Garmin Varia Cycling Rearview Radar with Visual and Audible Alerts for Vehicles and Wearable4U Bundle
$409.00 USD
Riding into the unknown just got safer with the Garmin Varia Cycling Rearview Radar. This innovative device keeps you alert to approaching vehicles with both visual and audible warnings, allowing you to focus on the thrill of the ride. Lightweight and compact, it seamlessly attaches to your e-bike, ensuring you’re always aware of your surroundings without compromising your adventure. With the added Wearable4 U bundle, you can enhance your cycling experience, making every journey a little more secure. Ride boldly, knowing you have a watchful companion on your side.
Description
In the world of cycling, awareness is your greatest ally. The Garmin Varia Cycling Rearview Radar with Visual and Audible Alerts elevates your ride by transforming the way you perceive your surroundings. Imagine gliding along your favorite trail, the wind in your hair, while an invisible guardian keeps watch for approaching vehicles. This innovative device not only enhances your safety but also allows you to focus on the adventure ahead.
Compact and lightweight, the Varia Radar seamlessly integrates into your biking experience. With its sleek design, it fits effortlessly onto your bike, delivering real-time alerts about oncoming traffic. No more glancing over your shoulder or second-guessing your surroundings; the radar provides visual and audible warnings, ensuring that you remain aware at all times.
Designed for both urban and rural riding, this device comes equipped with a robust set of features that cater to the needs of every cyclist.
- – Visual alerts on compatible Garmin devices, giving you a clear view of approaching vehicles.
- – Audible alerts ensure you never miss a notification, even in noisy environments.
- – Lightweight design at just 1.8 ounces, so you won’t feel weighed down on your ride.
- – Long battery life, allowing for extended rides without the need for frequent recharging.
- – Easy installation, ensuring you can hit the road with minimal setup time.
Imagine the peace of mind you'll experience as you cruise through busy streets or serene landscapes, knowing that the Varia Radar is diligently working to keep you safe. Its compatibility with Wearable4 U products enhances your biking experience even further, allowing for a cohesive tech ecosystem that supports your adventurous spirit.
Embark on your cycling journey with confidence. The Garmin Varia Cycling Rearview Radar is not just an accessory; it’s an essential tool for every rider who values safety and freedom. With this radar, every ride becomes an opportunity for exploration, knowing you have a reliable partner along for the ride.
25 reviews for Garmin Varia Cycling Rearview Radar with Visual and Audible Alerts for Vehicles and Wearable4U Bundle
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Kattywumpus –
I have used this bike radar for several months and it works great. I feel safer riding on the road now since it does a much better job warning me of vehicles coming from behind and how fast they are coming then a mirror which I have used for years. The only issue I have found is sometime the radar can’t lose track of a car if it starts to move at the same speed as me. I ride a lot on a shoreline road the follow a beach for several miles, in specific areas the road can get congested with pedestrians going to the beach and vehicles, when this happen car behind me can’t pass and must follow at my speed. When this happens, the radar can drop the indicator that vehicles are right behind me. But this seems to only happen in really congested area were everyone is going very slow. And yes, it does work very well with My Garmin Edge 520 bike computer.
PD –
I paid $300 for this to replace my Cycliq-6. The most serious issue first, the light turns off for no reason, sometime within minutes of turning on, this is not acceptable for dusk or night time bike riding. Videos are not as good as Cycliq-6 and it breaks the recording into these annoying 90sec segments, when reviewing them for 4 hour rides and editing them to post them on the club website. Even after watching many YouTube videos, I still can’t get it to extend the recording to 5 minutes which is max clip length it allows, which in itself is half the length of Cycliq-6. Even the latest Software buggy.
However, the radar works very well and it gives you a sense of safety, which is important.
Irwin_Danto –
This radar works great for me and compensates for my complacency, fatigue, and inattention.
Notified me of a vehicle exceeding the speed limit and riding the “fog line” on a right-hand curve while I was in the travel lane avoiding road junk on the shoulder. Gave me enough time to get back onto the shoulder.
Drawbacks: Some false alarms upon starting, then settles down within a minute.
I can’t imagine road riding without it.
I regret not getting one sooner.
