looks like it gives an estimated distance of traffic coming from the rear & is slightly slimmer. The mount looks flimsy.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/carback/

Here at least, I'm fairly sure it only got released for public sale today. I haven't seen any of the usual YouTube reviewers put anything up just yet.

Looks like the phone app provides an idea if the vehicle is moving over. That would be helpful. I have a Varia and use my bar end mirror. But it is hard to tell at times.

Oh there is an app for Edge units that shows approaching vehicle distance and speed. It keeps track for later use to show just how scary the ride was.

Absolute speed is cut off in the screen shot.

It looks pretty much like the mount for my RT Flare rear light which I thought was flimsy when I bought it. I'd imagine this radar light is a bit heavier so it would be nice if the device had a tether in case the rubber band breaks.

it would have made sense to have a mount that shares the Wahoo/Garmin stuff.

Just found this. GPLama has done some side-by-side testing.


Based on Shane's testing, the marketing claims of 240 metres are just that.

The USB-C connection and battery level indicator are nice improvements over the Varia at least.

the garmin radar taillight has usb C.

Only the 715 with camera, which is not a comparable model.

The 240m claim caught my attention. I have the Bryton Gardia 300L and I am happy with it though it does have it's annoyances. Since it wasn't that expensive (as compared to the Garmin), I was open to seeing if there's something better. That video tells me no.

my bad, i was thinking of the Bryton.

This doesn't look like it offers much over the Garmin Varia, but at least it's some competition. Hopefully Garmin will up its game with an improved Varia.

A couple guys at Escape Collective discuss the Carback on their podcast -- scroll a bit down the page for the link, then skip to 15:40 for that discussion. tl;dr: doesn't sound like it works any better than a Varia, but gives sellers a radar tail light with a larger profit margin than the Varia. (I can confirm that Garmin's margins between wholesale and retail pricing are razor thin -- only around 20%.) This suggests that bike shops might push the Trek unit even though it's not better than Varia. But if it's also not worse, that's probably okay.

I think the benefit (if it exists) of the CarBack would be it's ability to interface better with headunits that the Garmin & Bryton might lack. the features that work within the Garmin ecosystem doesnt all carry over to the Wahoo ecosystem, that I am tracking.

Such as...?

I was wondering about that too. From the promotional videos that I've seen, I don't see anything different. The graphic on the screen looks exactly the same as the Garmin or the Bryton. The only difference is if you were using their own phone app. I believe that provides a bit more information.

Yeah, but that's not really a Wahoo thing. Also, I don't see the phone interface as very valuable, as I'm presuming that anyone who's considering a radar unit probably has a dedicated cycle computer. But maybe I'm wrong?

I've used Varia with both Wahoo and Garmin computers, and the on-screen functionality is pretty much the same. I do know that they Garmin computer allows me to change the light's mode (e.g., flashing vs solid) from the touchscreen, and I don't recall whether a Wahoo computer will do that -- I never checked because that's not a useful feature for me.

doesnt Garmin's radar display have more things to show on a Garmins headunit & the user has the ability to change more settings like colors & distance alert?

Not that I am aware of. And why would you want to change those things, anyway? Most users would want to be alerted as early as possible (I.e., max range), and the colors don't make any difference in the usefulness.

But the Carback is by Trek. The comment would make sense if Trek made a comparable computer.

color blinded can make it worthwhile. sometimes its ok if the owner/user has the ability to change settings. can always do a factory reset.

That seems a pretty narrow use-case, and I don't even see how it would help. I mean, on my Garmin, approaching cars appear as white dots -- which is ideal for people who are colorblind.

In fact, if such a feature DID exist, I suspect it would be adjustable on the computer itself, not on the tail light.

What does any of this have to do with a factory reset?

Are you invested in the company that is selling the device?
what's your agenda with preventing owners of the device to make it to how they see fit?
If you're arguing to just to argue, that to me isn't healthy.

I have no agenda and no stock in Garmin, nor any interest in arguing; I'm just telling you how Varia works, since you don't seem to actually understand it. (Though that hasn't stopped you from posting some incorrect info.)

In regards to responding to your replies in this thread, I have not made any incorrect statements.
I have brought light to a new product here in hopes to expand the communities options as well as to spur conversation to its pros/cons, which the later you seem opposed of.