Garmin

Taken the unit in a few rides, primarily early morning a few hours before the sun comes up, a few daytime.

The Vue is certainly not spectacular, my previous light was a niterider 1200 oled. That light has amazing battery/brightness ratio, is rugged and when it was damaged out of warranty, fast inexpensive repairs from NR. The NR does NOT have a camera, no NR product does. I enjoy having videos to grab snapshots from, and for safety, but can't use a gopro, edge, and light easily on my aero cockpit so was happy to try the new Varia Vue headlight.

Cons:

Battery life, a very mixed bag, absolutely atrocious when it's dark and allowed to adjust itself based on speed/acceleration, I had the light go out on me right as i turned onto my street, a less than 1hr 20 min long ride, needs an auto limp mode

The unit requires but does not include a microsd card which is a little bit of a pain especially given the cost

Did not play nice with my k-edge mount and the gopro spot (it was loose and I had to use a super thin plastic washer to get it right)

Highlights:

integrated camera

easy to adjust settings from the edge computer it is connected to

love the preview from the varia phone app for easy positioning

overlay of date/time of ride (it should offer easy overlay of performance stats since it is directly connected to an edge unit, a 1050 at that)

the unit can take up to a 512gb microsd card per Garmin that's more hours than most will ever need

Have not had to use, but Garmin support is great, they've replaced products out of warranty for free as a courtesy, so 'yay Garmin'

Unit feels rugged

Fast, easy charging with usb c

Daytime battery life, certainly less than my NR, but both units require very little attention in this situation

I purchased the unit when BTD had a 25% off storewide sale, and I am not upset with what I got for my money. It would feel very hard to justify purchasing this camera/light at full price though. So far, I would be fine giving my friends the 'buy' recommendation, and while I'm not hopeful for quality of life updates it would be nice to see performance metric overlay, easier to navigate settings, turning off auto light brightness by default.

The Edge 840 is a really good GPS computer. I purchased this after my Wahoo Roam started being unreliable. The detail and capabilities of the Edge are superior to the Wahoo. I do most of my riding solo and the LiveTrack on the Edge provides much more detail than the tracking on the Wahoo.

The one negative I can think of is that the setup and menus on the Edge and the Garmin Connect app are WAY to complex. It seems like any sort of configuration change on the Edge is buried three layers down in the system menu.

I've been on the fence about getting these, but decided to bite the bullet knowing they were almost likely to get more expensive. And I really should have gotten them sooner! Integration with the head unit is seamless (Edge 540), display is clear and intuitive without overloading me with information. Not many false positives (reading cars that weren't there) and no false negatives (missing cars that were). Bonus: It does a great job of picking up smaller vehicles (other bikes, scooters) that come up quickly. Light is really bright and I have no doubt it is really easy to spot.

The only thing I wouldn't use this for is my commute--it would just be going off non-stop while I ride through the city and I'm not sure the warning would outweigh the noise.

If you have a saddle bag that potentially obstructs the radar function, I'd suggest getting a mount that affixes itself to your saddle bag and maybe a protective case and lanyard to attach to the seat rails for extra peace of mind. Surprised Garmin doesn't at least provide the saddle bag mount as standard.

This bike computer was an upgrade for me from a Garmin Edge 130 Plus. The technology isn't the latest, i.e., no touch screen, no solar power. However, the upgrade has provided many advantages over the 130 Plus.

Here's what I like: 1) More data and fields per screen. E.g., the 530 records fluid and calorie consumption, derailleur and gear status of Di2, and up to 10 data fields per screen. 2) More available screens. 3) Longer battery life by a wide margin. After 3-hour ride in 45F weather with screen brightness at 60%, battery is between 75 - 85%. 4) Faster processing and syncing. Syncing routes from RideWithGPS now takes seconds, not minutes. 5) I like the summary screen and data that are available after a ride.

Here's what I don't like: 1) It takes some time to learn the function of the 6 control buttons. They're very different from the 130 Plus. 2) While the 530 offers color maps that can be browsed, the navigation process is very antiquated. Moving about on the maps is very slow.

The 4-star value rating comes from the retail price remaining around $300, which I believe is high compared to other computers and newer technology that's available. Overall, I like the computer, feel it's a good improvement over the 130 Plus, and would recommend it to anyone who wants solid function and capabilities at a moderate price.