Garmin Varia RTL515 Rearview Radar Taillight (page 4) - CycleBlaze

Bicycle Travel Forum

Garmin Varia RTL515 Rearview Radar Taillight (page 4)

John PescatoreTo Scott Anderson

I believe that won't be available until the next version!

Interesting related news: Cannondale announced new Synapse with "Smartsense" technology - front light, rear tail light, Varia radar all built in to the bike! There is a single power pack between where the seat tube and down tube meet - when not running lights, you can use that to charge other stuff!

Kind of a lock-in, looks like it would interfere with seat bag and other stuff, and the Synapse not necessarily a touring bike, but a new idea.

Pictures here.

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
Rachael AndersonTo Bill Stone

Sounds great!  Let me know when you find one.  It sure seems like drivers are a lot more aggressive since COVID.

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
Jacquie GaudetTo John Pescatore

Looks interesting but the design makes it impossible to use a saddlebag or handlebar bag so maybe there's an optional team car that follows you in case you need to access an extra layer or your roadside tools?  I don't have to worry, though, because they don't make a model small enough for me.

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
Rich FrasierTo Rachael Anderson

Hi Rachael - 

About drivers:  We’re back in the US and I’ve been riding a borrowed bike around Mission Bay in San Diego.  This is the first time I’ve been on a bike here for almost 7 years and it seems to me like drivers are far more courteous than before!   I’m using my Varia taillight so maybe it’s that.  But in general I’m almost embarrassed by how much room the drivers are giving me.  

I even have trouble at 4 way stops because the drivers always motion me through when I’m trying to obey traffic rules with a track stand stop.   

If it was better than this before COVID, it must have been a cycling paradise down here.  

FWIW, we’re seeing similar courtesy from drivers when walking.

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
Rich FrasierTo Rachael Anderson

Edit to remove double post

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
Kathleen JonesTo John Pescatore

Based on the discussion here I sprung for the Varia RTL515. Since I don’t have a seat post on the trike, mounting was going to be an issue. Thanks to John Pescatore’s suggestions about the 3D printed mounting options through Shapeways, I was able to find a couple of mounting options. The tab on the rear of my trunk bag is the best place to mount it, but that bag can get slumpy so I also got a mount to attach to the rear of the rack itself just in case.

Just came back from a little test ride on the busier streets in my town. Jeez that radar is da bomb. It woke me up at least once when I hadn’t seen a car behind me in my mirrors.

I don’t have a GPS so I paired the light with my phone through the RideWithGPS app. I also paired my Sena headset with the phone. So I ended up hearing the alarms both from the phone and through the headset. Soon after I started riding I stopped along a fairly busy road to chat with someone I hadn’t seen in a while. The alarm kept going off of course. It didn’t seem to bother my friend though, just me. I wasn’t smart enough yet to turn off the headset while we were talking. When I finally figured that out later, I had to turn the volume way up on my phone to hear it as well as I did through the headset. I’m pleased though that the alarm works through both the headset and phone.

I think this is going to give me a lot of peace of mind. Thanks for everyone’s discussion about the pros and cons.

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
Graham SmithTo Rachael Anderson

Rachael I haven’t used one myself but I met a long distance tourer last year who was using a mini radar gadget to detect incoming vehicles and he was very pleased with it. I don’t know the brand or the model but assume it’d be Garmin or something similar.

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
John PescatoreTo Kathleen Jones

Kathleen - glad you are getting value from the radar/taillight. It is pretty amazing how far back a car will be when it first alarms - long before I hear it and often before I noticed it in my bar end  mirror.

For my day riding, I do have mine mounted on the seat bag taillight loop. I've got a few strategies for keeping that vertical that seem to work. 

My touring now is using bikepacking bags and I haven't quite solved the issue of reliably/repeatably mounting it on the back of the big rollup seat pack.  I have a few ideas I'll be trying in the spring.

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
Rachael AndersonTo Graham Smith

thanks for the info but we won’t be getting any new devices for now since our Garmin radar is working great.

Reply    Link    Flag
2 years ago
Mark BinghamTo Rachael Anderson

I see Kathleen has used the Varia with a smartphone and, at least initially, liked it (KJ, is that still the case?). Has anyone else? Does it work with RideWithGPS or would I need another app instead? Do you see the same line on the right side, or would I need to get a Garmin to get full functionality?

Along the same lines, with the advent of google maps and RWGPS, what are the pros and cons of having a Garmin (or Wahoo) vs a smartphone, other than longer battery life? If you use a Garmin do you still need to run RWGPS to be able to upload maps from rides?

Reply    Link    Flag
10 months ago