had no issues with the replacement unit since last summer when I received it.

I'm also happy to give you some advice as you helped me sort out my new TriRig front end last fall!

I have no idea if anything new is coming or not, but as I've recently sold a used 515 about 2 weeks ago, I have a bit of data to offer about what one is these is worth on ebay. The first auction ended with a winning bit of about $165 which was quite a surprise as I had it listed here on ST in the classifieds for $125 shipped. The winner of the first auction wound up not paying so I relisted it. The second auction had a winning bid of $168 + $10 for shipping. Retail price for a new one was $199. If you're going to get one anyway, $149 seems like a good deal to me.

Can you please (or others) talk about the feature that shows when a car is behind you? I've been riding for years without a red light (recently I put a simple red light from amazon).

When I want to make a pass, I always look back to make sure no car is behind me. Even with Varia, I wouldn't blindly pass somebody, because as I see, it has false positives bugs.
If I'm riding on the right side of the road, I don't really care if a car is behind me or not, because it'll (hopefully) just pass me without any issues.

So I'm concerned that these alerts (or red flashing on the bike computer) might be quite disturbing, as I usually ride on wide roads, and there're hundreds of car passing me per hour.
I've read the reviews, and most of the people find these alerts a game changer, and I don't understand why.

Yeah, I think that if you have a steady stream of traffic constantly passing, you're not the intended user. The radar will be constantly going off, and telling you what you already know, and are already prepared for.

For riders on quieter roads that want to be notified of an approaching car, it's an absolute gem of a device.

From what I can tell the Bryton Gardia R300L with the latest firmware is better as it has USB-C charging.

I second this. Absolutely, awesome when I quieter roads and worth every penny. Useless once I'm back to town.

Yes, you should always still look when moving. I find it useful in two situations.


The first is busier streets/highways. If you see cars coming behind you, it lets you know to not even bother looking behind you. So it saves a good amount of looking-over-the-shoulder. You can save your head-rotating for when the Varia says it's clear.


The other is for taking-the-lane, like on sparsely driven rural roads where you can ride the middle most of the the time. If you see a car coming behind you, you can move to the right opportunistically before the car gets close. Very useful for EVs and other quiet cars where you often don't know they're coming until they're right behind you.


Not necessarily a "game changer," but a nice convenience. At least for my riding practices in my area.

As someone who has been hit & didn't hear the car coming, I will not ride without a Varia. I have had all versions going way back to the original square one. As I use a wrist mounted GPS watch for collecting data, I just use the Varia only display on my handlebars (not a Garmin bike computer such as a 500, 800, 1000 etc)

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I just ordered one after my original one (first version) started to lose battery life after 30 minutes into my ride. Great timing. This one is a real life saver, saved my actual ass on at least 2 occasions.

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What's your CdA?

I've found the varia to be very useful on the quiet country roads I mostly train on. It allows me to take the lane and be as visible as possible and avoid the crap that lies on the side of the road. When it alerts me to a car coming behind I scoot over as far as I can. I feel like that's a sort of communication between me and the car behind me saying "I know you're there, Ive moved over as far as I can, pass when you are able" instead of the car assuming I'm oblivious to their presence, thus causing angst. It seems to have worked out so far.

The one time I did a ride in the evening from my house, meaning not on quiet country roads, the alert feature was useful, but only useful in that it let me know how many cars were behind me at certain points. I could see it being a stressor for some to be constantly getting alerts, but I'd rather know than not know what's behind me. Saves a lot of head turning that's for sure. And the light on the varia is extremely bright. Much brighter than some cheaper lights I have.

Yes, you always look before making a move. But here's where the Varia vastly improves situational awareness:

• I have not read about false-positive bugs, and mine (I've ridden with several versions) have never-to-rarely given a false positive.
• The Varia tells you when something is behind when you don't look.
• If you are preparing to make a move and it shows you a car, it saves a look - just wait until the car passes to look and make a move.
• Other riders see your flashing tail light and know there is a car behind without looking back.
• When you are riding two-abreast, the alert tells you to pull into single-file.
• There is nothing disturbing about the warnings; rather they are welcomed.
• The only minor glitch is that if a car is following and has matched speed, it will not show. But at the same time, if a car is driving your speed, you are at low risk of an incident.

You're right in that if you are riding on busy car roads where you are getting passed regularly, the Varia is useless - there are so many cars that you can assume they're there all the time, and that you should never swing into the car lane, ever.

But a lot (?most) cyclists prefer to ride on quiet roads, preferably early in the mornings, when there are few cars out, and the roads are mostly clear. The riding then is great, but you do worry about getting lulled into complacency and not paying enough attention when that occasional speeding car comes barreling down the road while the driver is also complacent as there are few cars/cyclists out there.

The Varia is a gem for these situations. You get the beep and the dot showing the car approaching, and you can make the extra effort to swing to the right if needed.

