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Varia Volume

Old 05-05-21, 04:52 PM
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Varia Volume

I'm going to do some research but in the meantime, I'll ask the BF brain trust. I recently bought a Varia RTL515 and can't hear the warnings. I am hearing challenged and do wear hearing aids but still can't hear the prompts. Like I said, I'll continue my research but haven't found a way to increase the volume. I've tried the Varia app and hoped the prompts would play through my hearing aids like some sounds do but the Varia tones did not. That would be the best solution.

Any ideas? It's funny because everyone around me hears the thing.
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Old 05-05-21, 05:06 PM
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My wife has the varia because she is hearing impaired. She can't ride with her hearing aids because the wind noise is painful and she *REALLY* doesn't like being surprised by passing traffic.

The varia gives her lots of warning so the 1st clue isn't a hood/fender/bumper right beside her.

Hers is the combo with its own head unit as she doesn't ride with a cycling computer like I do. (The benefit for me is the varia will pair to her head unit and my Wahoo Roam at the same time so we both get alerts from her varia!)

She goes by the lights on the head unit as she can't hear the unit.

Might not directly help your with your sound question but you are not alone for sure. She can't hear the alerts but the varia allows her to ride on the road where she would have little/no confidence without it.
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Old 05-05-21, 05:48 PM
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On my Edge 500 the surroundings had to be real quiet for me to hear the beeps it made for various things. I always assumed the sound it made must be at the same frequencies I have some hearing loss in. My Edge 530 I can here somewhat more reliably.

My son's Edge 1030 I can hear perfectly fine. And that is even when it's on his bike and I'm on my bike several feet away. He does use Varia and those are the beeps I notice the most from his device. I've connected his Varia to my Edge 530 sometimes and his 1030 still emits a more audible to me beep.

It does pretty much suck that Garmin doesn't let us choose the sound it emits. If nothing else, they need to include more frequencies in the beep they do produce. I have a similar problem with kitchen timers for cooking.

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Old 05-05-21, 06:22 PM
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I bought the Varia because of vision loss in my left eye (WMD) and can no longer use a mirror. Seeing the moving dot on my 1030 is fine but being able to hear would be great, too.

I’ve honestly never heard the sound though people around me do. I had to watch a YouTube video to hear what it sounds like.
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Old 05-05-21, 06:32 PM
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I really wish they would make the sound level on the Edge units a setting you can change. When I looked it up, there are many complaints. Apparently it was too loud at one time so they "fixed" that by making it too quiet.
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Old 05-06-21, 12:30 PM
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I now have my Varia sending tones to my hearing aids via the Varia app on my iphone. For some reason, I didnt have system sounds playing through my hearing aids. After turning that on, I get the warnings from the Varia. Of course, now I have to wear my hearing aids when I ride which is something I usually don't do but will for awhile to try it out.
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Old 05-06-21, 01:52 PM
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Well, that was a bust. I got warnings for about 4 - 5 cars and then it quit giving me sounds through my hearing aids. I even stopped twice to check all of the settings and everything was set correctly. Meanwhile, I was still getting system sounds so the phone and hearing aid connection was good but the Varia quit sending warnings through.

It’s obviously not a stable system like a lot of Garmin stuff.
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Old 05-06-21, 02:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Trsnrtr
Well, that was a bust. I got warnings for about 4 - 5 cars and then it quit giving me sounds through my hearing aids. I even stopped twice to check all of the settings and everything was set correctly. Meanwhile, I was still getting system sounds so the phone and hearing aid connection was good but the Varia quit sending warnings through.

It’s obviously not a stable system like a lot of Garmin stuff.
I would conjecture that the problem is the bluetooth connection between your phone and the Varia and not the Varia itself. Depending on the phone, the bluetooth connections can be notoriously finicky.

I've had a Varia for a couple of years and I haven't had any reliability issues. This may not help you but I have it paired with a Wahoo computer which is plenty loud--but of course I haven't compared it to the volume level of a Garmin head unit and I also don't have any way of knowing if it would be loud enough for your particular circumstance. However that's one possibility.
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Old 05-06-21, 05:31 PM
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I use the Ride with GPS app (full support for Varia) and it can be very loud. I also have a Fenix 6 watch, and it vibrates when the radar picks up a vehicle.
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Old 05-06-21, 06:20 PM
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Originally Posted by ksryder
I would conjecture that the problem is the bluetooth connection between your phone and the Varia and not the Varia itself. Depending on the phone, the bluetooth connections can be notoriously finicky.

I've had a Varia for a couple of years and I haven't had any reliability issues. This may not help you but I have it paired with a Wahoo computer which is plenty loud--but of course I haven't compared it to the volume level of a Garmin head unit and I also don't have any way of knowing if it would be loud enough for your particular circumstance. However that's one possibility.
I’ve had flaky BT connections before, too, especially when it involves my hearing aids. My 1030 was displaying properly and my Varia app was showing traffic but the tones quit playing through my hearing aids after just a short while.
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Old 05-06-21, 06:36 PM
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Have you tried adding a Bluetooth speaker?
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Old 05-06-21, 11:28 PM
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Can you use bone conduction headphones? They leave ear canals open.
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Old 05-07-21, 07:13 AM
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Originally Posted by wnylogo
Have you tried adding a Bluetooth speaker?
Originally Posted by 2_i
Can you use bone conduction headphones? They leave ear canals open.
I'd prefer to just get the sound from my 1030 instead of relying on BT with my phone. Another option is the Varia head unit which is $99 an works well but I hate to put one more thing on my bars.
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Old 05-10-21, 04:46 PM
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My Varia decided that it would play nice today and sent signals to my hearing aids like a champ. It worked great. I can only hope it continues working.
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Old 05-13-21, 12:42 AM
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Someone should make a cheap BT "headphone" that is just a vibrating buzzer than can go anywhere, and buzzes whenever there's anything other than silence...
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Old 05-18-21, 05:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Trsnrtr
Well, that was a bust. I got warnings for about 4 - 5 cars and then it quit giving me sounds through my hearing aids. I even stopped twice to check all of the settings and everything was set correctly. Meanwhile, I was still getting system sounds so the phone and hearing aid connection was good but the Varia quit sending warnings through.

