Rear facing camera or radar
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#27
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Can someone please explain how the Varia improves safety?
I usually ride on country roads and it isn't often that I don't hear a car approaching from behind.
I then move slightly closer to the kerb and ensure I hold a good straight line.
Isn't the main issue if the car does not pass safely and give you adequate room?
The Varia can't tell you if the car is going to give you 3' or 3" clearance or actually rear end you can it?
I usually ride on country roads and it isn't often that I don't hear a car approaching from behind.
I then move slightly closer to the kerb and ensure I hold a good straight line.
Isn't the main issue if the car does not pass safely and give you adequate room?
The Varia can't tell you if the car is going to give you 3' or 3" clearance or actually rear end you can it?
The Varia will also track multiple cars and give you a visual indication of their spacing and rate of approach. For sure your ears can't tell you that.
#28
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That’s interesting. What’s kind of range do you get with that?
#29
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For those of us (i.e. me) not familiar with the Varia, do you need to enable a separate screen on your Garmin to enable all this tracking?
And what model of Varia are you guys using?
And what model of Varia are you guys using?
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The 510 (top) is the current model. You will be notified of a car on any data screen, Garmin or Wahoo. Check out the DCR vids for a rundown.
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As @WhyFi mentioned, the top one is the current model (RTL510). Do watch DCR and GPLama tube video reviews. You’ll have a much better idea than what I’ve summarized.
#32
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For garmin, a kind of “WiFi” round bar looking thing stays on the top right corner of screen, which is persistent and stays there no matter what screen you’re on. When it detect traffic behind, the head unit beeps (multi tone or single tone configurable), left and right edge of the screen turns orange-to-red depending on the cars’ differential speed to you and a bar with dot(s) representing car(s) appear on the right side of the screen (configurable for which side of screen to show up). When car(s) pass the colored edges turn green and disappear.
As @WhyFi mentioned, the top one is the current model (RTL510). Do watch DCR and GPLama tube video reviews. You’ll have a much better idea than what I’ve summarized.
As @WhyFi mentioned, the top one is the current model (RTL510). Do watch DCR and GPLama tube video reviews. You’ll have a much better idea than what I’ve summarized.
Anybody else other than wahoo or Garmin users need the head end.
That said, if you ever anticipate using a non Garmin gps, but the version that has the head end display included because Garmin doesn’t sell it separately.
also, don’t bother with v1.0 (horizontal version), the taillight is all bit useless and the horizontal form factor can interfere with your thighs depending on how your bike is set up. V2.0 is by far the better unit.
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A couple asides with the Varia:
- Wahoo Element/Bolt/Roam are now compatible (though they don't do the ANT+ light control, so you have to turn it on manually)
- If you have Blue Cross/Blue Shield, there's a Garmin discount program - I hear that the Varia goes for ~$130 with this program; that's not that much more than a decent light.
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#38
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the vibration thing would be cool. I have to look into that.
I guess I meant to say that I don’t think it’s useless but that it can sort of be part of a task overload situation where there is a lot of stuff to keep track of all at once. But I agree it can be useful for finding voids in traffic.
I guess I meant to say that I don’t think it’s useless but that it can sort of be part of a task overload situation where there is a lot of stuff to keep track of all at once. But I agree it can be useful for finding voids in traffic.
A lot of people say the radar is "useless" in urban environments. You didn't say or imply that, and I'm not really disagreeing with you. Since this thread is about people looking for info, about safety, I wanted to say that it's actually useful in the city before somebody came along and convinced anyone otherwise. How useful depends on the court and the cyclist, but it's a lot more than zero in any case.
(I say that as someone who was hit from behind years ago, which lit a fire under my ass.)
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#41
I pedal in my sleep...
A couple asides with the Varia:
- Wahoo Element/Bolt/Roam are now compatible (though they don't do the ANT+ light control, so you have to turn it on manually)
- If you have Blue Cross/Blue Shield, there's a Garmin discount program - I hear that the Varia goes for ~$130 with this program; that's not that much more than a decent light.
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#42
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I'm having difficulty in appreciating what benefit a rider gets from a radar that tells you about an approaching car.
Do you really think you'd be able to "get out of the way" if a car was about to hit you from behind? While having advance notification of a collision might be interesting (for that brief moment while you're still upright), I can't imagine this being terribly useful once the collision has happened.
I can think of situations in a group ride where this would be super-handy to have, where you've got other bikes close behind and to the sides and back of you.
But as a collision-avoidance device, or pre-collision awareness, I don't understand the usefulness of that - especially if it's not recording anything. But I could be misunderstanding the purpose of the device. People here do seem to really love them.
Do you really think you'd be able to "get out of the way" if a car was about to hit you from behind? While having advance notification of a collision might be interesting (for that brief moment while you're still upright), I can't imagine this being terribly useful once the collision has happened.
I can think of situations in a group ride where this would be super-handy to have, where you've got other bikes close behind and to the sides and back of you.
But as a collision-avoidance device, or pre-collision awareness, I don't understand the usefulness of that - especially if it's not recording anything. But I could be misunderstanding the purpose of the device. People here do seem to really love them.
#43
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I'm having difficulty in appreciating what benefit a rider gets from a radar that tells you about an approaching car.
Do you really think you'd be able to "get out of the way" if a car was about to hit you from behind? While having advance notification of a collision might be interesting (for that brief moment while you're still upright), I can't imagine this being terribly useful once the collision has happened.
I can think of situations in a group ride where this would be super-handy to have, where you've got other bikes close behind and to the sides and back of you.
