I pretty much agree with you that rear radar devices work very well, and as I tried to mention, they will just get better and better and less expensive.
I was making an effort in my pro mirror comments to not come across as the old viewpoint grumpy anti "new stuff" guy--although I do agree with you about the age of folks here --- I mean, lets face it, its a fricken internet forum, who else would still be participating in the this shyte regularly ;-)

I still contend that for those of us who tour regularly and in my case, ride almost daily in an urban setting, even in snowy winter (heading off on my commute soon at -20c) a mirror can really save your ass a handful of times a year where one can see a car drifting into the shoulder, hugging the shoulder in a corner, pulling a wide whatever the heck.
In urban or urbanish settings, in my mirror I regularly spot drivers looking at their phone and meandering or drifting behind me as they drive.

imo these are legitimate concerns / risks that are always going to be there, no matter what technology used or your take on "new stuff".
I acknowledge that I have an ingrained defensive driving mentality because of my motorcycle experience, moreso than the average car driver.

ride safely folks

You may find that a Garmin Varia radar can be used with your phone. See https://support.garmin.com/en-AU/?fa...ha5&tab=topics

Yeah, there actually are limits on rechargeable Li ion batteries in carryons, though honestly I doubt anyone would ever check. I don’t have to worry about that for this year’s tour as it’s not too crazy far from where I live and thus I have a car route planned to a relative’s house, with a train ride back to the car once it’s all over.

There is a limit on the total mah of Li ion batteries you can take—I think it’s not really enforced though. They just always have to be with you in carryon luggage and never checked in

Im a non-traditionalist with bicycle lights. I have experience with the Giant headlights when I lived in Taiwan, and that experience is that (with both the $40 version and the $60 version) they’re overpriced garbage that stops working after 6-12 months. Right now I use a Swisstech USB rechargeable hand flashlight zip tied to the top tube, it was a 1.5-2hr max usage on bright mode but I can run it easily for 4-5 hours just plugged into a usb power brick.

I also just use GPS on my phone but try to stick to when it’s really needed (ie just put phone on airplane mode when I’m on US 50 in the middle of Nevada). For my own safety I use a Spot Gen 3 satellite beacon (with an SOS button built into it) that’s attached to my helmet and is set to send out my location every five minutes. I give both of my parents the link so they can track where I am while I’m on tour. But That way even if I’m thrown into some brush and and can’t even get back to my phone, I can still call for help as long as I can reach the top of my helmet.

Well, in Garmin’s case, the RearVue 820 did get better, longer range, wider field of view, can see and display cars side by side, can determine a large vehicle like a truck. BUT, the price went up to $300, from $200 on the 515. Big jump,

Are you suggesting I buy new stuff just to be able to use a garmin? I'd rather just keep the stuff I have and works. Like I mentioned, I don't need a head unit, because my phone is miles better as a navigation device.

Also your picture is missing the phone, bell and light remote.

Did you not read what I wrote or could you just not understand what was written. I forget to charge things.

But just to save some time: my phone stays with me. Lights, battery packs, gps head units, shifter batteries, radar, etc. do not. Do I need to elaborate, why charging these things is different from a phone or do you have the imagination to picture ot yourself?

I almost got excited, but it would seem that I'd have to swap between my map app and the varia app with no way of having them on screen simultaneously. That's a hard pass since I have the map app configured to pure physical button use when riding so no need to touch the screen. If I had to juggle between the varia app and maps, I'd need to give that up.

The Garmin device has an integrated bell function that works very well and controls Bluetooth and ANT+ lights. I won't open the can of worms about which device is better for navigation: a dedicated bike computer designed for that task, or a handheld phone that can serve that purpose. The vast majority of active cyclists, including me, choose a dedicated device; the disadvantages of using a phone are extensive. The phone stays in my bag or pocket because it is not needed when I ride, and any messages or incoming calls are displayed on the Garmin device to be dealt with upon completion of the ride or during a break.

You should use what you consider best for yourself. If keeping devices charged and acquiring new tech is problematic, that's fine; however, the OP was looking for guidance, and I was offering the most common and generally best-practice approach.

I just looked up the price here in Canada, retail is 420 cad, add in our 15% sales taxes and that's a total of $483.
Not an insignificant sum, but that's me

I still see the issue is yes, the device gives you a heads up of something coming (that is great, we aren't always looking in our mirror) but you still really don't know what exactly it's going on, and I know I'm like a fricken broken record here, but there have been numerous times in my riding life that seeing someone drifting into the shoulder or the towed trailer being where I am, that those very precise images in my mirror have given me a few seconds notice to go off onto the shoulder.
I still can't see a rear radar giving me that very precise info that I can react to if needed.
I also use a flat plane mirror, it's much easier to see details and judge distance than wide angle convex ones. I've used both over the years.

I use it with a mirror. 2 things happen, first the radar alerts me that I have traffic coming up behind me. That's when I know to look in the mirror to see what - truck - landscaper - car ?. Mirror alone is not as useful or safe as radar with mirror. And FWIW, good deals now on the Garmin 515, around $160 U.S. Has about 16 hrs. battery life in the best setting.

