GarminVaria RCT715 Radar With Camera(Return to Product Page)

At first, I was put off by the weight of this light vs my Lights in motion tail light. But the radar tracking of aproaching vehicles is fantastic. I've always used a small rear view mirror on my helmet, which I'm not abandoning, but that involves me tipping my head to look up every so often. The Varia alerts me to cars and even other bikes consistently, so I know well in advance if something is comming. If there are several cars in a row, the Varia shows me that as well, without my taking my eyes off the road ahead. I have it paired with a Garmin 840 edge computer.

I've seen some useres complain about the difficulty picking out specific instances to view on the cameral video aftereward. I agree. You have to scroll through a lot to find what you might be looking for, and can only do so when viewing on your cell phone. But the main reason for the camera is to document a crash or other dangerous incident. In that case , you can mark the spot on your computer widget, or if you are hit, at least the camera will have automatically recorded it for retrieval later.

It can be set to record only when the radar is detecting something, and then continues for about 30 seconds after. This saves battery, and disk memory, which is several hours anyway on flashing mode. You can get even more battery life by setting it to only flash when there is a vehicle aproaching from the rear.

For me, the benefits of this light are worth the weight, sort of like electronic shifting and disc brakes are worth the added weight over old cable shifting and rim brakes. And unlike disc brakes, you don't need to upgrade your entire bike frame to add the light.

Once I got everything set up with a larger memory card and formatted and the picture clarity is good. It's not a camera for pictures, but set up for safety purposes to catch license plates. I got online and add some apps to let me know how fast the cars are gaining and if I get hit it will record how fast the vehicle is going that hit me (Ya I know, I might be dead...that's where the lawyer comes in) I also got 20 mm lens covers (thin plastic) for it while using it on my road bike and will replace the cover with hard glass before I mount it on my gravel bike before the next gravel adventure/race. I have it set on only recording when a car is coming up (30sec.) and not continuously. I still ride with a mirror and occasionally see the car before the radar lets me know. It chirps loud enough to let me know when a car is coming ever over my earbuds are set at a low volume. I'm starting to learn to check my Garmin bike comp. before moving around on the bike that might throw me in to traffic. I'm depend upon the radar more than my mirror. I also like it because those sneaky quiet electric cars no longer catch me off guard.

There just isn't room for both this and my saddlebag on my seatpost (custom frame laid out by my fitter, so frame is NOT too big for me). I hoped to figure out some way to mount this to the saddlebag or elsewhere, either modifying the stock arrangement, finding a 3D printed clip, zip ties, etc but when it arrived I was stumped. So I returned it for credit.

Instead I will continue to use my RTL515 on a 3D clip attached to the saddlebag loop and have added a C**** brand rear video camera strapped to the tip of the seat tube.

You'd think Garmin would package Varia RT units with clips to mount them to saddlebag loops, as most cyclists who cover any distance use saddlebags to carry spares and tools.

I have used Garmin products for 20+ years and have been quite satisfied. Among the products I currently use are the Edge 1030 Plus, UT800 light, HRM, and Venu 2 watch -- all great products. I also have the original Varia "Rearview Radar", also great. However, I had always hoped Garmin would incorporate a camera into the Varia unit, so when announced I immediately bought it *knowing* that I could rely on high quality from Garmin. Sadly, this product leaves much to be desired: yes, the tail light and radar work just as well as the previous units, but the camera has no image stabilization and the software's file management is awful. First, the default is to create 90-second files! That can be adjusted, but apparently not if the file is created automatically by radar. Given that you may have hundreds of files from a ride, one might hope they could be easily viewed and copied. Nope -- you must select and transfer them one at a time, and much more slowly than expected. Currently, the only option for me was to pull the SD card and plug it directly into a computer. I can only hope Garmin will address the SW issues (including adding stabilization) and remove the bad taste & disappointment I've had from this purchase.

My real-world usage has found that, even in good lighting, you can read plates less than 50% of the time. Maybe on butter-smooth roads it is usable. But even on even average paved road, and set to record at 1080p, the image is so jittery that the quality is too low to read the plates most of the time. The radar and light are great, though. Get the version without the camera.

The Radar is awesome. Great safety feature, do not have to constantly check your rear view mirror. The light is very bright. I have not checked any video recorded from the camera yet. My only complaint is the poor battery life when using the camera and the price.