[Review&QnA] Garmin Varia RVR315, Cycling Rearview Radar with Visual and Audible Alerts for Vehicles Up to 153 Yards Away
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[Review&QnA] Garmin Varia RVR315, Cycling Rearview Radar with Visual and Audible Alerts for Vehicles Up to 153 Yards Away
About this item
- Rearview radar provides awareness of vehicles approaching from behind up to 153 yards (140 meters) away
- Pairs seamlessly with your Edge bike computer and compatible smartphone as well as select Garmin wearables or the radar display unit
- When used with your compatible smartphone, the Varia app provides graphics — plus tone and vibration alerts — to indicate approaching cars
- When used with a compatible smartphone, Varia radar integrates with third-party apps such as Ride with GPS to overlay your maps with rearview radar alerts
- Compact vertical design mounts easily to most road-use bicycles
- Battery life: up to 8 hours
Reviews
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar with Tail Light | Verified Purchase
If you ride on county roads you NEED this
I have a very nice helmet mounted mirror so I didn't think I really needed this. Then my brother bought one and was raving about how well it worked. While I wasn't convinced it would really help that much, I like to stack the odds in my favor as much as possible so based on my brother's recommendation, I bought one.
I am using it with a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt bike computer and it works perfectly. It was extremely easy to set up both physically mounting it and wirelessly connecting it to my bike computer. On my first ride, I was riding on city streets in a residential area at a time of day when the traffic was pretty light. I had just glanced in my mirror and saw there was nobody behind me for several blocks when I heard the beep and saw the car icon on my screen to let me know there was a car close behind me. My first thought was "this thing isn't working" but when I glanced in my mirror again, I saw a car had pulled away from the curb close behind me. Over the next 20 minutes, I had several more experiences where the radar unit was picking up vehicles quicker than I could spot them in my mirror.
I like that it not only beeps to let you know a vehicle is approaching you but it also beeps to let you know if the car "disappears" (parks on the street or turns) so you don't keep waiting to be passed by a car that is no longer approaching you. On my second ride, I did about 30 miles of riding on county roads and that i where this unit REALLY shines. It not only shows you that there is a vehicle behind you but also how many vehicles are behind you. I was impressed that even though I could only see 1 large truck behind me in my mirror, the radar unit was showing there were actually 3 vehicles behind me and when the truck passed me I saw the radar unit was right.
I don't plan to ride on the road again without one of these. Now I would just like to get another seat post mount so I can easily move this device between bikes. It is not that big of a deal to move the mount between bikes but I would really like to put a mount on both of my road bikes.
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar with Tail Light | Verified Purchase
Awesome product
I’m a raving fan. Works far better than my bar-end mirror. And, yes, you can attach it to a saddle bag with a simple hack.
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar | Verified Purchase
Radar means getting a peace of mind on the road
With the Varia RVR315 now keeping tabs on what's going on 2 lanes left and/or right behind me, today's ride with the Varia RVR315 made the ride safer. While it won't prevent a from behind crash, it'll help noticing approaching cars before you eventually hear them, and gives you time to move further right (or left, depends).
I use the Garmin Edge 520 Plus to pair the Varia unit. The roads this morning were not that packed, and so I could only see that the Varia RVR315 tracks at least 4 groups behind you. The Edge shows groups with a dot in the display, and their relative distance to you. A group is a single car, or two cars driving next to each other. The Varia can't distinguish, but it's sufficient to tell that there's approaching traffic behind you.
I'm glad I made this purchase. Stay safe !
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar with Tail Light | Verified Purchase
How did I ever ride without this radar
First I'd like to say that the assortment of seat posts mounts is really appreciated. This light fits snug on my D-shaped seat post. Second, this is one of those products that once you use you ask yourself how you ever lived without. 99% of my riding is in rural/suburban areas where there are a handful of cars but not as packed as a city. This radar has been able to pick up every single car without fail when I ride by myself. The integration with my wahoo elemnt bolt has been flawless. I feel 10x safer riding alone now.
