I bought one this year as I’ve been riding mostly on rural highways. Now I can’t live without it and my stress level has gone down considerably. By the way, I think you missed a couple of things 1) when a car is coming, your light will also blink at a different rate so the car can notice you better (on solid and on flash mode). 2) you can change the side on which your Garmin will display the cars approaching behind you. In N America, cars will be passing you on your left so you need to modify your settings to reflect that. You left yours in the default setting which is not the right way to use it for someone in Florida. And finally, the Garmin can display up to 8 vehicles approaching from behind you. Good to know if you’re thinking of moving out once the first car passes you and didn’t realize there are more cars coming. Granted you have a mirror but most of us don’t use a mirror. Remember too that the radar will only pick up objects (including bicycles) that are moving faster than you. If they are moving at the same speed, it won’t beep. The varia is especially very helpful on windy days when it’s hard to hear cars coming behind you.

I prefer to not override light mode but just leave it in auto mode. Thanks to that light starts flashing when a car is approaching. One more observation is that I've watched tons of Varia review videos. But only when you own one you realize that there is something very difficult to express in a video. It's level of confidence and increased feeling of safety you gain having this on your bike. Great piece of bike equipment which - although a bit pricy - well worth every penny.

Looks like my next bike essential! Glad you mentioned that everyone should ride with a mirror. I am amazed how egos push safety aside. I know of a couple riders that would have 100% avoided getting hit and now deal with chronic pain.

This is the best purchase I’ve made, it’s a big help when a vehicle approaches from behind.

What a great safety feature. Among all the other gadgets (power meter, cadence meter, heart rate monitor, GPS...), this is the one to have. Safety first.

I have one and love it. One thing you forgot to mention that I think is cool is the Varia tracks more than one car. You can see a whole series of dots and even the spacing between the dots to see how the cars are arrayed behind you. I noticed that sometimes if a car comes up to you and then drives at the same speed as you it can sometimes disappear. The radar likes to see a speed difference.

The Varia is indeed a gamechanger. It's given me a magnitude of confidence in knowing what's coming up behind me. Like you, all my bikes have a mirror (despite it not being the fashionable thing to do). Thanks for spreading the word! Great review.

This is definitely game changer. I started to do long solo rides, which I absolutely terrified to do before. It notified you and car driver behind that you see him!

Thanks for making this clear and concise review. Clever Garmin, I’ll put one on my Christmas list.

Another good bit of advice again ,appreciate it .Really enjoying the recent distribution of diverse videos .Keep um coming. All the best .Lloydy. Uk

Purchased one a couple of months ago and I agree it is a game changer, nice review.

When these first came out, I thought what a gimmick. Now I have ridden with one, what an awesome bit kit. I was so impressed I went out and ordered one that same night. I now will not ride without it. I have the older RTL510, but still a brilliant unit, decent back light and the radar such a help. It can see vehicles much further back than I can hear them. On group rides, I am now always the first to warn of car at the rear. Try one, you will not be disappointed

Have had one of these over the summer, ride on rural roads in Surrey and love it , it’s really useful on the quieter rural roads when you can know when a car or motorbike is coming up behind you especially when they come at speed. I have a bit of town traffic to get through and it will beep a lot but it’s not for town riding, can’t do without mine now!

Yes 👍 it’s great technology, I have had one for 2 years and I like that it can keep me alert with a sound and show me that not only one cars is behind but multiple cars are behind, which is hard to tell with your ears ! Safety First kudos!

Been using for 3 seasons, I bought one for son and his wife! If you own a garmin watch, it will vibrate if you connect to the radar. Best, accessory I’ve purchased for my bike

I have been using the varia 510 with my Wahoo Roam and Element for the last year. The varia signal can be synced with several riders close together so if you are the back man in the bunch all the riders get the car approaching signal. I'm now waiting for a rear camera which will be turned on and off in a similar way with the ant plus and Bluetooth. Best safety feature on a bike since the helmet.

I have had mine about a year, like most commentors i find it essential for road riding.

LOVE LOVE IT!!!!! Road today with mine for the first time.

