Garmin 010-02376-00 Varia RTL515, Cycling Rearview Radar with Tail Light, Visual and Audible Alerts for Vehicles Up to 153 Yards Away

For riding solo in a rural or semi-rural area, this unit is outstanding. Paired with its own Varia App or with the Ride with GPS app, it provides excellent audio and visual warning of vehicles approaching from the rear. For city riding, it would be pretty useless, as it would be alerting constantly. For riding in groups, it alerts to the other riders in your group, and there is no distinction made between approaching cars and approaching bikes. I contacted the technical assistance service at Garmin, and was told that the unit cant be adjusted to make it less sensitive, and that there was no firmware update planned. Bottom line: if you ride solo in rural areas, get this unit by all means. If you are a city rider or a bike group rider, the unit will only drive you crazy.

I love this device. It makes me feel safer (but not totally safe) on the road. Anything that appreciably adds to my safety on the bike is a welcome product. This delivers as advertised. Highly recommended if you are riding on country roads. Not sure it would be useful in a big city setting.

Fonctionne tel que décrit

This rearview radar, coupled with a compatible Garmin cyclocomputer, is probably the single best non-performance component I have purchased. No more being surprised by cars approaching from behind. I have found that I rarely need to use my rearview mirror any more as the radar gives a good idea of whats approaching and how far away it is. Vehicles are detected at quite some distance so youre well prepared for any left hand turns or movements out of the bike lane that may be required. I honestly cant imagine riding with this radar. Its well worth the cost and could end up saving your life.

I have friends who use this and benefited from it so I decided to buy it. WOW, it is amazing, I no longer need to look back as often (I actually never need to but habits are hard to break) with this. It makes me feel more safe albeit does not stop drivers from coming too close....

Easy to setup and works with the Mastermind TCD display. Unit was delivered quickly and as expected.

First, know that there are other versions of the Varia radars with integrated lights. I had one and sold it on eBay out of frustration. No manufacturer of bike computers EXCEPT Garmin supports ANT+ lights, so if you arent using Garmin, dont bother getting one with a light. Secondly, as you search around the Internet, youll see tons of people frustrated with how Garmin works with the light version of this product. For me, I tried every trick suggested in their forums, but basically couldnt get the light to work unless I unpaired and repaired it tediously before each bike ride. I have a Varia front light, and have no such trouble with it. I did not ding this review over that, because its a different product (the RVR515) but if you are considering both, search the Internet and weigh in other peoples experiences and frustrations into your decision. For an additional data point, I have a Garmin Edge 1030 computer, and I went so far as to wipe it to factory, plus reset the RVR515 several times in an attempt to fix it, and had the problem across two versions of the Garmin software, and one update to the firmware of the RVR515. Just not ready for primetime!

Works well, and it works with my Wahoo Element Bolt. Pairing was easy and the Bolt senses the radar sensor each time I turn it on. The unit definitely lets you know if a car (or cyclist) is coming up behind you. Different signals for car speed of approach and when car or cars pass. The attachment system could be better. The flimsy O-Ring type bands hold ok but I sure would feel better with a stronger bracket, especially for a valuable device like this.

Garmin Varia is like a seat belt for your car, can’t ride them without them. A must have.

To let me know when there are approaching cars and or other cyclist.