nathrix Posted April 19 Share One of the comments: "Trek reinvented the Garmin Varia several years later. Now add an HD camera that records when it is triggered." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splat Posted April 19 Share Any idea on price and and availability here in SA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbr Posted April 19 Share don't bother I'm usually more of a garmin hater, but I must say I eventually gave in and bought myself a varia (got a bit frightened by the rising amount of accidents recently and figured my life was probably worth the price tag), and even yesterday it the thickest fog I've ridden it, it was still seeing the cars from pretty far. And I've noticed a lot less close overtakes since I have mine, must have been riding with it for 2 weeks now, only had 1 car passing me close when I used to have that expenrience on the daily before. I charged it twice, including yesterday when the wahoo was still saying "Battery : Good" just to make sure. Only problems I had with it was yesterday it disconnected twice for a couple of seconds (also why I decided to charge it, just in case), and also took me a while to figure out that the "auto light" setting I set on "5 secs" on the Wahoo was the reason why it was turning off when there was no cars behind. Once you figure out how to control it from your Wahoo, then you can really optimise battery life (for exemple on Gravel during the day I only set it to blink when a car is coming, the rest of the time it's off). Also pretty cool that it turns on and off on it's own on the start and end of a ride. Dexter-morgan and MongooseMan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter-morgan Posted April 19 Share Garmin's latest Varia also records video. DieselnDust 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisF Posted April 19 Share 57 minutes ago, Dexter-morgan said: Garmin's latest Varia also records video. But the battery life is way too short to be of any practical use, on the video model DieselnDust 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splat Posted April 19 Share 6 hours ago, Dexter-morgan said: Garmin's latest Varia also records video. Its also a MASSIVE lump of equipment DieselnDust 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splat Posted April 19 Share 7 hours ago, splat said: Any idea on price and and availability here in SA? To answer my own question: Not going to be here for a while. It needs to clear all sorts of hurdles with electronics and frequencies and permissions and red tape and admin. nathrix and DieselnDust 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capediver Posted April 19 Share 5 hours ago, splat said: Its also a MASSIVE lump of equipment You going to have to define massive...or is that supposed to be in italics? Oh wait...you mean the Trek unit! Yes a bit bulky! Edited April 19 by capediver Derp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capediver Posted April 19 Share 11 hours ago, ChrisF said: But the battery life is way too short to be of any practical use, on the video model The battery life is a bit of an issue (about 6hrs if you have it on Daylight flashing) but not impractical and it can be hooked up to an external battery for longer rides...the pain is in the Varia app to read video files...just better to remove the SD card and check on a computer! ChrisF 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splat Posted April 20 Share 13 hours ago, capediver said: You going to have to define massive...or is that supposed to be in italics? Oh wait...you mean the Trek unit! Yes a bit bulky! I think that the 715 is chunky compared to the 515 (150 vs 70g) Not that the weight is an issue, its just twice the size. Perhaps, once its on your bike, you don't notice. But I have a mate who had one on a mount below the saddle, and it looked massive. In comparison, the Trek CarBack unit is 90g Its shorter, but wider and fatter than the 515. What I like about the Garmin units is that they 'panic' flash when a car is getting closer. Not sure if the Trek unit changes its flash pattern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capediver Posted April 20 Share 4 hours ago, splat said: I think that the 715 is chunky compared to the 515 (150 vs 70g) Not that the weight is an issue, its just twice the size. Perhaps, once its on your bike, you don't notice. But I have a mate who had one on a mount below the saddle, and it looked massive. In comparison, the Trek CarBack unit is 90g Its shorter, but wider and fatter than the 515. What I like about the Garmin units is that they 'panic' flash when a car is getting closer. Not sure if the Trek unit changes its flash pattern. the 715 is slightly thicker that the 515...bigger battery to drive camera..but nothing out of the ordinary, fixed to your seat stem, its no more an issue than most other rear lights except those tiny button type which aren't very bright...the Varias are BRIGHT as F!! Also the 715 has a better more sturdy clamp adapted from their Camera VIRB camera mounting system, a whole more better that the 515 and its 1/4 urn Garmin style mount. The functions of the Trek unit looks almost the same as the Garmin...reports do say its detection range is a bit of an issue...much shorter but it does have some sort of AI to determine lane position, something Garmin lacks...it just detects anything inside its signal arc and you can't tell if the vehicle is 4 lanes out or in your lane...they need to work on that! Otherwise, these types of "gadgets" are really useful... HOWEVER...as I always remind others, NEVER let it replace a quick eyeball behind you if you intend turning or deviating from your line.... Edited April 20 by capediver splat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splat Posted April 20 Share For those curious on size, Varia RTL515 vs Trek CarBack Radar (via Reddit). Pity the mounts aren't the same in the photo (both seatpost) The Trek one seems very chunky indeed! nathrix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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