Thanks Clint. I’m thinking of getting one and your review helped.

Ur review of the Third-eye mirror encouraged me enough to give it a shot. It made Road cycling soooo much more enjoyable and now with this review, I'm going to add the Varia. Thank you for your great reviews and opinions. Keep it up!

I've been wanting one for peice of mind. Good review have it bookmarked for later.

Totally agree Clint..my wife and I ride Varia.. we'll never be without it..game changer.

I Have used a Varia for over two years. Ride by myself on busy roads, your opinions are right on. Even on gravel roads it helps, very seldom have a car come up from behind on gravel, but the Varia tells you when they do!!!

Couldn’t live without it; here on the country roads in Italy it is indeed a game changer and is a great heads up on the dangers behind.

FYI one of those two "round seat post adaptors" is actually for a D-shaped seat post.

Yep. Got one and love it. It paired well with a Wahoo as well, the dot is a little car on the wahoo roam and the LEDs light bars flash and beep so you get plenty of warning ⚠️ wouldn’t ride without it now.

Best piece of bike accessory I have bought

Great Review. They are a Godsend. When a 40ft electric powered bus overtakes you that you didn’t know was sitting behind the noisy car that did, it makes you think !

We got two at home for about a year now. Works great! Front white day flashing light by Bontrager goes with pretty good too.

I finally got one of these this year. I have been eying them for about 3 years now and just didn't want to spend $200 on a tail light. I already had a really nice bright "dumb" tail light and didn't want to spend $200 more for this one. But when my tail light broke this year, I decided that instead of spending $100 to replace the tail light I previously had, I would just splurge to get this one. I will never hesitate to spend that $200 ever again. This light is a game-changer and makes road cycling much more fun and relaxing. My wife and my mom (even at 35, my mom still worries about me) won't let me ride without it anymore. It makes them feel better, it makes me feel better, and it works. It is also worth mentioning that in addition to alerting you of passing cars, it will actually change its flash pattern when a car gets within 50m or so, just to make sure they saw you. I think this variability in the flash pattern is extra effective at making sure cars see you because it will catch the eye of a semi-distracted driver (which is most of them) because it triggers an anomaly in their brain and causes them to pay attention (instead of solid or a predictable flash). Another fun thing I learned about this is that it can broadcast to unlimited headunits over ANT+ simultaneously. THe reason this is good is when you are riding as a group. Everyone in the group can learn your radar into their garmin or wahoo head unit and get the car alerts simultaneously. So you can share the knowledge and safety features with other people riding with you. I've never had this device fail to warn me about an upcoming car. It does occassionally give false positives, but I would rather it lean on the side of caution and warn me about imaginary cars, then NOT warn me about real cars and so far it is spot on (probably about 3,000 miles with it). Don't hesitate like I did for 3 years. This will change the way you ride. You won't regret a penny.

Fantastic piece of kit. Love my varia and love garmin

Just got the varia. I was also an obsessive mirror watcher... being able to just relax until I hear the ding has been a game changer. This device is amazing.

Found the Varia to be invaluable due to COVID lockdown and being forced onto city streets to avoid the peds and crowds on shared paths. Paired with the phone app and a Coros helmet means i see the cars coming from the app (phone mounted on handlebar with quad lock) and beep comes through the headphones in the helmet. Took awhile to get it mounted as I also have a cyclic camera but now takes some stress away when out on main roads with plenty of cars.

Best idea in a long while.

You will love the Netherlands to ride you're bike! All around cycling infrastructure. Thanks for the review! It seems I need one to.

Once you ride with a Varia you will never ride without one.

I have the version before this but it still works a treat. They can detect multiple cars coming up behind. Another great thing is that the light pulses more as the car approach’s, which makes you much more visible to the car. I honestly now feel less safe without it. They are a must buy.