It’s obviously not a stable system like a lot of Garmin stuff.
I do this all the time - hours on end - with my varia RTL315 and a single earbud in. I've tried it with AirPods, with a cheap (but waterproof) BT ear bud, AfterShokz bone conduction headsets and it all has worked without a problem. I suspect it's your phone or it's your hearing aids and they have an unreliable BT connection. Sometimes, if you delete the pairing to your phone and pair it again, the connection is better.

That said, maybe try a bone conduction headset. You may be able to hear that just fine and not need to use your hearing aids.

The other thing you could do is get an external speaker that clips to your jersey and pair that to your phone. You should be able to get a lot more volume out of that. Both of these have worked well for me:

waterproof speaker that attaches with a magnet. Pretty robust and tiny.
https://www.noxgear.com/39g

Dual speakers, probably louder than the 39G,
https://zuluaudio.com/product/wearab...ooth-speakers/

I tried both of these with my bike computer that does audio turn by turn directions when on a route. That bike computer (Hammerhead Karoo) also supports Varia and will play alerts through these speakers or a headset without needing the phone.

J.
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Old 05-18-21, 05:53 PM
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I’ve got the Varia playing reliably through my hearing aids. Working great the last week.
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Old 05-18-21, 06:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Trsnrtr
I’ve got the Varia playing reliably through my hearing aids. Working great the last week.
Good news.

There is something odd about that Garmin Varia app though. I run it on an iPhone and while it's running in the foreground, it blocks a lot of notifications from other apps. When I stop and the radar is shut off, all of a sudden tons of notifications come flooding through. It's strange, but I wonder if that wasn't related somehow.

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Old 05-19-21, 07:58 AM
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Originally Posted by JohnJ80
Good news.

There is something odd about that Garmin Varia app though. I run it on an iPhone and while it's running in the foreground, it blocks a lot of notifications from other apps. When I stop and the radar is shut off, all of a sudden tons of notifications come flooding through. It's strange, but I wonder if that wasn't related somehow.

J.
Idk about IOS but Android is annoying about shutting off apps when the screen is off and/or when those apps are no longer in the foreground. I assume it's a battery saving feature which 99% of the time I appreciate but when it's something that I need to keep running it's annoying. So my Wahoo app has an annoying tendency to just shut off in the middle of the ride and then my wife can't view me on the live-tracking link I sent her.
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Old 05-19-21, 08:01 AM
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Originally Posted by ksryder
Idk about IOS but Android is annoying about shutting off apps when the screen is off and/or when those apps are no longer in the foreground. I assume it's a battery saving feature which 99% of the time I appreciate but when it's something that I need to keep running it's annoying. So my Wahoo app has an annoying tendency to just shut off in the middle of the ride and then my wife can't view me on the live-tracking link I sent her.
Yeah, phones are optimized for low battery consumption not for cycling.
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Old 05-24-21, 10:52 PM
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Unfortunately the sound isn’t the loudest but I always keep an eye on it and I depend more when I look to my 530
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Old 05-31-21, 07:15 PM
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I use a Varia with a Wahoo Element Bolt and the sound is loud and quite annoying. I’m constantly wishing I could turn off the sound (perhaps I can, somewhere in the settings). It beeps at me all the time during my commute. Maybe you need to switch to a different GPS?
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Old 06-04-21, 06:32 AM
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I use the Varia with a Wahoo Bolt and I never hear the beep. I do rely on the lights but it would be more useful if the tone and or volume could be adjusted
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Old 06-04-21, 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Alligator
I use a Varia with a Wahoo Element Bolt and the sound is loud and quite annoying. I’m constantly wishing I could turn off the sound (perhaps I can, somewhere in the settings). It beeps at me all the time during my commute. Maybe you need to switch to a different GPS?
Originally Posted by metalheart44
I use the Varia with a Wahoo Bolt and I never hear the beep. I do rely on the lights but it would be more useful if the tone and or volume could be adjusted
Both of these are Wahoo problems and not with the Varia. Talk to Wahoo. The beep volume comes from the bike computer or, in the case of the standalone Varia case, from the Varia head unit.
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Old 06-04-21, 01:21 PM
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Originally Posted by JohnJ80
Both of these are Wahoo problems and not with the Varia. Talk to Wahoo. The beep volume comes from the bike computer or, in the case of the standalone Varia case, from the Varia head unit.
You sure it's a Wahoo problem? I've used my Varia with my Bolt and it's loud. It might be a setting you need to choose somewhere. I don't remember because the Bolt is not my primary computer.
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