Varia RTL515, Cycling Rearview Radar with Tail Light, Visual and Audible Alerts for Vehicles Up to 153 Yards Away - 010-02376-00

Simple set up w/ my garmin 840. Virtually no false alarms and allows plenty of time for the group to single up when vehicles are trying to pass. Particularly helpful in detecting approaching EVs since they are really hard to hear. I am still am a vulnerable rider on a highway but feel 100% safer knowing what is approaching from behind plus it flashes faster to alert the driver to pay attention. Highly recommend, money well spent.

I was hesitant to get this light/radar simply due to the price. I wish it was about half as much as it is. That being said, I got it on sale for 50% off so I’m very happy with my purchase now. This light is fantastic if you use a garmin bike computer. It syncs up in seconds and the battery lasts me quite awhile. I’ve taken it on 3 rides that were all over an hour without charging and it was still going. I typically charge after every other ride because I don’t want it to die while I’m out so I’m not sure how long it will really last, but it’s longer than I’ll ever need. The radar works fantastically, it catches cars and other cyclists and gives you an alarm warning, flashing red screen, and a readout of how close they are to you on your computer. It comes with mounting stuff that should fit most bikes, although my seatpost is a bit of an odd shape so I’m hoping to find something that’s a little more secure. There is zero risk of it falling off, but it does slide down on the post because the rubber pad is just a tad too small for my seatpost.

This thing is absolutely incredible. I can't see myself riding without it. So far it has been very accurate. Battery is pretty good. It connects to the app really easily and the app is compatible with my old Samsung S21. I really like how it gives extra warning when a car is coming up really fast. 100% worth the cost! Though it's amazing you still need to fully pay attention!!

I finally gave in and bought this item after reading so many great reviews -- so glad I did. This is the real deal for any cyclist who wants to be safe. In my attempt to be safer while riding, I'd added a bar mirror as craning my neck and relying on sound never felt safe, and while the mirror helped a little, it always seemed like it took a moment to register what I was looking at and how close an approaching car was. The Varia really solved a lot of that. I was concerned that it would not work well with my small monochrome Garmin Edge 130 bike computer, but it actually works really well, showing each car as a moving dot along a small line on the screen. This is very helpful when you're on a quiet road away from the city that has no bike line or shoulder. I always felt uneasy on those roads not knowing what was behind me and would ride close to the edge of the road. The Varia lets me ride on the smoothest part of the road until I get an alert beep that a car is behind me, and I can move over. This peace of mind is almost priceless. It's also nice that it was a built-in light as a flashing rear light is an absolute must, in my mind. This is a well-built, well-designed item, easy to charge, easy to mount -- although the rubber strap for the mount doesn't seem super secure, although honestly it has not been a problem, and there are plenty of third party mounts you can buy. Like so many others have said, the Varia is a absolute home run.

A rear-facing radar should be required for anyone who rides on the roads. I was skeptical at first-seemed like a lot of money for a rear light. I wont ride without it now. Works as advertised. There are a few things to understand about owning it and limitations too. 1. If you ride on a busy road with lots of traffic this may not be ideal. All it would do is go off and would be a total distraction. Also I think the rider would become insensitive to the alarm and ignore it. Best on less busy areas. Alarm for me comes from my Garmin computer and is loud enough my wife who rides in front of me can hear the computer alarm for an approaching car. You may think that you can hear an approaching car (tires are noisy) which is true. I can usually hear the car coming before the alarm goes off but if its windy my hearing the car is significantly diminished and the radar can detect several cars approaching. 2. Radar beam is wide and goes back far enough to move to the right if you need to make room. If you are riding on a bike path adjacent to a road, the alarm will detect cars approaching that are hundreds of feet away. 3. If a vehicle approaches and slows down to your speed the radar will track it for about 30 seconds and if the car hasn't passed and the distance remains the same the radar will ignore the car and give you an all clear. In my case it was a big agricultural combine and I knew it was back still behind me. 4. Purchase a different mount. The rubber band mount is less than ideal. I went with a 1/4 turn Garmin that solidly mounts on the seat post. Don't know why Garmin didn't include it with the radar. Rubber bands to attach a 200 dollar light seems really sketchy. 5. Battery life is good and adequate for a few long rides between charges. Also charges fast with the micro USB cable. Overall, highly recommended. Other than a helmet; the most important safety device I can think of for road bikers.

This is my second Varia Radar Tail Light. The first lasted about seven years of three-hour-a-day use before the battery grew weaker and weaker after each recharge. My only complaint is the lack of an attachment point for a safety lanyard. On my first Varia, I epoxied a small wooden block on the back with a hole to run a lanyard. With the new Varia, I also purchased a Takewell protective cover that has a lanyard. The mounting system Garmin uses with rubber bands is a little scary for an expensive device. I want a backup in case the rubber bands break, although I must say, I’ve not had the band fail in seven years. Functionally, the Varia is great! Plenty of light coming from the strobe, and the radar picks up cars before I can hear them. I stopped using a helmet mirror because the Varia offers better audible and visual alerts on my ELEMNT Bolt GPS handlebar display.