It's also super useful for passing other cyclists on roads where you have to swing into traffic; I use this all the time in Norcal where there are tons of Saturday cyclists out, most of whom huge the left lane on the shoulder so you HAVE to go into the car lane to pass. I trust the Varia enough that if it's been showing clear the whole time, I'll just go by listening for cars.

Also great on curvy descents where it's much safer to take the lane, but there's so much wind noise you can't hear rear-approaching speeding cars, especially when it's so curvy that it's super dicey to look back regularly. If my varia shows clear, I'm taking the whole lane on those.

In city traffic, the Varia is more annoying than useful. Lots of beeping and dots on your display that you know are there already. It would for example suck for a commuter who rides on such roads for most of their route.

Thanks everyone for the detailed responses! Really helpful.

realbdeal, sorry for hijacking the thread, I hope you'll get some more answers to the original question.

No this has been great! Sounds like the overwhelming answer is it's worth it at $149 and based on the responses to your question, it fits my type of riding well. Thanks everyone for chiming in.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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It probably user error, but my Varia RTL515 drops connection with my 530 head unit every now & again. I've got to sort this out because, like stated below, it's a game changer on quite road when it works properly. I actually thought it was kinda gimmicky and then I rode with one. I was SOLD on it the first day. Now I don't want to ride without it.

I turned off the audible alerts because I'm in an urban area. But it's still very helpful in certain situations - like when you're in the bike lane with a line of cars next to you, and you're waiting for an opening to move into a left turn lane. You just wait till it clears, then check over your shoulder, instead of repeatedly doing visual checks.

Also, the dots it displays show green / orange / red for the relative closing speed of the cars.

I would recommend getting one. I don't ride outside without it. I don't have audio alerts set up, but I look down every time I need to move over and check periodically. I've never had a false negative (car with no alert) or a false positive (car alert with no car). It does struggle around corners/curves in the road as cars "disappear" around the bend.

I have no idea if something better is coming, but you can always be waiting for the next best thing to be coming. My guess is that there is something new in the works as companies often do this prior to a new release- cut the price on a previous model to get inventory off the shelf.

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if there is a constant stream of cars then it doesn't keep beeping - it only beeps when it changes from clear to car approaching. you still get a line of dots on your head unit so you can see whats happening but not constant beeping to annoy you. well, thats with my edge 530 - its the head unit that determines notifications, the varia itself just tells the head unit what it sees, there are a few settings you can tweak too. its pretty well done really. the 515 added nothing of significance to the 510, even if there is a new version coming its hard to see what could really shift the bar, though brighter lights and longer battery life is always possible.

i get occaisional signal drop outs but all my sensors do that. i logged a call with garmin about this and they were disinterested in doing anything about it.
occaisional false positives and negatives so you don't want to put your life in its hands but its rare that it doesn't warn you before a car passes.

I think the update (if any) to the non-camera varia will be pretty incremental. The camera in the camera version can *definitely* stand some improvements, so if you were looking at that I would say to wait, but the 515 is solid as-is.

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If you do any rural riding get one. It has been a game changer for me.

I feel much more safe and in control on the road with it.

I often ride in areas where the right hand side of the road is in really bad shape, so I like to move to the middle of the road when there is no one coming up. I used to look behind every 30 seconds or so, but no more need to do that with the Varia. I just move over to the right when it beeps. I don't need to, but I'm considerate and my utmost goal is not to get hit (shit happens...)

I also installed the My Bike Radar Traffic app and display the absolute speed of the incoming car on my Edge. If I see someone is coming up o me way past the speed limit and not slowing down, I will hug that white line. Alternatively if I see someone slow down and wait for incoming cars to go by before they make a pass I will wave to them as a thank you.

I disagree “slightly.”

I have the audible alerts turned off so it’s not bothering me but I use it as confirmation “IF” I should look over my shoulder to attempt a pass.

I suspect this is in response to the competition the Varia now has - Magene, Bryton, and IGPSport all have radars on the market. Cycplus were also showing a prototype at Eurobike.

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I was a total sceptic. I felt the Varia was pointless as how would I change my behaviour? I’m still going to look back before venturing deeper into the lane; I’m not going to jump into a ditch at the side of the road when a car comes along, so what’s the point?

Then I got one out of curiosity. I don’t have intrusive alarms, just the dots coming up the screen. I love it and wouldn’t go back. A bit like Di2; you dont “need” it, but I enjoy riding more having it, than not having it.

My husband was using the Varia when he was hit from behind at 70mph on a rural 4-lane road in broad daylight while wearing bright colors.

We still credit it with saving his life: it alerted him to the oncoming cars (the lead driver who hit him admitted to being on his phone), so he got out of aero and moved as far right as possible. In a traumatic car-on-bike incident like that, even a one-degree difference in your position/how you’re hit can be monumental. At the very least, we knew that he’d done everything “right” so there were no regrets — and that peace of mind is honestly priceless.

Anyway, that said… I think you’re in the Springs, right OP? The cycling around here (Fountain, for example) is exactly the kind of riding the Varia was made for. 100% recommend.