Eddie G –
The media could not be loaded.
Excellent tool for having added awareness on your rear. The light stays solid and as it detects vehicles approaching it goes into a blinking mode to elevate awareness. My wahoo bike computer worked seamless with it. Computer will display car icons as it picks them up. It can display multiple depending on how many are approaching. Range is phenomenal. Radar would pick them up before I could even hear the tires on the pavement. Video is great considering I’m on a rigid road bike. Would highly recommend
Ahmed Masood –
The “715” is to road cycling, what GPS was in the late ’90s to everyone! It’s uses are so much more than just cycling. I taped it onto a PVC pipe and placed it in my garden out by the curb. I “speed trapped” my neighborhood street for 5 hours one morning. Just playing with it! I stopped on an overpass of Interstate 5 and recorded southbound traffic for 5 minutes, just to “play” with it. What about placing one of these in construction zones? Remember it’s video and speed recording. We’re looking at innovation here. I’ve been showing it to our police and sheriffs deputies. They’re amazed! Wouldn’t ever get on a road ride again without one.
Ahmed Masood –
This product is the best. It detects a car behind me before I can hear it and many times before I can see it in my mirror. It also tracks how close the cars are to you. Great safety device.
Irwin_Danto –
On May 18th when the big announcement was made I ordered the RCT715 directly from Garmin.
It’s true – the supporting phone app is crap – so what. Hopefully it will get better but it really does not have a practical purpose at the moment.
Garmin lost one full star on this product. 1/2 star for the phone app being useless. 1/2 star for the camera not being 4K. The video files are easily accessed. Just plug the RCT715 into a PC to access the video segments.
Likely it’s only 1080 due to power demands. If I put my GoPro 10 in 4K mode the best I can hope for is an hour of record. The RCT715 is both camera, radar, and tail light. It promises at least 4 hours with continuous record. But it sill should have been 4K.
This isn’t a rear facing camera to make adventure videos. Specifically it’s an evidence tool should a disaster need to be solved. We all fear the the incident with no witnesses. That’s the tertiary (3rd) purpose of the RCT715.
The secondary (2nd) purpose is to have a good sense of 2-ton vehicle activity come up from behind. For that you need Garmin’s Varia Vision which they unfortunately discontinued. I fortunately have one and dread the day it stops working. It’s nice knowing what is going on behind on the road.
The primary (#1) purpose is to have a decent visual tool to help drivers notice that you are sharing the road with them. It’s bright.. A rear tail light is probably one of the most important safety tools for any road cyclist. The Garmin tail lights are okay. I augment it with a Dinotte “Day Bright” tail light.
The big thing about the RCT715 is the addition of a camera to record an incident. I hooked up the RCT715 to my PC. Yes the video is not smooth like from a GoPro. But still image grabs from the video were great and could easily be used by law enforcement. Nobody would be using the phone app to manage things in such a situation.
Overall RCT715 seems to do what it’s suppose to do. And hopefully no one will ever need to look at the video segments. Their not easy to work but they are there. They are sharp. They are annotated. They might be the only witness should something bad happen.
HiFast –
It’s a terrific addition to any bikers equipment. The light is very bright, especially when flashing. And the video quality is good and I like the feature where the video is sent directly to my iPhone.
Howard Persky –
This Varia works very well. I have a wonderful sense of security knowing when a car is approaching.
HiFast –
This radar works great for me and compensates for my complacency, fatigue, and inattention.
Notified me of a vehicle exceeding the speed limit and riding the “fog line” on a right-hand curve while I was in the travel lane avoiding road junk on the shoulder. Gave me enough time to get back onto the shoulder.
Drawbacks: Some false alarms upon starting, then settles down within a minute.
I can’t imagine road riding without it.
I regret not getting one sooner.
Irwin_Danto –
The media could not be loaded.
