Varia rear light worth it?

[Milkfloat]

Really? Mine has been great for me. What was up with yours ?

Mainly the battery is always flat when I want to use it, but also the app / connection is flakey and the promised Garmin Ant+ intefration never worked. On the plus side it is pretty bright.

 

[HLaB]

The light is actually very good and one major benefit over and above being controllable by the head unit is the fact that the flashing pattern changes as cars approach which hopefully helps alert the driver even more.

When I ride with a group its quite handy to put it into 'Peleton' mode and if I remember switch back after I've left to 'blinding' mode. One group I ride with also insist on 'solid lights and I prefer flashing so its similarly handy to switch the modes easy and know exactly what mode I'm in

 

[mustang1]

Vario rear light: yeah it's good but I'd only get it if you're bored and fancy buying something. More sophistacated than a mirror and less gaudy-looking too but I can't see enough of a reason to really buy one. But overall, yes it's good and does it's job well.

 

[HLaB]

Vario rear light: yeah it's good but I'd only get it if you're bored and fancy buying something. More sophistacated than a mirror and less gaudy-looking too but I can't see enough of a reason to really buy one. But overall, yes it's good and does it's job well.

No blind spots and consistency (not affected by vibrations, other's lights, greater night time visibility etc) are big things to me. I would have been a naesayer (why do I need to spend £150 on something I could get for free, a shoulder check or cheap, a mirror) but until you actually get a Varia you don't really realise how good it is and why there was dozens of reasons to buy it 👍

 

[alex_cycles]

No blind spots and consistency (not affected by vibrations, other's lights, greater night time visibility etc) are big things to me. I would have been a naesayer (why do I need to spend £150 on something I could get for free, a shoulder check or cheap, a mirror) but until you actually get a Varia you don't really realise how good it is and why there was dozens of reasons to buy it 👍

I was sceptical to begin with, but others in the club had them so could see how good they were. Then what sealed the deal was a Black Friday offer for £100 in 2019 (down from £150ish). Don't like riding on the roads without it now. I think they're very expensive at the full £170 though, but I'd probably still replace it if I lost it or it broke.

 

[mustang1]

No blind spots and consistency (not affected by vibrations, other's lights, greater night time visibility etc) are big things to me. I would have been a naesayer (why do I need to spend £150 on something I could get for free, a shoulder check or cheap, a mirror) but until you actually get a Varia you don't really realise how good it is and why there was dozens of reasons to buy it 👍

I have a varia. Those are good reasons but with a few caveats. I think the varia will not pick up a car that is following you at exactly the speed you are riding because it needs to bounce it's radar waves on things that have a different speed.
But, it is very good and I'm glad I got it.

 

[alex_cycles]

I have a varia. Those are good reasons but with a few caveats. I think the varia will not pick up a car that is following you at exactly the speed you are riding because it needs to bounce it's radar waves on things that have a different speed.
But, it is very good and I'm glad I got it.

Yes. Correct.But it will pick up the car getting to that place in the first place.

It's designed not to beep under those circumstances in case you are cycling with other riders. But if a car is trailing you for a long time you have to be aware. It will then beep again when the car accelerates to pass you.

 

[HLaB]

I was sceptical to begin with, but others in the club had them so could see how good they were. Then what sealed the deal was a Black Friday offer for £100 in 2019 (down from £150ish). Don't like riding on the roads without it now. I think they're very expensive at the full £170 though, but I'd probably still replace it if I lost it or it broke.

I forget exactly how much I paid for it but it was the same story a few had them and one of them pointed the rest of us to a Black Friday deal in 2019 and if it was broke/stolen I'd probably replace it too

 

[cougie uk]

Thanks chaps. I think I'll put it on a price watch and swoop when it's on offer.

 

[Mike_P]

I got mine via eBay, it wasn't the cheapest priced but there was a eBay % discount on and bags of additional nectar points which made it the cheapest.

 

[Milkfloat]

One top tip if you are thinking about getting one is to ride in a group with someone who has one, because the Varia uses ANT+ you can connect to multiple headunits simultaneously. I was the first in my group to get one and one by one everyone connected to mine to test it out, over the next few months every single one of my Sunday group purchased their own through my partner account.

 

[kingrollo]

The older square light can be had for approx £40 used on eBay. Good enough for me.

 

[Solocle]

I went and bought a Varia 715.

Very impressive from what I've seen so far.

 

[alex_cycles]

I went and bought a Varia 715.

Very impressive from what I've seen so far.

Would love one, but £350 is an awful lot for that

 

[kingrollo]

Would love one, but £350 is an awful lot for that

Jesus I brought the square one - used for £40.

What extra features does this £350 have ?