Originally Posted by
L134
I tried to use my Garmin radar without a light on tour several years ago. The battery could never last through the day. Maybe newer units have a better battery life. I don't even use mine anymore in an urban setting. I find my ears generally give me the info I need when I need it. If I were severely hard of hearing I would place much more value on the radar. I seem to be an outlier, though. Most users seem to rave about them, though I haven't heard much from tourists. I rode the GAP and C&O trails this past summer and one of my partners was using something. I can't remember if his had radar, lights and camera all in one or if there were two different devices. He was having battery issues with something.
I don't remember any false positives however if one is riding a frontage road, the radar will likely pick up vehicles on the parallel road. Important to keep in mind the radar is detecting a faster moving object. If a vehicle slows to your speed, it will drop off the radar but still be there. One needs to be aware of that. When on a multi lane road, the radar can't tell you which lane the vehicle is in, at least mine can't.
Originally Posted by
Atlas Shrugged
Generally you will find a vast majority of users find a substantial benefit. Here are the battery specs on the new Garmin. I spent almost 3 Months on the road touring last year and used mine every day.
10 hours solid
15 hours peloton
10 hours night flash
24 hours day flash
30 hours radar-only
these wide range of actual user experiences touches on all of our battery powered doohickies doesnt it? New models perform better generally, but all battery powered devices do decline in battery performance over time, just over a few years often, so as consumers we have to be aware and accept this.
I got my first bike gps, a garmin unit, three years ago, and was very aware that newer, better models would show up---and sure enough, the growth of solar aided models happened right after and I am glad that I went for a moderately priced model as I knew that within 5 years tops, my gps would start to be outdated in performance and battery realities -- not any different than any computer, cell phone etc that we own, so that's okay.
There are some solar gps models now for about the same price as my regular Garmin, that can nearly work all the time solely on solar, so a huge advantage on off road trips where access to plugs is more limited.
So with rear radar, it stands to reason that this interesting safety aid will go the same route.
I guess the main thing is to hopefully take the multiple, solid opinions here that a good mirror is a big plus for our safety.
I hope for the fellow asking opinions takes this into consideration as well.