Excellent tool for having added awareness on your rear. The light stays solid and as it detects vehicles approaching it goes into a blinking mode to elevate awareness. My wahoo bike computer worked seamless with it. Computer will display car icons as it picks them up. It can display multiple depending on how many are approaching. Range is phenomenal. Radar would pick them up before I could even hear the tires on the pavement. Video is great considering I’m on a rigid road bike. Would highly recommend
Howard Persky –
I paid $300 for this to replace my Cycliq-6. The most serious issue first, the light turns off for no reason, sometime within minutes of turning on, this is not acceptable for dusk or night time bike riding. Videos are not as good as Cycliq-6 and it breaks the recording into these annoying 90sec segments, when reviewing them for 4 hour rides and editing them to post them on the club website. Even after watching many YouTube videos, I still can’t get it to extend the recording to 5 minutes which is max clip length it allows, which in itself is half the length of Cycliq-6. Even the latest Software buggy.
However, the radar works very well and it gives you a sense of safety, which is important.
PD –
It’s a terrific addition to any bikers equipment. The light is very bright, especially when flashing. And the video quality is good and I like the feature where the video is sent directly to my iPhone.
Eddie G –
This Varia works very well. I have a wonderful sense of security knowing when a car is approaching.
whitelinerr –
This Varia works very well. I have a wonderful sense of security knowing when a car is approaching.
HiFast –
The “715” is to road cycling, what GPS was in the late ’90s to everyone! It’s uses are so much more than just cycling. I taped it onto a PVC pipe and placed it in my garden out by the curb. I “speed trapped” my neighborhood street for 5 hours one morning. Just playing with it! I stopped on an overpass of Interstate 5 and recorded southbound traffic for 5 minutes, just to “play” with it. What about placing one of these in construction zones? Remember it’s video and speed recording. We’re looking at innovation here. I’ve been showing it to our police and sheriffs deputies. They’re amazed! Wouldn’t ever get on a road ride again without one.
whitelinerr –
It’s a terrific addition to any bikers equipment. The light is very bright, especially when flashing. And the video quality is good and I like the feature where the video is sent directly to my iPhone.
Howard Persky –
The “715” is to road cycling, what GPS was in the late ’90s to everyone! It’s uses are so much more than just cycling. I taped it onto a PVC pipe and placed it in my garden out by the curb. I “speed trapped” my neighborhood street for 5 hours one morning. Just playing with it! I stopped on an overpass of Interstate 5 and recorded southbound traffic for 5 minutes, just to “play” with it. What about placing one of these in construction zones? Remember it’s video and speed recording. We’re looking at innovation here. I’ve been showing it to our police and sheriffs deputies. They’re amazed! Wouldn’t ever get on a road ride again without one.
Irwin_Danto –
On May 18th when the big announcement was made I ordered the RCT715 directly from Garmin.
It’s true – the supporting phone app is crap – so what. Hopefully it will get better but it really does not have a practical purpose at the moment.
Garmin lost one full star on this product. 1/2 star for the phone app being useless. 1/2 star for the camera not being 4K. The video files are easily accessed. Just plug the RCT715 into a PC to access the video segments.
Likely it’s only 1080 due to power demands. If I put my GoPro 10 in 4K mode the best I can hope for is an hour of record. The RCT715 is both camera, radar, and tail light. It promises at least 4 hours with continuous record. But it sill should have been 4K.
This isn’t a rear facing camera to make adventure videos. Specifically it’s an evidence tool should a disaster need to be solved. We all fear the the incident with no witnesses. That’s the tertiary (3rd) purpose of the RCT715.
The secondary (2nd) purpose is to have a good sense of 2-ton vehicle activity come up from behind. For that you need Garmin’s Varia Vision which they unfortunately discontinued. I fortunately have one and dread the day it stops working. It’s nice knowing what is going on behind on the road.
The primary (#1) purpose is to have a decent visual tool to help drivers notice that you are sharing the road with them. It’s bright.. A rear tail light is probably one of the most important safety tools for any road cyclist. The Garmin tail lights are okay. I augment it with a Dinotte “Day Bright” tail light.
The big thing about the RCT715 is the addition of a camera to record an incident. I hooked up the RCT715 to my PC. Yes the video is not smooth like from a GoPro. But still image grabs from the video were great and could easily be used by law enforcement. Nobody would be using the phone app to manage things in such a situation.
Overall RCT715 seems to do what it’s suppose to do. And hopefully no one will ever need to look at the video segments. Their not easy to work but they are there. They are sharp. They are annotated. They might be the only witness should something bad happen.
