Opinions on Garmin Varia

[Mike_P]

I also get the error on a specific location, thinking it could be something else at one of the properties affecting either the radar or the communication to the headset.

 

[HLaB]

Has anybody with a Varia and Garmin head unit used My Bike Radar data field available on ConnectIQ? (Sorry Wahoo users, I don't think there is a Wahoo equivalent for the ConnectIQ app store)

It adds another field so you can show approaching vehicles' speed and distance and a count of vehicles that passed you. Crucially though, it embeds this data in the FIT file, so if you get hit or close passed you've got evidence of the speed and the timestamp, therefore also the GPS location. Not the distance they passed of course (though that would be nice in a future device!)


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkPFUGfw9VQ

I've got it installed, although I don't really check it often.

 

[HLaB]

I did a 3 hour radar test ride a couple of days ago.

The first 25 minutes were trouble-free but during the rest of the ride I got 4 recoverable radar errors. I think that the way these are handled by the Wahoo Bolt is daft! Ok, for an error requiring a device reset, display the error message until that reset has been done. In my case though, the system worked perfectly well after a button was pressed on the Bolt, so why not just issue a warning beep, display the error message for (say) 5 seconds, and not bother with the button press at all, or make it optional?

I did find the device useful. It consistently gave me warnings long before I would have spotted vehicles in my new Zefal Spy mirror (which I also liked, BTW). Once I knew that vehicles were on the way, I paid more attention to the mirror.

I had read about vehicles travelling at the same speed as the bike disappearing from the radar, so I was watching out for that. Riding along the Halifax Rd, I pulled out to pass parked cars, with a string of cars coming up behind me. There was oncoming traffic so I knew that (sane, attentive!) drivers would pause before overtaking me. Sure enough, the radar announced that they had gone even though I could see them in the mirror, waiting patiently. It would be better if the radar could confirm that they had not turned off, but I will always check the mirror for confirmation.

I liked having the radar and mirror when doing right turns off busy roads. It meant that I didn't do my shoulder check until I thought that the road behind me was clear enough not to worry about the slight wobble that I sometimes get due to my stiff neck. (Yes, I know - do some exercises to sort the neck problem out!)

One thing no sensible rider should need to be warned about... Do not try to see if the radar light actually is flashing as vehicles overtake! (Especially ridiculous when the rider has already checked that feature at the kerbside before setting off.)

Don't worry about the recoverable errors. I got none for years, then a garmin update introduced them. I think they are triggered by sudden changes in the distance of objects close behind you which very briefly can't be computed. I can't recall the last time other than the initial power on, Ive checked the actual Varia unit itself and instead glanced at the icon on the head unit.

 

[ColinJ]

I don't understand what you mean by cars disappearing but the Bolt may be different. On a Roam the indicator side bar shows:

Green - clear
Green + car icon(s) - vehicle at same speed, up to three or four vehicles shown on mine. If it's a constant stream of traffic as one passes and disappears off the top another appears at the bottom.

Orange + icon(s) - as above but approaching at a higher relative speed

Red + icon(s) - approaching at high speed

The vehicle icons disappear as the vehicle passes. I find the side bar a far better and more accurate indicator of what's happening. Relying on lights or beeps doesn't allow for what the user may have missed. The sidebar is like glancing in a rear view mirror - the other indicators rely on catching your attention. Possibly the Bolt doesn't show the side bar? A shame if it doesn't as this is a great feature.

Yes I have had cars travelling the same speed "disappear" but this seems to be quite rare. More usually it's because they get lost in the clutter.
I think losing cars going the same speed is just a feature of it being a simple doppler radar. It can only detect moving objects relative to the unit.

I mainly get radar errors at the same points on a ride, for example it always happens when arriving and leaving a specific village at exactly the same point. I think there is something causing interference, perhaps traffic monitoring kit that interferes with the Varia. It always recovers very quickly by itself and I usually just ignore the error message.

I also get the error on a specific location, thinking it could be something else at one of the properties affecting either the radar or the communication to the headset.

I am riding over to Hebden Bridge tomorrow for Christmas dinner so I will pay more attention to exactly what the display is (or isn't!) showing me.

I do have the coloured bar on the side of the Bolt screen and also the coloured leds along the top if the device.

I think that one of the radar errors happened here...

So interference from the electricity substation may have caused that one.

I read that Bluetooth may sometimes interfere with Ant+ so I will turn that off on my phone and see if that makes any difference.

 

[ColinJ]

I read that Bluetooth may sometimes interfere with Ant+ so I will turn that off on my phone and see if that makes any difference.

That did not seem to make any difference! I waved my phone about next to the Varia with and without Bluetooth switched on and comms with the Bolt were not affected.

 

[PaulSB]

That did not seem to make any difference! I waved my phone about next to the Varia with and without Bluetooth switched on and comms with the Bolt were not affected.

Out of idle interest, I don't see it as an issue, I did some googling. The two most plausible scenarios are modern car radar systems, lane control, vehicle detection etc. can overwhelm the Varia and/or a firmware update is required.

I feel car radar is the most plausible as I've never observed this on a gravel ride. We ride 60 - 85 miles off road, including perhaps 3 - 4 miles of tarmac, so no outside interference.

Overall it's a small, low cost radar device. The Varia dropping off from time to time doesn't seem surprising** More than anything I'm just amazed such a great bit of tech can be got for +/-£120.

** compare that with my Di2 Bluetooth phone connection, part of a +/-£1000 groupset, which drops off every time it's used.......now that really does piss me off and is, for me, a real issue. Shimano IT tech is truly shite

 

[Oldhippy]

Seems an awful lot of faff when a regular check of the mirror or turn of the head would be so much simpler, and I'd imagine you'd need to charge it every time the battery runs down. Everyone to their own though.

