Garmin Varia Rearview Radar Tail Light

This is a great device!!!Why buy it:- You connect wireless to your Garmin GPS and you can "see" cars coming from behind on your GPS. It is like a blind spot detector in your car.- It provides a clear display by displaying a red bar on both sides of the GPS- A white dot will be shown in the red bar for a car that starts on the bottom of your GPS and moves up your GPS as the car approaches- If there are multiple cars it will show multiple white dots- When all cars are gone the red bar turns to green then goes away.- It also provides a decent tail light to help make you visible- I found it to give me more confidence and less of that uptight feel not knowing what is coming at you.Limitations:- I have used it for a hundred miles or so- User learning'so You get accustomed to watching the progression of the white dots and get a feel for when a car is coming. Depending on car speeds itshowed a car 10 to 14 seconds out. Be careful not to count on that because a car may make a turn into the road you are on and thusapproach much quicker since it is not coming from clear behind. Thus be mindful of cars at cross streets that may turn onto your roadand approach sooner.o The audible beep is very low so use the visual on the GPS- Device learning'so IT IS NOT PERFECT - YOU STILL NEED TO LOOKo I found that when you come to a traffic light with stopped cars behind you and then when the light turns green it does not quickly pick up thecars behind you.o On a rolling hill road it can not see the car behind the crest of the hill. Thus, cars may suddenly appear that it does not show or shows carswith little notice.o When making a turn that you bank hard it does not pick up cars for a few minutes. I think this is because the unit is not parallel to the road.Not a big deal as it soon picks them up but something to be aware of.Install- Yes this works with an EDGE 810 - that is the set up i am using- When installing first upgrade the software on your GPS and the Varia unit. It is very important to do both. i updated just the software on myGPS and it would not work. Once I updated the software on the Varia it worked.- Remove all other wireless units (heart rate monitor, speed sensor, cadence sensor, etc) from near your bike (40 feet away worked for me). Thisis important as i could not get them to connect until I did this. I then had to resync my hear rate monitor and sensors. it took a few tries thenworked.- Only issue I had was physical install. If you do not have a bag under your seat the physical install is great. However, i do have a bag andattaching it to the seat post stem was an issue as the bag blocked it to much. I used a bunch of zip ties and attached the base to the back ofthe bag that is under my seat. While not pretty I was able to get it secure and the unit (which nicely twists on and off the base) perpendicular tothe road when attached. They need to provide a mount that can attach to under seat bags as most cyclist have one. You may have more roomon your bike if your seat post is higher and your bag is small (mine hangs down a bit) so this may not be an issue.- Thus set up is easy if you follow the instructions and above tips. After set up it just works and all my wireless devices (hear rate monitor, speedsensor, cadence sensor and Varia automatically connect when I turn them on for a ride.- There is a setting that allows you to show the white dots for cars on either the left or right bar on the GPS unit. It would be nice if the unit wouldshow you which side the cars are on by showing the dots on the side that the car is on. While typically cars are on my left there are times whenyou are in a lane and cars can be to your right. Not a big deal just a nice to have - perhaps a future software revision could do this?Bottom Line:A great safety addition to your bike, additional peace of mind and increased my cycling enjoyment (oh and it is very cool to have radar on your bike). Remember it is not perfect so still look before going into a lane of traffic or making a turn.

I've had this light for about two months now, and it has transformed my cycling experience.I do most of my local riding on bike trails away from traffic, but to get to and from the trail I have to ride on city streets. I occasionally have neck and shoulder pain that makes it difficult to turn my head and study the traffic behind me. I used to dread having to ride on streets, to the point that often I'd simply put my bike in the car and drive to the trailhead, but now I can confidently ride from my front door. I can simultaneously scan traffic both ahead of (with my eyes) and behind me (with the Varia) and quickly decide whether to make my left turn at this corner or the next one. I only need a quick glance to confirm what the radar has already told me via a friendly chirp on my Edge 520.Since I've had the Varia, I have completed two large group rides: a 206-mile two-day ride and a 380-mile six-day ride. The Varia performed flawlessly and attracted lots of attention from curious fellow cyclists. It had no difficulty detecting cars through a group of cyclists behind me. It did alert to a fast-moving cyclist -- it alerts to anything that is approaching at a relative speed of greater than 6 MPH or so. As I'm a rather cautious rider, that happened often on downhills. I'd get that friendly chirp well before the rider behind me called out "on your left!"The range of the radar field is quite wide (I believe it's 40 degrees to each side). This means that occasionally it alerts to traffic that isn't actually directly behind. I'd get alerts while riding on a frontage road next to a highway. While this is occasionally distracting, in general I'd rather have too much information than not enough.The instant it detects traffic, the light display also changes. First, more of the LEDs light up, and then the whole thing flashes faster. It's very noticeable, as this is what the other cyclists asked me about first. I don't know if that's enough to get a distracted driver's attention, but this extra level of protection can't hurt.I did find that the Varia tended to drop out of the Edge's "light network" after a pause. I quickly learned that the solution is simply to turn both devices off and back on again. A hassle, yes, but once I figured it out, I routinely turned them both off and on simply to save battery life while I socialized at a food stop. For the record, the effective battery life of the Varia is about 8-11 hours of active use, depending on the amount of traffic that it encounters. After an all-day ride, it recharges quickly and I'm good to go again the next day.I'm a self-proclaimed "gadget geek," and this device delights me! It's great to have a nifty new device that more than delivers on its promise. I can't recommend it enough.