As a mountainbiker I feel very uncomfortable at the road with the heavy fast traffic passing too close to me. Varia makes it more comfortable knowing when and how will I get passed. P.S. You can move the dots on the left side. More intuitive in traffic that goes on the right

I have had the original Garmin Varia for years and recently bought the latest version. It allows you to focus on the ride and what is ahead while the Garmin watches your rear. This is especially valuable on fast descents of 20 mph or more. At 20 mph plus, you can't hear cars coming up from behind, and glancing back means that you're moving a hundred feet forward while you're looking back. I can take the lane at 30 and magically move to the side without looking back, keeping my eyes on the road.

I've got one of this recently, just be surprised and definitely love it.

Varia is way cooler than I expected. I feel much better on the road with it. My version doesn't have a leash attachment. So I got a stick-on GoPro leash mount for a little insurance.

Recently installed the Garmin Varia RVR315 (w/o taillight), and I have to agree that this is a game-changer. My head unit is a Hammerhead K2; the Varia paired easily, and the rendering of upcoming autos is similar to what you see on a Garmin head unit, i.e., car icons move up the screen until the cars pass you. The Varia has completely changed the way I prepare to move left while road cycling, allows me to use more of the road when I'm on winding descents, and cues me to get back in the bike lane (or shoulder) when necessary. As others have noted, the confidence level shoots way up!

I got one about a year ago ... didn’t think it was all that necessary; but thought I would treat myself. I have found it to be indispensable. Especially on roads that I need to ride to get to the trails. Instead of riding on the tight un-manicured shoulders where all the potholes are I ride in the middle of the road without a care in the world, and when a car begins to approach me from behind my garmen warns me with a beep.... I simply move towards the shoulder until the vehicle passes by. Or when making a u-turn in the rain, fog, snow I check the garmin then shoulder check and make the the u-turn with an abundance of confidence. Having the light flash as a vehicle approaches is equivalent to wobbling the bike to ensure drivers attention. Pulling out to pass others, which I’m having to constantly do, is seamless with the radar. Besides it looks cool ... like AirPods use to look 5 years ago. One problem though. It should have a pin hole somewhere for mounting a tether as a backup security when your on the north shore.

Also this light will let you know if you have a wheel sucker coming up as well lol, love this thing!!

Agree I love having mine!!!

You can change the side on which the vehicle dot moves up on. In the US and European area the dot can move up the left side if the computer, while here in the UK I have set to move up the right side of my computer like in the video. Got mine this past August and absolutely love it. Great to get the audio tone and the moving dot indication of an approaching vehicle from behind.

The Varia has paid for itself more than once when it alerted me there was a car behind me and I was in the zone drifting away from the edge of the road.

Clint, this unit is superb & like yourself I also use a mirror. For the brief moments of inattention the 'beep!' reminds me to look at my mirror. For such a quality unit I do despair that it's attached with a very thin rubber band (I've switched to thicker stretch cord)

I have the earlier version, the 510. When you have a car approaching from the rear it will normally give you orange sidebars, but if it is approaching a a high speed, it will give red sidebars. Only once did it fail to notify me of a car from behind. I was stopped at a traffic light with a car about 30 feet behind and on green we both moved forward at about the same speed. The Varia did not find the car cruising behind. I also wish I could adjust the warning beep to make it louder.

Thanks for the review and information!

I’ve been using the Varia RTL510 for about two years with my Edge 1030. I love it, but the sound emitted from the 1030 is too weak and high pitched for an old guy like me to hear. Sometimes when a young person is riding with me, they will hear the sound and ask me what it is. My wife got the RTL515 this year and uses it with her cellphone. The cellphone gives such a loud signal that even I can hear it when riding with her. The Edge 1035 is reported to have a louder signal than the 1030. I should also mention that when I use it on my mountain bike with a dropper seat, I invert the Varia on the mount to give the radar a little extra height over the tire. It works.

I can only agree. I bought mine almost two years ago and I tell everyone that this gadget is my best cycling companion. It covers my back 100% of the time.

Very nice review. Thank you !

