Garmin radar now has a camera.
05-20-22, 10:20 AM
#26
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05-20-22, 03:43 PM
#27
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Mine arrived today. After unboxing, I put it on a charger while I installed the mount. I used the three zip ties, rather than the rubber band thing, and it's very secure! One thing that always bothered me about the 315 (and my 515 before that) was that the power button was on the top, and my saddle bag would hit it during rides and shut the radar off. The 715 has the power button on the side, so mounting it high up on the seat post, right against the bag, isn't an issue.
After about an hour on the charger (not fully charged, but enough, and I'm impatient!) I paired it with both my 1030+ and smartphone, after downloading the Varia app. It's much easier to set up the camera, alerts, and light network through the phone app. I have mine set up so the light is set to Individual (comes on only when computer is on) in Day mode (flashes very slowly at full bright when radar sees nothing, flashes rapidly when a vehicle is detected), camera is radar activated in 1080, video clips are 90 seconds long, and I get tone and visual alerts on the 1030. Once done, I put it back on the charger to allow it to fully charge. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be able to get out for a ride (doubtful, as company is staying the weekend) and then I'll be able to review the video.
After about an hour on the charger (not fully charged, but enough, and I'm impatient!) I paired it with both my 1030+ and smartphone, after downloading the Varia app. It's much easier to set up the camera, alerts, and light network through the phone app. I have mine set up so the light is set to Individual (comes on only when computer is on) in Day mode (flashes very slowly at full bright when radar sees nothing, flashes rapidly when a vehicle is detected), camera is radar activated in 1080, video clips are 90 seconds long, and I get tone and visual alerts on the 1030. Once done, I put it back on the charger to allow it to fully charge. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be able to get out for a ride (doubtful, as company is staying the weekend) and then I'll be able to review the video.
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05-20-22, 03:49 PM
#28
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Incidentally, not only does the 515 work while charging, so does the Bolt:
Varia RTL515 radar functions while charging.
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05-20-22, 05:29 PM
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Ray posted in the comments of his review that it does indeed work while plugged in (and hopefully charging).
Update: Yes, apparently it does. Previously there was talk it didn’t. But, I just went and tested it, and sure enough, it powers on and shows a green light while charging and connects to the Edge like any other time.
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05-21-22, 11:11 AM
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Its seems if you ignore the app and put it in continuous recording paired with the 1030+ would be good enough for me. Four hours of light, radar, and camera in something about 150g actually seems reasonable to me and is enough for 80-90% of my rides. Lack of a bigger image sensor for better night video and lack of optical image stabilization would be nice and can't be addressed with any firmware updates, but not a dealbeaker for me as an incident recording camera.
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05-27-22, 01:56 PM
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Check the thread in the Road Cycling forum. I uploaded some actual video from my 715. You can make up your own mind, but I think it works very well.
