Garmin

I upgraded from my Edge 830 because I wanted a dual frequency GPS unit. Why? Because the Garmin Edge 830 absolutely sucks under trees. If you look at the resulting GPX data, you will see that the 830 shows many points with zero velocity, even if you were moving. I hoped that the 1050 would be better, and it is, but it's still woefully noisy, and I find that disappointing. Can't Garmin get a solid GPS signal (or post-process it) like my phone does?

A second weakness is that this unit is a bit large for mountain biking. But.. I knew that when I bought it. If you use it for mountain biking, think about that.

A third weakness is that it doesn't tell you when a ride is uploaded (like the 830 did). You just have to wait and hope.

Aside from these, rather annoying weaknesses, the 1050 has a glorious screen, good battery, better climbing data, a responsive screen, and great configurability. It's a nice step up from the 830 in those areas.

This is my second Garmin Varia, the first being a 515 model that I used for over three years. The RearVue 820 seems to be more sensitive and indicates traffic farther back than the 515. The change of the radar sensor from bottom to top also tends to cause less issues with the rear wheel triggering the radar.

I do like the change to a USB-C port for charging. Hopefully the longevity of the radar is at least as good as the 515. I wish the battery was replaceable but also know the waterproof integrity of the radar would probably be a compromise. Pricing was a little steep but since the 515 died suddenly it was a needed replacement.

I have been using this HR monitor for over a year now. It is such a big improvement over a chest strap.

I use the HR monitor when I cycle and had trouble with chest straps coming loose. This one is perfect and totally comfortable since it attaches to a sports bra. I highly recommend!

This is the go-to radar-rear light combination. Many fellow cyclists use and recommend this combo, and I finally made the decision to upgrade my Garmin RVR315 radar and separate rear light to the Garmin RTL515 radar-rear light combination.

The RTL515 coupled easily to my bike computer (Garmin 830 Edge) and with my RideWithGPS app. The radar-light combination has functioned as advertised since purchase. I charge the RTL515 after each ride. I was under the impression that the RTL515 would turn itself off after being disconnected from the Edge computer, and that I did not need to physically turn it off. Sounded great! However, after not turning the RTL515 off after an early ride, the RTL515 ran out of battery power and disconnected. I didn't try that again. The fully-charged RTL515 has not run out of battery power on any subsequent ride up to 3.5 hours.

I chose to wait until this device was significantly discounted to purchase, as I feel it's at the higher end of price for these devices.