Í have been using this and the previous model (RTL510) since they came out. Like you, I think they are a game changer. Getting alerted on cars and also motorcycles (even the small 25 or 50 cc ones so popular here in Europe) is really helpful. Also, I don’t think I ever had a true “false positive” from them. They do pick up trains coming up from behind, though. But that is a really small thing. To quote an old advertisement from a certain credit card company: “Don’t leave home without it.”

I dont normally comment on youtube but I I have the same devise paired to wahoo element roam. It is essential equipment and works great. your comments are similar to what I would say. I cannot believe how accurate it is with respect to cars and car counts. I have found that a truck and trailer will fake it out a little and the trailers are sometihing that I am very sensitive to as they tend to be wider than the driver thinks they are. Great product a must for any roadie. No affiliation to Garmin or Wahoo

Love my Garmin Varia. I like that it is just something else that indicates to me a car is approaching from behind. I have a mirror but occasionally have missed that car is coming and since getting Varia it has never missed a single car. I ride mainly on country roads where cars can approach at speed and it is nice to have that warning. I have a Wahoo Elemnt and it works very well with it. Prior to getting the Garmin Varia I had a cycliq video camera and it was good in catching a motorist doing the wrong thing but in reality never gave me prior warning that car was coming and been prepared so to me the Varia is a bigger safety benefit. It is shame that the Garmin does not have a camera but I would use the Varia over a camera any day.

Love my Varia on tight twisty mtn roads where you have little time to tell what's coming up from behind. Especially on fast tight downhills.

Bought one as soon as I started riding. I won't leave the house without it. I also enjoy calling out cars before anyone else in the group even heard the car.

The major trouble with the Garmin Varia when used with a Garmin head unit is that many older people cannot hardly hear (if at all) the notification beep from the head unit. The beep frequency that Garmin uses is one that is the first to go at one ages. At 60 I have normal hearing and cannot hear the head unit beep at all. Garmin does not give you the choice of any other frequency beep or a way to raise the beep volume. So it is great at verifying that a car is present once I hear it coming by. It is helpful when making left turns or going down hills where I can manually look at the head unit but I cannot stare at the head unit all the time. Without a sure fire notification of something behind you it loses a lot of its potential value!

I’ve been using Varia for years, upgraded to the newer, slimmer unit which works flawlessly. It’s honestly a must have for cyclist of all levels!

It's a GAME CHANGER, totally agree, and yes a mirror is required as a double check. I am a road-biker and live in Silicon Valley and won't go for a ride without the Varia. Good (very) accurate review.

Not something I can see myself needing. However, a couple years back a nasty ear infection coupled with a couple trips on airplanes left me def in one ear for a couple of weeks and had my hearing not come back I could definitely see me picking something like this up. On another occasion a neck injury made it hard to turn my head for awhile, and again, I can see where if I couldn’t turn my head much something like this would be a great help. I’m all for anything that gets people out on bike and this looks like it would be a big help at getting people out on bikes.

After I was hit by a car at 62MPH, I had to get something. I got the first gen Varia Radar and like you, it has been a game-changer. Really gave me the confidence to get back on the bike and ride.

One of my best purchase this summer.

I absolutely agree. Varia AND Mirror can save your live ! Don´t wanna miss it

Have the VARIA and now I will not ride without it. Absolutely a game changer!!

One other feature to point out, if you leave it in solid light mode, it will start to flash as a car approaches you to help catch their attention. Have mine paired with my Wahoo and along with a mirror feel much safer out on the roads. Wahoo plays a second beep when it's "all clear". I wish Garmin would add that too so you don't have to keep looking at the screen.

I thought about this system when watching the Dakar rally race. They have a warning system like this. :) They should use this kind of system in bike races, so it alerts the camera bike, when it's too close to a rider and gives draft to the rider.

Another cool feature is if you’re riding in a group and other riders have Garmin computers they can also sync up to your radar. The radar will sync up to 12 units I believe

Great review. Thanks for sharing.

