Garmin
Received the Varia RTL510 today. Great service! Connected it to my Garmin 1030, which was easy and straight-forward. Took it for a ride over a mixture of roads and bike path. The Varia correctly identified cars from considerable distance, and tracked multiple vehicles as they approached. I was never surprised by one. On the trail it functioned perfectly as a tail light. it never gave a false positive for other riders or runners. You don't think you need this, but you do, and you will love it.
I was an early adopter of a power meter and am returning to the sport after several years off. pedal based power meters for me are the way to go. Have heard mixed reviews on the Garmin V3's but compared to the other pedal systems, I feel Garmins are the most like normal Look pedals and the competition are kludgey. I purchase refurbs that have the improved battery closure and got them at a great price for a dual sided system. Once I replaced the (2) LR44 batteries in each pedal with a single CN13 type, 95% of dropouts went away. I think that two batteries are problematic because the contact between the batteries is prone to vibration etc. Still get a few power dropouts probably some kind of signal crosstalk but not a huge problem.
Ive been riding for years and cant believe I never knew about or bought the radar until now! Most of my rides are solo so having an extra piece of mind of where cars are at during my ride is awesome. When paired with the right head unit, it beeps when it deducts a car and shows you a visible alert on how far back the cars.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my radar!!!
This device took just a few moments to pair with my Garmin. I ride on suburbanrural roads and this picks up any vehicle closing in on me - sometimes trailing cyclists. Between this and my drop mounted mirror I am never surprised. Would be nice if it made some noise to alert me when it picks something up since I need to look at the road, not the Garmin. Also - the mount would be nice to have an option to clip onto the back of a saddle bag since it is a bit hidden on the seat post. The light blinking feature is great for following cyclists who see it and know a vehicle is approaching. All in all, well worth the money as an additional safety feature that does what it says it will
