Garmin varia rearview radar

[Uawadall]

I'm not much of a night rider(and spent out with bike purchases for the year), but this looks interesting.

http://www.nashbar.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10053_10052_596965_-1___

It shows traffic behind and oncoming and flashes to alert the driver that a cyclist is approaching. Has anyone tried this or a similar device?

 

[Froze]

The biggest drawback to this device, and it's a HUGE drawback, is the very weak tail light with only 16 lumens, you can pick up a 16 lumen light for $5 these days! and why spend money on a radar device when a simple $20 mirror would work just as well? This thing is for the person who likes gadgets no matter how useless they are.

If you want to be as safe as possible at night then use that $250 to buy a really nice tail light like this: https://seesense.cc/collections/shop/products/see-sense-icon-rear-light-1 That's 250 lumens at full brightness not some measley 16 lumens, and it only cost $103. If you scan the site you can read about why this light is unique, also you can get a flasher kit that comes with a front 420 lumen flasher and the 250 lumen rear for just $192. And these lights have a 270 degree visibility range, comes with a replaceable battery thus it's not a throw away light, not made in China, has a built in alarm system that sends an alert to your phone, can send a text message to a predetermine phone number in the event of a crash, can be updated, just read the site, you'll find this light to be much more amazing than the Garmin.

Then for your rear safety simply get a rear view mirror, must people I see around where I live use a mirror that plugs into the bar end of the handlebar like this: https://www.amazon.com/Sprintech-Le..._9?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=SCKNYV3HTAEGB2T9Z4VP I have a sunglass mirror like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Bike-Peddler..._2?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=SCKNYV3HTAEGB2T9Z4VP

So for about $123 you can get an amazingly bright and intelligent tail light plus a mirror, that will save you $127 dollars over the Garmin to spend as you like, or add the front flasher for another $90 and still save $37!

 

[Uawadall]

This thing is for the person who likes gadgets no matter how useless they are.!

I like the idea behind this. The reason why I never use things like this or mirrors is, I wouldn't want to be reliant on them. How effective are those mirrors at night?

 

[CAMPYBOB]

How effective is the Varia? By the time it warns you of a vehicle on collision course at ramming speed do you have time to dive for the ditch?

I like the Varia for the fact that it can be controlled and and displayed using your Garmin Edge device. Other than that, by the time you glance at it and make a decision...is it too late?

I'm not a fan of mirrors, day or night. Especially not at night.

Froze is right about the tail light issue. If you are going to use the Varia, supplement it with an array of lights.

 

[Froze]

I like the idea behind this. The reason why I never use things like this or mirrors is, I wouldn't want to be reliant on them. How effective are those mirrors at night?

I use the glasses mounted mirror and they work just fine during the day, at night they're just like using a car mirror at night, they work the same, I've used mine at night and never had any unusual issues, it's a mirror, it works like a mirror, it works like your car mirrors.

Being reliant on things like mirrors? Are you reliant on your car mirrors? Your car mirrors are your eyes for the sides and rear of the car, of course you should also always check with using your head and turn it so your eyes can see directly. Ok, so now you have a mirror attached to your glasses or helmet or bar end, or maybe a combination of two, but guess what? you should still check by swiveling your head as you would in a car. Ok, now instead of a mirror you have the Garmin radar device, guess what? you still need to swivel your head to see what's going on to your side and behind you!

Campybob is right when he said to use more than one light for the rear, its what I do as well. However a bright tail light will obscure any light output coming from that little Garmin 9 lumen light, so I wouldn't even count that Garmin light as a light. I have sort of a "triangle" of lights on the rear of the bike, my brightest one is mounted to either the seatpost, seat bag, or seat tube depending on the bike I'm using, I then have a light on each rear seat stay, and one on the back of the helmet. The brightest one is set for steady the rest on blink or flash mode. The reason I have one on steady and the rest flashing is so that rear coming motorists can ascertain their distance from me better, and the rest flash to attract their attention. in the daytime I use the brightest one only and it is then on flash. Of course that's how I do it which doesn't mean you have to do it that way. I've been riding so long that I remember using tail lights that were amazingly dim, and used lights like that for years and never got rear ended, but in today's world of distracted driving you need to catch their attention.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

In 1994 I got rear-ended in broad daylight. Flew about 57' after leaving the hood/base of the windshield of an '83 Camaro. Now, with everyone texting and on a phone 24/7...

 

[Froze]

In 1994 I got rear-ended in broad daylight. Flew about 57' after leaving the hood/base of the windshield of an '83 Camaro. Now, with everyone texting and on a phone 24/7...

My god, 57 feet, geez! what happened to you?

I hate this texting and phone ****, all they have to do is make the GPS system that's in all phones to shut off at speeds above 20 mph, and come back on at speeds above 200, that would eliminate all this distracting driving nonsense. I've known too many people that got either seriously hurt or killed from texting drivers. Turning off the phone would be so easy to do, the cops in some cities computers now turn off at certain speeds because of rash of crashes trying to read the computer and drive at the same time, so I know it can be done. But instead they want cars that can stop themselves and drive themselves so we can text while driving I guess. Just plain stupid.

Now I'll have a bunch of haters because they text and drive and think it's ok to do.