Like with all smart and useful devices, this stuff will get better and better and go down in price.
As I wrote in I think my first response, look at car stuff--airbags, abs brakes, traction control and stability control, rear cameras--it was all new and fancy and expensive, but now pretty much common and helps avoid accidents.

Huh. I'm pretty sure my garmin doesn't have that.

If they're compatible. Garmin does have a Lupine app, but from what I've read it's hot garbage.

Yet you kinda did open that can of worms. You're not using the wordings you did by accident.

I'll just say that the only thing in terms of navigation a GPS head unit can in some instances have an advantage on is battery life, but that's not a given. With a phone I get a bigger screen, better map resolution, better clarity for both map and route, far better detail levels and customization, better on the go planning, better turn navigation, better route calculation time and an actual services/amenities library. All of those both offline and online. And you get to choose the routing/map app.

The reason most cyclists are choosing head units probably has something to do with how difficult it is to reliably mount a phone on a handlebar and also training data integration. If you're using a HR monitor and power meter and are interested in training data, a garmin or other type of head unit can't be beat. But that's what they are mostly for. Navigation, especially touring related navigation is just kinda meh on a garmin.



You could have done that without replying to my post, which was entirely subjective. Instead you chose to challenge my choices, which I wasn't pushing on the OP btw.

It is a new feature on the latest models, maybe only the Garmin Edge 1050. My Wahoo Ace also has a bell, which is implemented in a similar manner to the Garmin.

I did a perimeter tour of the US in 2022/23 and used the Garmin Varia. Synced right up to my Garmin head unit. Will never ride on the road without it again. Picks up traffic over 400 feet behind you and shows a dot on the side of the unit corresponding to a vehicle. If there's more than one, it shows the same number of dots. Gives you a few seconds defense. Charge lasts all day in flash mode, which is the best setting.

That's not really its purpose.

The radar is really a "before you see or hear" sort of thing.

That is, it's there to tell you you might need to look "soon".

There are Varia display units (that are smaller and cheaper than a headunit).

https://www.cannondale.com/en-us/gea...1522U10OS_2022

Not exactly cheap. And it would occupy some handle bar space.

(Garmin used to make one.)

Absolutely, and I think it's a great tool.
In the end, anything that makes it safer for us to ride amongst vehicles is a plus.

As a student car driver, I was taught to regularly look in rear view to have an idea of what's going on.
As a motorcyclist taking a safety course eons ago, it was pretty much taught that you must regularly glance and know what is going on behind you, plus all the other situational awareness and always thinking ahead of what cars could do, watching for signs of what car drivers would could do , and as much as possible, having an "out" of where to go in case of wacky stuff.

As you say, these rear radars are another tool to help us

FWIW, I ordered and received the RearVue 820 , haven’t used it real life yet, been too cold, maybe tomorrow, but walked down the street to a main road and tried out the Radar Trigger mode, where the light is not flashing unless it detects a vehicle coming up behind you. Then flash turns on. This actually worked. DC Rainmaker estimated battery life at 30 hours in that mode, I would suspect a lot more if you are on a tour with very low traffic on rural roads. Personally think every bike radar should work this way, really no need to be flashing unless there’s traffic behind. As well, and as I saw in DC’s review, it can differentiate between a car and a larger truck. When a truck is detected, the alert side bar goes red instead of the usual orange. I think this only works on the x40 and x50 Garmin devices, but I like this function already.

The Wahoo Trackr Radar has the turn-off between detection modes, too. An excellent feature, particularly when touring as you suggest.

The side bar also goes red, but I believe this is speed differential warning rather than a vehicle size warning.

Tried the Varia 820 today, first test ride. I was mostly curious if the function called Radar Trigger actually worked and was happy it did exactly what I expected. It appears it’s a press power button 4 times after turning on, which isn’t in the manual. In fact this function is not well described at all, but some playing with it and I found it. What this does is let’s flash be dormant unless a vehicle is detected, then flash mode turns on. Once any vehicles pass, flash turns off. I mention here in the subject of using radars in a tour as I think this functionality would make this a very useful rear light in tour as I suspect battery life is going to be greater than the 30 hours DC Rainmaker describes, especially if in rural roads with not much traffic.

I was paired with a Coros Dura computer today, had no issues connecting. You don’t get the advanced side by side vehicle display as in a Garmin X40/X50 but radar display worked as desired. Now I have to figure out how to turn on audible alerts on the Dura. FWIW, on a 75 minute ride, the Dura showed 9% solar and zero battery used. I was still at 100% after the ride. This is better than my first Dura, which suffered from poor battery life and ultimately OS failure. Coros replaced under warranty.

The Coros Dura appears to be popular with riders on the Atlas Mountain Bike Race, presumably because of its battery life ... See a sample of rigs at Bikepacking.com

Just to weigh in. I've had my Garmin Varia for a couple years I believe. It gives me another level of awareness. It does not replace my mirror. Sure, it is another piece of tech that needs to be charged, but the benefit outweighs the cost and hassle IMO. Just put it on the correct flash mode to get the most out of its battery life. Its ability to flash differently when a car is approaching from the rear is another good feature that gets the drivers attention. Overall, well worth it to me.