Varia rear light worth it?

[New Horizon]

Had mine 6 months or so - one of the best pieces of kit I've ever bought. As well as everything said above, another big bonus is to be able to know how many cars are closing in (max of 8 I think) - ok, you can hear a car coming up behind, but you don't know if and how many more are behind it. You can catch it out if a vehicle (or cyclist) is sitting behind you at the same speed you're moving - I have a short, very winding, section of road near me, cars can't pass, they have to follow behind me - quite often they drop off the screen as they drive at my speed, but soon reappear as their speed picks up.

 

[Scaleyback]

I am 75 in a couple of weeks. I ride regularly on the roads and am very conscious of my safety as I get older. Entirely natural I believe. I have owned a Varia for nigh on 3 years and I now consider this 'essential kit' I wouldn't be without it. I ride on rural roads mainly with relatively light traffic and the Varia is perfect for these conditions. I'm not sure how useful the Varia would be in busy traffic, in towns etc ? I imagine it would be 'chirping' away almost constantly. Also be aware the Varia is 'triggered' by speed differentials therefore if the traffic following you is traveling at the same speed as the cyclist, (quite possible in heavy traffic) it will disappear off the Varia.

 

[alex_cycles]

Had one for two years. Wouldn't be without it now. Very expensive, but very helpful. There are a few places I regularly ride that give a consistent false positive and as others have said, if a car approaches you then matches your speed it will 'disappear' from view until it speeds up again to pass you. But they're excellent for waking you up in the countryside when you haven't seen a car for 20 minutes and one comes up behind.

 

[HLaB]

Had one for two years. Wouldn't be without it now. Very expensive, but very helpful. There are a few places I regularly ride that give a consistent false positive and as others have said, if a car approaches you then matches your speed it will 'disappear' from view until it speeds up again to pass you. But they're excellent for waking you up in the countryside when you haven't seen a car for 20 minutes and one comes up behind.

When a driver does that (matches your speed and appears to disappear), I think it doesn't show the green light until they actually pass.

 

[Ridgeway]

When a driver does that (matches your speed and appears to disappear), I think it doesn't show the green light until they actually pass.

That seems to be correct from my experience.

As i often ride in places where i don't live and therefore don't know the roads, traffic and even the local car-bike culture then i find having the Varia very reassuring

 

[Mike_P]

Two improvements that could be done is for the light to have options other than a fixed red and the displayed info to have an option of having the actual number of approaching vehicles shown

 

[alex_cycles]

When a driver does that (matches your speed and appears to disappear), I think it doesn't show the green light until they actually pass.

I'm pretty sure that sometimes it beeps again when they speed up to pass you. Perhaps it's a function of how long they've been there "cloaked" or how fast they're accelerating? Not sure really.

Two improvements that could be done is for the light to have options other than a fixed red and the displayed info to have an option of having the actual number of approaching vehicles shown

Mine has at least four light modes OFF, ON, Daytime flash and Nighttime flash. Unless the light is OFF it flashes with increasing frequency as a car approaches you. As far as the number is concerned it's up to 8 dots which gives you a visual impression of how far back each car is. I think that's more useful than just a number, but maybe it would be nice to have the choice.

 

[Mike_P]

mine has at least four light modes OFF, ON, Daytime flash and Nighttime flash.

um... So it should (and IIRC did) need to investigate

 

[HLaB]

I'm pretty sure that sometimes it beeps again when they speed up to pass you. Perhaps it's a function of how long they've been there "cloaked" or how fast they're accelerating? Not sure really.



Mine has at least four light modes OFF, ON, Daytime flash and Nighttime flash. Unless the light is OFF it flashes with increasing frequency as a car approaches you. As far as the number is concerned it's up to 8 dots which gives you a visual impression of how far back each car is. I think that's more useful than just a number, but maybe it would be nice to have the choice.

Yip, it does beep again when they accelerate (two beeps IIRC and the closer they are the faster the acceleration maybe). But it doesn't go green until they've passed. If you have been monitoring it and an orange dot disappears it's either another cyclist or a driver that has matched your speed.

I prefer to use the swipe down menu on the edge so you know its flashing, solid or peleton mode. I particularly want to switch to the latter when riding in a group but by push button it's hard for me to tell what mode it is in

 

[HLaB]

um... So it should (and IIRC did) need to investigate

Do you have the German model? To comply with German law, it doesn't flash.

 

[alex_cycles]

Yip, it does beep again when they accelerate (two beeps IIRC and the closer they are the faster the acceleration maybe). But it doesn't go green until they've passed. If you have been monitoring it and an orange dot disappears it's either another cyclist or a driver that has matched your speed.

or turned off. A few times I've looked round and realised there's nothing there any more, when thinking there was still something behind.

I prefer to use the swipe down menu on the edge so you know its flashing, solid or peleton mode. I particularly want to switch to the latter when riding in a group but by push button it's hard for me to tell what mode it is in

My head unit's not a touchscreen model (don't like them, prefer buttons). My Varia is the slightly older version (bought Dec 2019) just before they introduced peloton mode. I believe you can also change modes with the Varia's power button, but that might not be very helpful while riding.

 

[HLaB]

or turned off. A few times I've looked round and realised there's nothing there any more, when thinking there was still something behind.



My head unit's not a touchscreen model (don't like them, prefer buttons). My Varia is the slightly older version (bought Dec 2019) just before they introduced peloton mode. I believe you can also change modes with the Varia's power button, but that might not be very helpful while riding.

My head unit displays red lines through the wifi symbol when its powered off. A bit annoying when you've forgot to switch it back on at the cafe and it flashes red

Yip, when I say push button, I mean the power button; as you say it's not ideal mid ride

 

[Mike_P]

Do you have the German model? To comply with German law, it doesn't flash.

No - the user forgot how to use it version As for how well it copes in busy traffic the row of red light stay on and that was where I was thinking a read out of how many vehicles were detected could be better as an option than a graphic represenation that simply almost constantly repeats itself.

 

[alex_cycles]

No - the user forgot how to use it version As for how well it copes in busy traffic the row of red light stay on and that was where I was thinking a read out of how many vehicles were detected could be better as an option than a graphic represenation that simply almost constantly repeats itself.

Are you using a Wahoo? My Garmin Edge 520 plus has no row of red LEDs. I think there is scope for confusion here because what the user sees on their bike computer depends on what sort of computer it is (or even the separate Varia head unit). What happens on mine looks a bit like this, overlaid on whatever map or data screen you currently have displayed...

This means three cars approaching quite fast (red), 1 rather close and two more not far behind that. (image swiped from https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/05/garmin-rtl515-rvr315-cycling-radar-review.html - no idea what the VehicleCount thing is)

 

[cougie uk]

Vehicle Count: The number of vehicles that come within 98.4 feet (30 m). Garmin Varia radar systems only detect moving vehicles behind you, not parked cars or oncoming traffic