Bah Humbug

Kansas is a non-starter.

Polaris OBark

But you can offer unsolicited advice from anywhere.

One of the big design constraints that hasn't received much attention is the battery life. If the camera is more important to you than the radar and tail light functions, then the compromises that are made with the camera in the name of battery life are probably a deal-breaker.

From my point of view, a 5 hour max battery life is unacceptably low. For an action cam, I guess that would be on the high side. For a radar and tail light, it is worse than the half-dead battery I have on the unit I bought in 2016.

LarrySellerz

Really don't get the big idea behind the varia. Do people like not listen for traffic coming? How much sooner does the radar detect the car than your ear, and how often is a car clueless enough to suddenly swerve right into the shoulder and take you out from behind? I'm a fan of the varia because ive met people who feel safer from it and might otherwise ride less than they do, but I fail to see how it improves safety in any real way. car back? so what? You gonna swerve off the road onto the dirt to avoid a crazy car that this radar detects before your ear? It really doesn't make sense to me.

Sy Reene

Ever make left turns? Ever wanted to ride in the road instead of on the debris-strewn shoulder?

Troul 

out of the box, it's a tiktok clip maker.

I'd rather it have a long duration per recording than short. Almost all PC's come with free software that have the ability to easily "clip" parts of a video & to enable saving the clip as a separate file.. I haven't had much luck finding a way to easily piece together a bunch of short clips for free.

Polaris OBark

iMovie

tomato coupe

Shocking.

WhyFi

I'm a daily user of an on-bike video camera (and radar) and have tens of thousands of miles of experience - I'm confident that my criticisms have merit and the fact that I see them echoed elsewhere reinforces that. If you feel otherwise, that says more about your lack of experience and/or insight than anything else.

Their radar units have been on the market for quite some time and you just passed on buying the 715 - do I really need to point out that the lack of an apples-to-apples, all-in-one competitor doesn't free them from the burden of making a compelling product for a given price?

That's the plan. Does that obligate me to refrain from expressing disappointment and voicing what I feel are the shortcomings that might have otherwise kept me from purchasing?

Look, I understand why some may feel that this is a great product that does all that they need it to do and I'm not going to tell them that they're wrong in their assessment for their use case. If their interests in a rear-facing camera are for only documenting traffic, they don't ride in challenging lighting, don't expect to capture plates from automobiles passing with big speed deltas, well - giddyup.

At the same time, if someone has specific concerns that aren't my own, that's cool, too. I understand that people ride bikes for very different reasons, in very different manners and in very different conditions. I don't need to disparage them simply because I don't understand where they're coming from. If you don't like my opinion, there's a very simple solution - ignore it.

WhyFi

We'll add it to the list.

WhyFi

You could try CycliqPlus for desktop - free download and the files (mp4, avi, mov) don't need to have originated from a Cycliq device. Just remember to deselect the obnoxious Cycliq bumpers

Troul 

thanks.
Does that program require being online after it is downloaded? Hate when a program needs an active line or cannot be downloaded on to a thumb drive to be transferred over to an offline PC.

WhyFi

Not that I'm aware of (other than for the Strava overlay functionality), but I haven't tried it.

Edit: I just unplugged my ethernet cable and tried - it worked.

PeteHski

I agree, 5 hour battery life would be a deal-breaker for me too. I wonder if that's with continuous camera recording? It's not clear on the spec page - just says recording at 1080p.

LarrySellerz

I guess I just fail to see how a device that tells you when there is a car behind you could come in handy. I ride in the roads all the time, im a courier by trade

Polaris OBark

It is more useful in rural, lower-traffic settings. I find it helps to remove the surprise element, and also alerts me under conditions in which I might not hear a car (going downhill fast, wind, etc). There are numerous threads here that address that subject. This one is specific to the new model with the camera in it.

PeteHski

The radar detects vehicles well before you can hear them. It also tells you how many vehicles are approaching and their relative distance behind you. It also shows you how fast they are approaching, with additional audible and visual warnings if they are approaching you very fast - that's when I take a glance behind to see if I really do need to consider swerving out of the way. It's maybe less useful in a busy urban environment where cars are continuously passing you anyway. But in a more rural setting or on less busy roads it is extremely useful. It's one of those devices that you didn't realise you needed. But it's now right up there on my must-have list for road biking.

WhyFi

DCR has more comprehensive battery life estimates - it says to assume continuous 1080p recording unless otherwise specified. With the camera disabled, they specify 10hrs for daylight flash mode.

One thing that I'd like to see, for both lighted units, is an option to have the light only turn on with radar activation. That could help a lot in rural settings.

Polaris OBark

The battery life is a bit worse than I remembered:


Here’s the table of battery to light configurations. All of these assume the radar/camera is on at 1080p:
Garmin Varia RCT715 Battery Durations (Official Specs):
Up to 4 hr. in camera mode
Up to 6 hr. in solid mode (camera disabled)
Up to 5 hr. in peloton mode
Up to 4 hr. in night flash mode
Up to 6 hr. in day flash mode
Up to 10 hr. in day flash mode (camera disabled)
Up to 6 mo. in standby mode

znomit

And half that in two years time in the winter.

Troul 

The insta-lensefog feature automatically goes live then too!

Polaris OBark

Yeah, that is a good point. There is always a layer of dirt on my current Garmin radar. A camera lens is only as good as its clarity.

Seattle Forrest

The 1030+ is 25% off at Garmin and everywhere else because the 1040 is about to come out. To clear out the shelves.

The RTL515 is 25% off because the 715 is here. They don't have a new one without a camera. When those sell out it'll be $400 for a radar whether you want the camera or not?

Seattle Forrest

They have some in other places, but not many offices. Bend Oregon was one that caught my eye, great road and mountain riding, skiing, and hiking. No jobs remotely close to what I do.

PeteHski

The mode I'm specifically interested in is Day flash + radar activated recording only. I couldn't find a battery life for that specific combo (I could have missed it in the lengthy sprawling review). Obviously I can assume it is less than 10 hours (camera disabled) and more than 6 hours. I need a minimum of 8 hours and ideally 10. If the 6 hours quoted in the spec is with constant recording, then with radar only activation (in a rural setting with not that many cars around) it might just scrape by for me.

In reality 6 hours is enough for 95% of my riding, but not enough for most of my event rides. I guess I could live without the camera part if necessary for those, but not ideal. I don't think I'm quite ready to upgrade from my Varia 515 at this point.

Gyro

Try lightworks. https://lwks.com/