Prime Day Deal for Amazon Prime Members
Garmin Varia RTL 515 rearview radar/light. These are normally around $300 locally.
I bought one of these just recently and its an awesome safety feature when riding on remote roads.
Integrates perfectly with Garmin headunits too.
CamelCamelCamel.
Hal, open the pod bay doors.
I'm sorry, I can't do that Dave.
I bought that exact same Bryton radar off the exact same Amazon listing for $121.05 back in April. Now it’s on “Sale” during prime day for almost $30 more.
Is it any good?
Was $107.84 (delivered) when I purchased from Aliexpress in June.
The benefit of this device will warn you before you get hit.
The benefit of a mirror allows you to see the vehicle trajectory and take action.
My 3 bikes all have $10 Hafny 70mm mirrors. Priceless, and they don't need charging.
This device allows an overlay on your bike computer to show the distance between you and the vehicle and its approach speed.
Yes, I struggle to see the advantage of this over mirrors. Does it tell you of an approaching vehicle when you are going around a corner and you can't see them in a mirror? But then what? Do you head for the scrub?
The radar is highly sensitive and will pick up cars behind you on a corner.
For me, it picks up cars when I am riding on paths well off the road.
No one is forcing you to buy it mate, stick to your mirrors if that's what you feel better about.
It gives you an additional ‘sense’ that improves safety on the bike. You can still use mirrors as well if you want.
A mirror doesn't beep at you from your head unit and vibrate your watch. Adding a cheap mirror to use with the varia sounds like a good idea though!
I've been doing some early morning rides lately where it can be really foggy. The radar is great as it picks the car up before you can see them through the fog. The radar is good to give you the first warning via the head unit beep just to let you know something is approaching from behind. Then you can do your head check or use your mirror to confirm. You don't want to be looking at the mirror constantly when you should also be paying attention to the road ahead. I've been riding with a radar for over 5 years now and can't imagine riding without one. There's a lot of people I ride with that have purchased one after seeing how they work and they are converted. Also I find the change of flash pattern when there is a detection helps alert the driver. I've been finding a lot more people pay closer attention on passing safely riding with a radar than without one. I guess it's almost like drivers go ohh crap something is watching me. I'll also note that I've found in my use that the range of detection is much less in heavy rain. Maybe down to like 50m from 120m plus. But I'm made of cardboard and rarely ride in the rain.
TIL this would be a good thing to have on my bike! What head unit would be good to link it with?
Garmin Edge and Wahoo Elemnt ranges work with this…
Still tempted to wait for an updated model.
![[Prime] Garmin Varia RTL515 Cycling Rearview Radar with Tail Light - $212.68 Delivered @ Amazon AU](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/79/856979.jpg?h=cf03f91b)
Best price I’ve seen!
Never ride without it.