Garmin Varia RTL515 on City Roads
 

A vast majority of my riding is on the road and within a large city with lots of cars on those roads. I have been considering getting a Varia, but wonder if it is worth it due to the road\car ratio I generally ride in. Sometimes it can be fewer cars, but that is not typical.

For people with a Varia, if you have the same conditions, is it worth getting a Varia if nothing else than for knowledge of what is around you?

Thanks.

Knowing where the breaks in traffic behind me are is really nice. Without having to look back as often.

Still worth it to me. I have the unlit unit, and it is now selling for $100. Well worth it to know what is around you, even if it’s always chiming.

I ride with it mostly in rural areas, but if I get on a state highway, it is beeping at me constantly. I suppose I could just turn it off, but it hasn't bothered me that much, and as Forrest says, it is providing useful, albeit annoying, information. I find it is most useful when I am going at a higher speed, typically downhill, or am in other situations where hearing or looking over my shoulder isn't optimal.

Having said that, I hate riding anywhere without it. I even leave it on off-road, because it gives me a heads-up if a gang of Hell's Angels on e-bikes is approaching from behind at high speed.

cool, those experiences are exactly what I was looking for. I already have tail lights that I use, so I am looking at unlit version as I can't seem to justify $100 for a tail light. Considering the light I have was only 29 and is very bright.

Ordered since it was on sale for $99. Thanks for the input.

In socal you definitely get alarm fatigue but helps you find the breaks in traffic when you need to switch lanes.

I find it barely helpful on paved road. I guess it's nice to know when cars are coming, but I don't do anything different once I know one is coming so in that aspect it's not really beneficial to me.
I have found that I look back over my shoulder more than I used to.


Where it is invaluable for me is on gravel roads where I can move around the road to find the best lines and not worry that I am potentially frustrating a vehicle behind me that I can't hear. I now no longer have to periodically look back on gravel roads which helps ensure indont suddenly miss a bump or pothole.
When a car approaches, I just move over and they pass. It's really fantastic for gravel.

I found having it really decreases my anxiety and the confrontations I tended to get in with motorists, primarily because it removes the element of surprise.

I have a RTL515 and ride it in the Boston suburbs. Some roads are fairly busy, others are in rural or heavily wooded areas. While the alarm goes off frequently on the busy roads, I find that it keeps me more aware of the traffic than I would be if I only used a mirror (or nothing). For the few times that I either forgot to turn it on or left it on the counter while being charged, I felt very lost without it. The RTL515 gives me significant peace of mind and reduces anxiety. To me its positives far outweigh any constant warnings it may emit. To each their own…..

I ride in cities and country roads - I find it valuable in both settings.

In heavier traffic, I use is as a mirror, essentially. I don't move left (to avoid obstacles or change lanes) without first confirming with an over-the-shoulder look, but I'll often decide against changing my line without an over-the-shoulder confirmation. For instance, there's a fast-approaching pothole and I can either take a clean line to the left or go through a bit of debris to the right. If the Varia indicates a close vehicle, I don't even bother with a shoulder check - I just go with the slightly less desirable line to the right of the pothole.

In lighter traffic, whether on a quiet stretch in the city or on country roads, I'm now more likely to put myself further out in to the roadway, typically in the passenger side tire track. I think that this has a number of benefits: it's smoother, there's far less debris, and I'm more visible. When I get a chirp for approaching vehicles, I'll move over as far as necessary or practical - I'd like to think that this, along with the Varia light giving the driver angry eyes, let's drivers know that I'm both aware and considerate of their approach. Whether that's the reason or not, it does seem as if I get fewer close passes now compared to when I kept a static position with no light or a dumb light.

True that!

I still recommend getting a Varia RTL515 as another safety tool especially since it has a light. It's surprisingly sensitive and can pick up cars from quite far away.

I think it's still a good extra eye in the city. I will note some special circumstances that you have to watch out for.
1) If a car behind you matches your speed for whatever reason (waiting to pass, about to make a right turn and doesn't want hook you, etc.) it will disappear from your display but it's still there.
2) if you pass a drive way or street and a car pulls into the traffic lane the Garmin might not pick it up in time as the car accelerates and passes you.
3) In roundabouts the angle might not pick up a car closing distance so be aware of that.
4) Some commercial burglar alarms (?) seem to set off my Garmin and give a false alarm. But if you cycle the same route over and over you'll learn these false alarm spots.

For me it's more annoying in urban traffic. I'd never base turning by what I see on the display, so I'm going to be turning my head to look anyway. Whether or not I was aware of a car behind or not.

But for less trafficked roads when I might be daydreaming, I do like that it makes me more aware even though I almost always hear the vehicle noise just before I get the alert. Since I have one, I'd miss it if the battery ran down.

But I wouldn't say it's important for any riding I do.

I've read\viewed reviews mentioning the first 3, not come across anything on #4, that interesting and good to know.

I've thought about grabbing the RVR315, but I think I would gain an additional benefit from making it my primary tail light & putting the current tail light into secondary position for those instances that I couldn't/didn't put the primary on the charger.
Still in the justification stage. Maybe the tail light version will go on sale for mother's day! lol

*Can the tail light version be setup to only use the radar only? If so, is it easy to do & is it a set it once & forget it or do you have to keep resetting it up each time to turn off the light function?

With the 510, you could only do this if your head unit had ANT+ Light capability (which meant that it couldn't be accessed if you were a Wahoo user; I haven't had a Wahoo for almost two years, so I don't know if Wahoo has finally added support or not). Once set, it would stay in that mode unless you changed it.

I don't know for sure if this has changed with the 515, but since it has BT in addition to ANT+, I would assume that you could access this setting via the phone app.

The light and radar show up as separate devices (controllable separately).

The Wahoo head units can’t control everything in the radar lift.

There’s a phone app for the radar. Not quite sure what it does yet.

Thanks for the heads up. The Elemnt being no longer offered (that I could see on Wahoo's webpage) makes it less likely to have had the software updated to make it controllable within the unit itself. I rarely pair the phone up when using the unit, only sync the two for needed updates or maps.

Wahoo still does not as far as I know. I think they are working on it though. I have a Wahoo and it can not access the Bontrager light I have now, however Garmin's can.

To clarify, I meant that you'd probably be able to access the light controls via Garmin's Varia phone app. I would assume that you'd have full control of the lighting functions on the Varia app and I would assume that it would be set-it-and-forget-it, but I don't know for sure since I have a 510 (no bluetooth/no phone app compatibility) and since the 515 manual is light on details as far as the app is concerned.

I got the Varia as soon as Wahoo rolled out the firmware with ANT+ Radar functionality. As far as ANT+ Lights, they seemed to have been "working on it," since then. When my Bolt crapped out, and 6+ months of "working on it" still hadn't panned out, I decided to move over to Garmin.
It's disappointing to hear that they still haven't gotten it cobbled together.

Hmmm.....

Using ANT+ Rear View Radar Sensors with the ELEMNT/BOLT/ROAM

ELEMNT, BOLT, and ROAM can now pair with rear view radar systems (like the Garmin Varia) following the same pairing procedure as any other ANT+ sensor (instructions here).

Note: Other ANT+ enabled tail lights (without radar functions) like those from Bontrager are not supported.
Maybe it can now.

I don't see that it looks any different than it did two years ago - Radar but no Lights.

yea just thought it was odd they called out the Bontrager specifically and say without radar.