Varia Radar Light Synch
 

I have an Edge 830 and the Varia radar with a tail light. The Edge sees the radar quickly when both are turned on, but the light is problematic. The Edge doesn’t see it for the longest time. I fiddle with the sensor function and it sees the radar but there is no light connection. I fiddle some more and eventually the light widget shows up. Once that happens all is good.

I can’t tell if I inadvertently did something to summon the light widget or whether it just takes much longer for the light to synch than the radar.

How do folks access their light widget with the Varia?

Mike

Make certain the light is in the solid bright mode. That seems to help with mine.

Mine connects as a radar and as a light at the same time. Using a Garmin Fenix.

I have a 1030 and found the widget “Bike Light Control” worked the best. I first used RadarLight. But the light stopped connecting. I manually set the light. Radar still worked. Anyway the Bike Light Control does a good job of controlling the light in the Varia and my Trek front light.

Thanks for the tips. I just packed all my gear up for a move and won't be able to access the Garmin gear for a bit. But I will check out the other widget.

Mike

My first instinct was to suggest the Varia won't connect to the RDU because it's already connected to the 830, but that isn't how it works. When I ride with my friend Mary we both connect to my Varia at the same time.

I should suggest returning it if you can because it does literally nothing your 830 doesn't do. It's just one more device for you to charge.

lights are the most problematic on ANT. they can disconnect or not connect randomly.

I tend to agree with that statement. When my son is over here with his bike and just parked with everything off, if he goes to show me something on his edge 1030 and even when he had a Edge 820, the lights on his bike would come on an do strange things.

He has the older Varia with lights and some Bontrager Flares that are Ant+

It hasn't seemed to be an issue when going out for a ride though.

I find if you keep them together when you charge them at the same time they become stable but if you take off without a light or such they get quirky .but it is mostly just the lights.

I would just add that if you have a Shimano DI2 setup that you have to ‘wake up” the DI2 by making a shift so the Garmin sees it as a sensor. It appears that the light network won’t initiate until ALL the registered sensors are connected (DI2 transmitter is a sensor)…

That’s my experience…

I am in new location. We are not all unpacked and won’t be for some time. We don’t have internet yet. But I do have access to bikes and some gear, including the Edge 830 and Varia. I have not downloaded the suggested widget yet, but I have been keeping and charging the Edge and Varia together. It seems to help. The Edge always picked up the radar quickly and now is seeing the taillight fairly quickly and the factory widget for the light seems to appear without any summoning incantation from me. I think it is finally working as designed through no particular efforts by me. The Edge is picking up sensors for speed, cadence, heart rate, and now lights. Pretty good fir such a little unit.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Mike

My
Garmin Varia RTL515 Rearview Radar Taillight

syncs great with my garmin 1030 plus. What's cool is everyone in my group also has access to it. If you are running a garmin or wahoo you also get the same warnings as me when a car comes up from behind.