 

[PaulSB]

Seems an awful lot of faff when a regular check of the mirror or turn of the head would be so much simpler, and I'd imagine you'd need to charge it every time the battery runs down. Everyone to their own though.

There truly is no faff, or at least no need for any. Once set up, no more than choosing a lighting mode and audible/non-audible alerts, there's nothing to do. Yes the device needs charging, for me after most rides, but so do many things in life.

Checking is very similar to glancing in a car mirror.

 

[Mike_P]

Seems an awful lot of faff when a regular check of the mirror or turn of the head would be so much simpler, and I'd imagine you'd need to charge it every time the battery runs down. Everyone to their own though.

Pays for itself in being able to virtually zone out on a country lane until the alert of something approaching from the rear occurs which is normally a good few moments before the arriving vehicle passes giving you time to possibly reach a better passing place on narrower roads.

 

[Oldhippy]

Not for me I'm afraid, but each to their own.

 

[ColinJ]

I don't understand what you mean by cars disappearing but the Bolt may be different. On a Roam the indicator side bar shows:

Green - clear
Green + car icon(s) - vehicle at same speed, up to three or four vehicles shown on mine. If it's a constant stream of traffic as one passes and disappears off the top another appears at the bottom.

Orange + icon(s) - as above but approaching at a higher relative speed

Red + icon(s) - approaching at high speed

The vehicle icons disappear as the vehicle passes.

By disappearing, I think it means that when you have something that is picked up by the radar, it notifies you and shows you.
Then if they are travelling at the same speed as you for a certain amount of time, it no longer displays a marker for them on the display.

Yes I have had cars travelling the same speed "disappear" but this seems to be quite rare. More usually it's because they get lost in the clutter.
I think losing cars going the same speed is just a feature of it being a simple doppler radar. It can only detect moving objects relative to the unit.

I confirmed yesterday that cars travelling at the same speed as me could disappear from the side bar. I got green flashing lights at the top of the Bolt and the bar went green. (The driver was hesitant to overtake with another vehicle approaching.) When he finally did go by I got the alert for only about 1 second.

Another time the bar did stay orange with the vehicle displayed but I think it was still creeping up towards me at a slow closing rate.

A third time I had a curious pattern of 2 vehicles disappearing and then 3 more. It eventually turned out that the first driver was reluctant to do what might have been seen as an aggressive overtake by the police officer driving behind him. The other vehicles came up behind the patrol car and then they waited too!

I mainly get radar errors at the same points on a ride, for example it always happens when arriving and leaving a specific village at exactly the same point. I think there is something causing interference, perhaps traffic monitoring kit that interferes with the Varia. It always recovers very quickly by itself and I usually just ignore the error message.

The substation didn't trigger an error on my 15 km Christmas Day ride.

I only got 1 error, as I was coming in to Todmorden. I will watch out for that on future rides to see if it happens again at the same place.

I left the error message being displayed to see if it cleared itself. It did not. Not a problem if the radar was still alerting, but it was not - 2 vehicles overtook me without me getting any alerts. Unacceptable, equivalent to the unit crashing. Yes, it was quick to recover from once the error dismiss button had been pressed, but that relied on the (silent!) error being noticed, and (in yesterday's case) me being able to press the button while wearing thick padded winter gloves, which was not easy while riding.

 

[Mike_P]

I confirmed yesterday that cars travelling at the same speed as me could disappear from the side bar.

The Varia works on derecting a faster moving approaching vehicle so anything travelling at the same speed will.not trigger it. Its no substitute for looking behind before making a right turn etc but it does save on looking back on the approach if its obvious there is approaching traffic.

 

[Dadam]

I find the Varia really good for judging the distance and speed of approaching vehicles, much better than a mirror for that (though I use a mirror as well). This is useful for timing when to move into primary when passing traffic restrictions. "This car will reach me before I get to that island so if I slow down a little bit now, it can pass at the wider point and there seems a decent gap after it."

 

[ColinJ]

The Varia works on derecting a faster moving approaching vehicle so anything travelling at the same speed will.not trigger it. Its no substitute for looking behind before making a right turn etc but it does save on looking back on the approach if its obvious there is approaching traffic.

Which confirms what I said in various posts above!

I find the Varia really good for judging the distance and speed of approaching vehicles, much better than a mirror for that (though I use a mirror as well). This is useful for timing when to move into primary when passing traffic restrictions. "This car will reach me before I get to that island so if I slow down a little bit now, it can pass at the wider point and there seems a decent gap after it."

Exactly!

The radar is alerting me upto 10 seconds before I would spot a vehicle in my mirror. I checked the mirror yesterday every time the radar alerts sounded and I could only see distant vehicles if they had their headlights on.

I wish that the Bolt had a volume boost control for the alert beeps**. I am hard of hearing and can't hear them in noisy conditions. They are fine for me on level country roads on wind-free days, but are too quiet in urban areas, on fast descents**** (speed-induced wind noise), or when a strong wind is blowing over my ears.

** I could wear earbuds and use the radar app on my phone, but I don't want to mess around like that.

**** After hearing about the horrific injuries inflicted on @PaulSB by a lunatic driver, I definitely want to know what is behind me on such a descent, and that is not a time to be staring into mirrors or looking back over a shoulder!

 

[PaulSB]

One has to hold one's hands up when wrong. I watched my Wahoo carefully today. Yep, when a vehicle traveling at the same speed is detected the car icon disappears from the sidebar. I was completely unaware of this. It seems once the vehicle gets relatively close, perhaps 20 - 30 metres the icon disappears.

Apologies @ColinJ I thought you were wrong.