HiFast –
This radar works great for me and compensates for my complacency, fatigue, and inattention.
Notified me of a vehicle exceeding the speed limit and riding the “fog line” on a right-hand curve while I was in the travel lane avoiding road junk on the shoulder. Gave me enough time to get back onto the shoulder.
Drawbacks: Some false alarms upon starting, then settles down within a minute.
I can’t imagine road riding without it.
I regret not getting one sooner.
Irwin_Danto –
Excellent tool for having added awareness on your rear. The light stays solid and as it detects vehicles approaching it goes into a blinking mode to elevate awareness. My wahoo bike computer worked seamless with it. Computer will display car icons as it picks them up. It can display multiple depending on how many are approaching. Range is phenomenal. Radar would pick them up before I could even hear the tires on the pavement. Video is great considering I’m on a rigid road bike. Would highly recommend
Irwin_Danto –
This radar works great for me and compensates for my complacency, fatigue, and inattention.
Notified me of a vehicle exceeding the speed limit and riding the “fog line” on a right-hand curve while I was in the travel lane avoiding road junk on the shoulder. Gave me enough time to get back onto the shoulder.
Drawbacks: Some false alarms upon starting, then settles down within a minute.
I can’t imagine road riding without it.
I regret not getting one sooner.
Eddie G –
It’s a terrific addition to any bikers equipment. The light is very bright, especially when flashing. And the video quality is good and I like the feature where the video is sent directly to my iPhone.
Eddie G –
Excellent tool for having added awareness on your rear. The light stays solid and as it detects vehicles approaching it goes into a blinking mode to elevate awareness. My wahoo bike computer worked seamless with it. Computer will display car icons as it picks them up. It can display multiple depending on how many are approaching. Range is phenomenal. Radar would pick them up before I could even hear the tires on the pavement. Video is great considering I’m on a rigid road bike. Would highly recommend
PD –
Edit to my review.
I purchased this unit in 2022.
3 years later the battery no longer gets a full change.
It only lasts about 2-1/2 hours which is not long enough for a weekend ride.
This review is for the Varia 715.
I have a modified mounting system.
I’m using it with a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt.
I have not used the camera function, so my review doesn’t take that into account.
Simply put, it works.
It’s fantastic. I don’t like riding without it. It’s the best piece of kit I’ve gotten for my bike in recent years.
I have to cross over 2 lanes of traffic on a very busy road to get into my street while going uphill around pot holes and the Varia helps.
You still need to look behind you to check before you cross over a lane but knowing when cars are there and how fast they’re approaching makes riding safer.
Especially for the moments when you need to go around the now frequent bad sections of roadway. The ability to track multiple cars simultaneously is a nice feature.
Cars that are moving at the same speed as you are will not show up on radar so, again, don’t rely on it exclusively. Always look behind you before crossing a lane.
The battery definitely lasts for a 4–5-hour ride.
So, why only 3 stars?
1. Garmin’s lack of mounting options.
This unit comes with a seat post mounting bracket and that’s it.
If, like me, you have a saddlebag that takes up that space you’re out of luck
I think this is very short sighted.
IF Garmin had a saddle rail mounting option, I’d give it 4 stars.
I’m sure it’s tricky to produce a mounting option that works for everybody, but I don’t think they tried very hard.
2. I don’t like the plastic lever set up that locks the Unit in place.
I haven’t seen any reviewers complain about it breaking but I suspect it will eventually.
When it does, there goes $400.00.
3. Without a Garmin “Edge” you can’t fine tune the light.
Even in “Peleton” mode I’ve gotten complaints about how distracting the light is.
There’s no option to turn off the light and just use the radar.
If you have the Garmon Edge I believe you have more options for adjusting the brightness of the light.
I give Garmin high praise for making it work with Wahoo computers, but it would have been nice to have all the options the Garmin Edge user enjoys.
4. The door for the recharging port access seems a bit flimsy to me. This is nitpicking…
So, if you already have a Garmin Edge AND you have room on your seat post, this unit is a must have.
If you’re using a Wahoo cycling computer and you have a saddle bag you might want to wait for something else to come along.