My only one wish would be a way to differentiate between cars and other riders passing you. I noticed on a ride with one of my friends he would show up as a passing car if he sped up behind me. This is a bit of an edge case but would still be nice to have one day.
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar | Verified Purchase
Great on gravel
For roads with light traffic (in my case country gravel roads) this thing is absolutely fantastic and I will not ride without it whether solo or in a group. Pair it with your GPS head unit like you would any other sensor (power meter, cadence sensor, etc) and it works like magic. Since it does ANT+ (and bluetooth) your frequent cycling friends can pair to your Varia simultaneously using ANT+ (unlike Bluetooth). In that case everyone will get the notifications at the same time - obviously your buddies have to be in range and everything is relative to your location but this thing will pickup vehicles well over 100m away, so who cares about a few feet.
The included mounts using the typical Garmin rubber band mount are OK, but for round seatposts the aftermarket fixed mount from Garmin is far more secure and worth it IMO. For curved setback posts you will be more limited on where you can place it because the angle of the mount relative to the horizon is fixed (Garmin, please make these adjustable like a light mount). I have it on two such curved posts and it works fine - I just have to mount it below the point where the seatpost begins to curve otherwise the radar would be pointing to far downward and it wouldn't work as well.
Wind noise, chatter with friends, gravel noise, all obscure your ability to hear a car approaching from the rear but this little guy is always looking out for you and eliminates surprises. It can also pickup multiple vehicles at the same time.
If your buddies are approaching from behind at a slightly faster pace - I'm going to *guess* a closing speed of 3mph or so - the radar will trigger a false alarm. A few false alarms don't take away from how awesome this thing is. Maybe that is something that can be tweaked via firmware, but I'd rather have the sensitivity maxed and deal with a few unnecessary alerts.
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar | Verified Purchase
Bicycle radar changes everything! Wow, where have you been all my life?!!?!?
Having just finished a weekend of riding with my bicycle radar, i radar to be way more useful on a bicycle than on an airplane! This things detects cars i can't see in my review mirror. By the time i can see the car in my mirror, it's already halfway up on the display. It's a game changer for sure. This product has spent plenty of time in the R&D oven. Unlike most other bicycle tech, the Garmin Varia RVR315 worked beautifully and dependably, and it quickly paired to my 4 year old Wahoo Elemnt bike computer with no BS tech hemorrhaging; no software updates, no configuration logins, no required registration, no rebooting or pairing BS, it just worked like tech should.
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar with Tail Light | Verified Purchase
Well worth the $$$$
Let me preface my review by saying I hemmed and hawed about kicking out $200 for this thing. My buddy has one and he swears by it. I started road riding and after a couple of near misses, I broke down and got it. I LOVE IT. It is freaking awesome. It fully integrates with my RideWithGPS software on my phone and not only picks up cars but will pick up faster riders on a trail too. Its also helpful when riding with a person and leading as you can tell how far back the other person is without looking over your shoulder since they appear as a vehicle that is matching your pace. I'm glad I pulled the trigger on it. I have one very very big con though. Since the Varia must be mounted at least 4 inches above your tire to work correctly, it means giving up my under seat tool bag. Also the rubber band mount that came with it is basically useless. It will twist if you hit a bump and I'm really leery of trusting my $200 device to two cents worth of rubber. I ended up getting an under seat mount for an additional $25 for it. For $200 they really needed to include your choice of mounts.
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar with Tail Light | Verified Purchase
Works Great
We ride a tandem bicycle and knowing if we have traffic approaching from the rear is important to us. We have mirrors but sometimes we miss a vehicle approaching from the rear. The audible alert from our bike computers was not very loud and we could not hear it. However when the RTL515 is paired to my wife’s phone using the Garmin Varia app we get a nice loud audible alert. We highly recommend this item when used with the app.
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar with Tail Light | Verified Purchase
Game changer
For a long time I avoided riding on the road because I didn’t want to become a hood ornament for a distracted driver. I mostly stuck to mountain biking but I really didn’t ride that much which was a huge bummer. Then I went for a ride with a buddy who had the older version of this and raved about it. Now I’m that guy who raves about it.