But as a collision-avoidance device, or pre-collision awareness, I don't understand the usefulness of that - especially if it's not recording anything. But I could be misunderstanding the purpose of the device. People here do seem to really love them.
Do you really think you'd be able to "get out of the way" if a car was about to hit you from behind? While having advance notification of a collision might be interesting (for that brief moment while you're still upright), I can't imagine this being terribly useful once the collision has happened.
I can think of situations in a group ride where this would be super-handy to have, where you've got other bikes close behind and to the sides and back of you.
But as a collision-avoidance device, or pre-collision awareness, I don't understand the usefulness of that - especially if it's not recording anything. But I could be misunderstanding the purpose of the device. People here do seem to really love them.
Over the my last few rides, I've made a point of noting when and why I move in to lanes of traffic. If you have broad, clean shoulders and you never have to venture in to a lane, maybe it wouldn't benefit you so much... but I often have crappy shoulders with debris and hazards here and there. If I'm regularly moving in to a lane, even if only briefly to avoid a pothole, I can see this being a benefit. If there's a longer stretch of ****ty shoulder, I think it would be a nice luxury to move in to the lane, in the smooth passenger-side wheel track, and just cruise there until the shoulder improves or I get a notification of a car back.
I'm sure that someone with practical experience will be happy to chime in with regard to my expectations.
#44
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Can someone please explain how the Varia improves safety?
I usually ride on country roads and it isn't often that I don't hear a car approaching from behind.
I then move slightly closer to the kerb and ensure I hold a good straight line.
Isn't the main issue if the car does not pass safely and give you adequate room?
The Varia can't tell you if the car is going to give you 3' or 3" clearance or actually rear end you can it?
I usually ride on country roads and it isn't often that I don't hear a car approaching from behind.
I then move slightly closer to the kerb and ensure I hold a good straight line.
Isn't the main issue if the car does not pass safely and give you adequate room?
The Varia can't tell you if the car is going to give you 3' or 3" clearance or actually rear end you can it?
In my riding situation, I find the Varia to be very helpful. I ride on a mix of roads, some empty rural roads and some busier roads like California’s PCH. The audible signal alerts me to incoming traffic. Then I look over my shoulder and can assess the risk factor.
The Varia’s light will start to quickly flash thus, hopefully, alerting the driver to my presence.
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#45
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I'm having difficulty in appreciating what benefit a rider gets from a radar that tells you about an approaching car.
Do you really think you'd be able to "get out of the way" if a car was about to hit you from behind? While having advance notification of a collision might be interesting (for that brief moment while you're still upright), I can't imagine this being terribly useful once the collision has happened.
I can think of situations in a group ride where this would be super-handy to have, where you've got other bikes close behind and to the sides and back of you.
But as a collision-avoidance device, or pre-collision awareness, I don't understand the usefulness of that - especially if it's not recording anything. But I could be misunderstanding the purpose of the device. People here do seem to really love them.
Do you really think you'd be able to "get out of the way" if a car was about to hit you from behind? While having advance notification of a collision might be interesting (for that brief moment while you're still upright), I can't imagine this being terribly useful once the collision has happened.
I can think of situations in a group ride where this would be super-handy to have, where you've got other bikes close behind and to the sides and back of you.
But as a collision-avoidance device, or pre-collision awareness, I don't understand the usefulness of that - especially if it's not recording anything. But I could be misunderstanding the purpose of the device. People here do seem to really love them.
#46
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When I go through the city, there's *always* a car behind you. Whenever I move lane position, first I look.
I don't see where this device - though technologically effective and certainly interesting - is doing the cyclist any favors.
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#47
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#48
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I read a lot of statements saying, "it's great"; but it's not clear how. OK, so there's a car coming behind you, wonderful. Now what? Is that it?
When I go through the city, there's *always* a car behind you. Whenever I move lane position, first I look.
I don't see where this device - though technologically effective and certainly interesting - is doing the cyclist any favors.
When I go through the city, there's *always* a car behind you. Whenever I move lane position, first I look.
I don't see where this device - though technologically effective and certainly interesting - is doing the cyclist any favors.
#49
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I don't have one of these units, but I've been pondering the purchase.
Over the my last few rides, I've made a point of noting when and why I move in to lanes of traffic. If you have broad, clean shoulders and you never have to venture in to a lane, maybe it wouldn't benefit you so much... but I often have crappy shoulders with debris and hazards here and there. If I'm regularly moving in to a lane, even if only briefly to avoid a pothole, I can see this being a benefit. If there's a longer stretch of ****ty shoulder, I think it would be a nice luxury to move in to the lane, in the smooth passenger-side wheel track, and just cruise there until the shoulder improves or I get a notification of a car back.
I'm sure that someone with practical experience will be happy to chime in with regard to my expectations.
Over the my last few rides, I've made a point of noting when and why I move in to lanes of traffic. If you have broad, clean shoulders and you never have to venture in to a lane, maybe it wouldn't benefit you so much... but I often have crappy shoulders with debris and hazards here and there. If I'm regularly moving in to a lane, even if only briefly to avoid a pothole, I can see this being a benefit. If there's a longer stretch of ****ty shoulder, I think it would be a nice luxury to move in to the lane, in the smooth passenger-side wheel track, and just cruise there until the shoulder improves or I get a notification of a car back.
I'm sure that someone with practical experience will be happy to chime in with regard to my expectations.
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#50
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I like this review FAQ:
Ah, I see the point now.
Will the Varia prevent a car from hitting me?
Simply put: No. But, it may prevent a car from hitting you if you’re the one that’s not paying attention.
Simply put: No. But, it may prevent a car from hitting you if you’re the one that’s not paying attention.