I bought the older model, RTL500, a couple of years ago to use with the Edge 1030 head unit. I thought it sounded a little gimmicky, wow I was wrong. It is perfect for riding on quiet country roads, especially when riding fast or into the wind. My cycling buddies liked it too. One commented that they felt exposed when I was not riding with them. They have since bought their own. It is very rare that it fails to detect a car; if it does it is usually a smaller car behind a larger car (i.e. expecting 1 but 2 passed). The only other time is going around a curve, where I enter the curve as the car is at the limit of detection (~140m) then closes significantly while the radar can't see because of the curve. As always, Garmin's disclaimer is you must still clear the road with your eyes when making turns or changing lanes.

I use the Varia that does not come with the light as I already have the Bontrager lights. I carry the varia inside my seat bag attached with Velcro on the back flap. Works great with no interference to the radar.

Agree with your review, Clint. I feel so much safer riding on the road with my varia. I've noticed that the varia most of the time alerts me when other cyclist approach from behind. In fact, the cyclist alert seems to be more reliable since the recent software update to my Garmin 530 (I think V. 6).

My Varia Radar has been a game changer for me because I rarely have to look back now. We older folks have flexibility issues at least I do so this device has been well worth the money IMO.

I have the Varia and love it. Question for you... What mode is "day" and what mode is "night"? I assume the steady high to low dim is for day time, and the flashing is for night time?

i have the predecessor and the part works perfectly with the edge 830 and i would buy it again immediately !

Love to see you do a Wahoo product review

Looks very cool! In a perfect world it would also have an integrated camera. Something that loops like my Fly6.

I resisted these for a couple of years, I thought it was a gimmick. But I bought one and let my ride group connect to it for a ride, every single person bought one within a month.

Tip - in the sensor settings you can name your devices instead of the number which is default. Will help identifying which device you are working on.

When did trails become gravel?

I have the 510 paired with a Garmin 1030+. How did you get the app on your Garmin which displays, the radar/light controls?

Awesome 👏

Good review. Where I live in in England it would be bleeping and flashing all day long, the traffic is ridiculous!

Its perfect as sometimes you cant hear in time however I have had instances where you either get a phantom car or no indicator at all happens not often but happens. Something you didn't mention but I feel worth knowing is you can select which side of the garmin screen to indicate the traffic so you always know which side you will be overtaken on.

Clint, excellent review, just not sure I would use this - the constant warnings on busy roads would probably make me complacent. It might be nice to have on less travelled roads though, where traffic is less frequent (and the cyclist is more isolated)?

I've never had a problem hearing cars behind me, and even being able to gauge how fast, and how close they are. Always on top of my ride though. Never thinking about this, that, or the other thing.

Best gadget I ever bought.

I've had mine for 4 years now works faultlessly. Great when it's windy, you cant always hear traffic coming up behind you.

...Two other indirect uses/benefits I’ve found are as follows: Looking at my bike computer and realising there’s no car coming I can reach for my bidon and will not be overtaken whilst drinking from it, whilst having only one hand on the handlebars. Also on narrow rough country roads, knowing there’s nothing coming from behind I can confidently take a different line and cycle in the middle of the road.

Whether riding on gravel or on my tri bike, I will not go without the Varia. It is awesome!

Clint take a look at the 3D printed mount options. I purchased a swat one such an improvement. Screws into the seat rather than the o ring strap.

Love mine! Never ride without it.

What about when you ride in the city with a lot of cars are passing behind me?

A worthwhile investment. It's not perfect but boy it adds another tool in you're safety box. Two things that I noticed you have to watch for is, if you have riders in the rear they may block the radar and it may not pick up the car until its very close, if at all. The other is since the mount is just a big rubber band, it often gets rotated off center in which case it may not be picking up the cars. You need to keep a close eye to make sure it's pointed straight. That could be an easy fix if they just made a mount with a screw band. But all in all a must have.

Yap, got it , and I have to say , it's amazing

A couple of things I learned from this vid. I didn’t know the varia will turn off when you turn off the head unit. And never realized you can swipe over to see the battery charge of the varia on the head unit.

Excellent product💯👍

Thanks for sharing

I personally think first is most important to have a rear view mirror and only then go to this, because even it tells you a car is coming the worrying thing is the side distance, and you need a mirror to be able to judge that.