I love this. First ride with it today. What I like the most is the speed of an approaching vehicle is accurately gaged. It helps you figure out how aggressive the person behind you is driving. It definitely makes riding much safer. A cheap price to pay for how much safer it makes your ride.

Let me start off by saying, I've been biking since my 20's, now in my 50's. I'm what I consider a long distance, casual, organize touring biker. In other words I'm not a racer. I'm not sure how this device has escaped me for as long as it has. I used this radar for the first time on a 20 mile loop only due to the time of day. I must say I was very excited with the way the radar performed. For the first 5 to10 mins I still looked over my shoulder. Once I had a handle on where the car or cars were in relationship to what I saw on my phone. I felt pretty confident with using the radar. Sometimes when you have to rely on your hearing or looking over your shoulder some quieter vehicles manage to sneak up on you especially if the wind is blowing in the opposite direction that you are riding. You then have to make a split second decision on whether to avoid bad road pavement and possibly creating a close call situation or play it safe with the car and pray you and your bike survives hitting a pot hole, gravel, etc. I feel with the radar it allows you to focus more on the road ahead of you, instead of constantly looking over your shoulder. Which actually allows you to make a more informed decision on navigating the pavement, because you see ahead of time where the cars are in relationship to you. I'm very satisfied with that feature. I use the radar with the Varia app on my retired LG G7 phone. They both work well together. I'm very happy with the app. It's a very basic, lean, and clean app. It's not loaded with a bunch of unnecessary options. It does just what it is suppose to. I may be a little picky, but I just wish that I had the ability to turn off the light and continue to keep it linked to the app. I probably would not use it that way, but it would be nice as option if you need to stretch the battery life a little longer. Definitely not a game changer. Also the bracket is okay, not a big fan of the silicone like stretchy bands for attaching expensive devices on the back of my bike that could possibly brake loose and I may not know in time if the device fell off my bike. I also wish that garmin would make a bracket that allows the radar to be extended pass your saddle bag. I since have ordered a K- Edge Go Big Pro Saddle Rail Go Pro Camera Mount. I was also going to order a 3d garmin to Go Pro adapter to attach to the mount, but i decided to buy a For Garmin Varia Radar RTL510 tail light mount holder saddle bracket off Ebay. This bracket is much shorter, but I only bought it to remove the garmin attachment and attach that to K-Edge. The housing around the garmin attachment is made of medal, which I feel would be better than a plastic 3d adapter. Hopefully with the extra length that the K-Edge has it will be just long enough to clear my saddle bag. I will update when I acquire all of the above mentioned mounts. Oh by the way there are similar mounts on here on Amazon like the RTL510 that also include the garmin attachment, but it seems like they all ship from China. Which would be okay if your willing to wait 5 to 7 weeks.

After several uses, I kept asking myself... Why didn't I get this radar much earlier? Cynics saying a mirror would do the job that the Varia does isn't completely wrong Except Varia does much more than a mirror. Firstly the Audible beeps to warn me of approaching car more than 150meters back, without taking my eyes off the road. Trying spotting a car on a small bicycle mirror that far back while keeping 100% focus on road ahead. Secondly, mirror users are partly replying on sound. The unit picks up another cyclist riding overtaking at higher relative speed to avoid collision or wheel touch. I discovered that the unit can be mounted both ways, lights at top or bottom. Doesn't appear to impact radar signal. It does send out conservative and overly cautious signal when u r on a bike path with passing cars on main part of road. Overall a great defence tool to minimize probability of being hit from the rear. Great investment.

I wasn't convinced I needed this until I had it, now I consider it mandatory equipment for road riding. I do have a very slick bar end Italian Road Bike Mirror that I greatly appreciate and still do even with the Varia however having both is the perfect combination. The mirror is great but sometimes due to lighting, distance or just focused on the road ahead I would not notice an approaching car but with the Varia I can remain focused and only have to look at the mirror when alerted. So far it has been super reliable and alerts me with enough time to look in the mirror and asses if there is any danger. It has paired and functions perfectly with my Edge 530 and the auto features work great. I did pick up an aftermarket mount because the stock rubber band one kept rotating on my round seat post, battery life could be better but will get you through several hours but depends on how much traffic there is. Although I highly recommend this version if you can afford the newer model it has longer detection distance and battery life.

Un accesorio imprescindible para tu vida en el ciclismo. No dudes de adquirirlo. No olvides que necesitas un ciclocomputador

Muito bom,agora tenho segurança pra pedalar na estrada,o radar indica ate motos. Estou muito satisfeito.

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