Garmin’s Varia RCT715 adds camera to bike radar system

- Couldn't say on battery comparison with others, as not used either of those you mention, however I've been running this for nearly a year now and it easily does 5-6 hours on day flash mode with recording set to trigger on radar (rather than continuous). YMMV of course depending on temperature, traffic levels, etc.

- No image stabilisation, however I've not found this to be a problem in terms of image quality for both video and stills. Much was made of this in the initial reviews but for a camera that is there to record "incidents", I don't think it suffers with a lack of it. Similar point for being 1080p rather than 4k. I'd rather take the battery life and storage capacity. I always use on a seatpost, and TBH, with the weight at around 150g, I wouldn't want to mount it on a bag. 

- Data recorded on microSD card, files are in pairs, a full res MP4 clip and a lower res preview GLV (which I assume is used in the app gallery). When exporting via the app, the full res video is saved. The app has improved a little since launch (low baseline at though) and I personally use it for exporting video (for convenience), although the options are always there to plug the camera in to a computer and mount as a USB storage device, or pull the card and use a reader. The overlay data (e.g. date/time/location/speed/etc) is baked onto the video at the bottom so doesn't need any software to interpret.

Thanks for your response Mark1a, much appreciated

So that's separate to the data field add on from iqconnect?
I noticed the developer for that now includes a vehicle distance display.
I have included the speed in a report to Essex police, so I'd hope they'd take note
Cyclegaz said he'd done some tests and found the unit accurate.

Yes, separate from that data field (which is also very good and useful), this is to do with the overlay at the bottom of the video - you need the latest phone app version (3.0.1 on iOS), and then version 5.10 firmware on the RCT715. You can then configure the data overlays as shown. Just had a play indoors and a bike icon has appeared next to the speed, so I would imagine a vehicle icon will appear when the radar is activated.

Another update, this is what it looks like on the video (VRM obscured as driver didn't do anything wrong). Vehicle speed displayed next to bike speed. 

Vehicle speed displayed next to bike speed

Doesn't matter- as far as the police are concerned, all bikes are travelling at less than 10mph unless it's a 'lycra-clad louts terrorise Daily Mail reading motorists' story. It's Back to the Future I in police-land- video, GPS, miraculous telephones which don't need to be connected by wires etc. are Sci-Fi miracles of the future and as for those rumoured ANPR cameras?!! Who knows how to even switch them on?

How effective is the watch? I'm guessing it beeps at you to indicate the proximity.

Not ideal - but I wasnt epxecting it to be.  It beeps and vibrates and shows proximity as a bar on the RHS of the face just like it would on an Edge.  Being a watch though the vibration isnt strong enough, neither is the sound and my watch face isnt visible in my normal hand positions on a set of drops.

Disclaimer I had no Red passes only Yellows so I dont know if that would make a difference.

Thanks. I don't need another head unit, but a watch would tie in with other exercise which was why I was interested.

notMyRealName wrote:

The Varia rear light is REALLY BRIGHT. Fine if you ride by yourself, but if your ride buddy has one it is really unpleasant to ride behind, even on steady modes, and the flashing (which happens every time a car approaches from behind) is even worse.

Day or night? I rode behind one occasionally on Sunday's 110 mile ride, and didn't notice it to be excessively bright. It was a clear bright day, though.

At night -- edited my comment to mention that. During the day it is ok.

It does seem that I am a bit more sensitive to flashing lights than average: it's hard to objectively compare how I feel with how someone else feels (I'm only in my head, after all) but I will say that something someone else might describe as "a bit annoying" is more than just annoying to me -- it's sickening and stress-inducing. I wish I could "just put up with it", and sometimes I can if I'm feeling otherwise OK, but if I'm tired or there's anything else going on then it's awful. The angle and position is probably relevant as well, there's a difference between a light on the seat post that is shaded a bit by the saddle bag, and one that is mounted on the bag and tipped up towards my eyes. 

A lot of people I ride with have one and in peloton mode, the light is fine when riding behind them.

I'll see if my buddies can experiment with peloton mode. Alternatively, it's a really good incentive to ride in front at night =)

I think the first version (RTL510) doesn't have peloton mode but the latest one (RTL515) does. Looks like they've kept it on the camera model as well.

...which is why it has a 'Peleton' flashing mode specifically for when riding with others.

Perhaps do what I may do....wait a year or so for the knock off Aldi/Lidl copy which will be just as good but less than half the price.....  Garmin are always at least a £ton more expensive than they need to be as, well, we like  a name us cyclists....

Aldi have just had their rear camera in store. Tech is almost identical to the one they had a few years previously but they changed the bracket. The bracket is held on by one tiny screw which snaps if you so much as sneeze nearby. Avoid, unless you want to take it apart and fashion your own bracket. The older model used a velcro strap and was near indestructible.

Glov Zaroff wrote:

DC Rainmaker used the words 'dumpster fire' in his mega indepth review. It's not great.

I didn't read that exact phrase, but after reading the review, most of Ray's problems were with the companion app used for reviewing and extracting footage, so this is potentially fixable. 

I think DC Rainmaker is wrong here. His main problem was using the app, specifically to browse video footage. Quite frankly, that is always going to be painful. It's much better to just plug the USB cable into your computer and do it that way.

Then another concern was the lack of image stabilisation, which I think is a benefit! Stabilisation kills battery life for very little benefit when it comes to reading a numberplate in low light, which the Garmin seems to do better than the Cycliq anyway... https://youtu.be/Dyr-KJy-xKo?t=1194

What HoarseMann said.  If you ignore Ray's moans about the App and just concentrate on the fact that its does everyting a Varia Radar AND a Fly 6 does then I think its fine. 

If you want loads of bells and whistles then no-so much.

Plus software can always get better....

I think in his review & evaluation he really underestimates how much time cyclists *outside the Netherlands* spend "waiting for a car to come along and hit you", and how much those particular safety-oriented features might outweigh over usability issues. 

Fly 6 is £199 with worse battery life.

Varia 515 is £170 - 

Plus Garmin's usual "stick a garmin logo on it" tax.

Seems about right.  Deffo not cheap but I can see exactly how they got to that price.

I suspect in about a years time there will be some bundles with the edge 530 and 830.   There are some current bundles for the 515 which "drops" the price of the 515 to about £70.