Apart from my helmet, this is probably my single most important piece of gear now and I won’t go ride without it. Between this and a mirror I feel so much more confident and safe on the road.
The Garmin app is ok but is very basic. Ride with GPS has a more sophisticated integration with different audible alarms for cars approaching, cars approaching fast, and all clear. I usually ride with 1 Bluetooth headphone in so I can hear it really clearly and listen to music, but I’m not wild about running another GPS based app on my phone because it drains my battery and I track my rides through my Fenix 5. I know you can connect the Varia directly to my watch, but since my headphone is connected to my phone I would lose the in-ear audible alerts. I’m looking forward to connecting it to a new Fenix 6 Pro so I could have all the functionality in one device.
★★★★★
Style: Rearview Radar with Tail Light | Verified Purchase
This thing is a game changer
If you ride anywhere other than a densely populated city center like NYC or LA or Chicago... this thing is a real game changer. I have no idea how I rode for some 15 years before getting this. I started using it last summer and I honestly can't believe more people don't rant and rave about them... I don't think it has EVER missed a car behind me. Sure you get some false positives from time to time but NOTHING has ever snuck up on me in thousands of miles of riding now. This is one of the best bike related purchases I've ever made. BUT, do make sure to keep it on flashing mode, not just solidly "ON' mode.
Question & Answer
Question :
I have a bag on the seat post. Can this be mounted on the seat itself with an adapter?
Answer :
According to Garmin instructions (available on their web site), the unit has to be in a vertical position (with the accuracy of several degrees. This is because it uses a fairly narrow (40 degrees) 24 GHz radar beam to detect cars. So, it would require a specially designed adapter. Garmin does not make such adapters for attaching radar to the seat because the radar emits 12 dBm (8 mW) of microwave radiation, and for health reasons it must be kept at least 5 cm from your body parts. If you attach it to your seat, you may subject sensitive parts of your body to microwave radiation with a dose higher than the dose which FCC considers safe.
Question :
Just got this device and mounted on back of seatpost. It does not look/feel secure at all with rubber bands easily slipping. Is this normal?
Answer :
I didn’t use the bands as I have a saddle bag in the way. There are more secure seat post mounts if you aren’t feeling the bands. I had to spend $45 on a 3D printed Garmin strap clip to attach it to my saddle bag, as Garmin doesn’t make one. C’mon Garmin. I also stuck a zip tie mount for a security cable just in case. More options than an answer good luck.
Question :
Can this detect when another cyclist is about to overtake you, or can it only detect cars?
Answer :
It will also detect and warn of cyclists approaching from the rear and overtaking. It's an excellent device and I use mine everyday. I strongly recommend it.
Question :
Do I have to buy a mounting hardware separately? Will it be safe from theft?
Answer :
You do not, it comes with mounting options for 3 different seatpost types. It is not safe from theft as it is a quarter turn install just like Garmin computers.
Question :
Is the varia rvr315 compatible with Wahoo Elemnt?
Answer :
I have used it with a Wahoo Bolt and a Wahoo Roam and it works perfectly.
Question :
Is this compatible with garmin edge 800???
Answer :
Per Garmin’s web site it is not. 810 or higher only for the 8xx series.
Question :
What radar band is this?
Answer :
K band (NATO) - 20 - 40 GHz.
Question :
What’s the size of the device ?
Answer :
DetailsDetails
Color One Color
Brand Garmin
Power Source Battery Powered
Item Weight 0.55 Pounds
Item Dimensions LxWxH 6 x 3 x 3 inches
Question :
Has anyone come up with a way to mount this to a bike rack? I have a Bonrager rack if that matters.
Answer :
I have an MIK and the adapters that came with it worked! Just make sure the size of adapter is tight!!!!
Question :
Can I pair two phones at the same time? I usually ride with the same person and it'd be helpful for us both to get notifications re cars
Answer :
We ride a tandem and both of our Garmim computers pick up the signal. Only one phone seems to work. We have two computers and one phone linked. It does require the Garmim app.
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