Bike RADAR - for other bikes

[rob feature]

Anybody use any of these units - like the Garmin Varia or Wahoo, etc? I know they're designed for cars, but do they detect bikes? Our bike paths are overrun with motorcycles, scooters, onederwheels and anything else folks can think up (electric or otherwise) & I've been thinking I'd like a way to tell when they're sneaking up on me without constantly monitoring my 6. Or the Chance Armstrong road types. Will these devices reliably see these types of things?

 

[Aushiker]

Anybody use any of these units - like the Garmin Varia or Wahoo, etc? I know they're designed for cars, but do they detect bikes? Our bike paths are overrun with motorcycles, scooters, onederwheels and anything else folks can think up (electric or otherwise) & I've been thinking I'd like a way to tell when they're sneaking up on me without constantly monitoring my 6. Or the Chance Armstrong road types. Will these devices reliably see these types of things?

I have a Wahoo Trackr Radar and in my experience it is very hit and miss on detecting bicycles. More miss than hit. With motorcycles they get detected as well as cars, which is pretty much 100%. Not sure what you mean by scooters, as we consider them motorcycles (so they get detected) and I have no idea on 'onederwheels" are so cannot comment on them.

 

[rob feature]

I have a Wahoo Trackr Radar and in my experience it is very hit and miss on detecting bicycles. More miss than hit. With motorcycles they get detected as well as cars, which is pretty much 100%. Not sure what you mean by scooters, as we consider them motorcycles (so they get detected) and I have no idea on 'onederwheels" are so cannot comment on them.

Scooters could be anything from fast standup scooters to actual motor scooters that you might buy at a moto shop. Most of the motorcycles I see are Sur Ron types - smaller than a traditional motorcycle, but way too fast for bike paths. By onederwheels, I mean one-wheel devices that use electronic balancing measures. A lot of these are capable of 50MPH or better & can catch you off guard on a bike path where you don't expect those kinds of speeds. I don't see these conditions improving in the future.

Looks like the nicer Garmin units may be capable of tracking bikes & smaller micromobility vehicles.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Sometimes they work for bikes but it depends on the speed. it does seem to work better on the cheap e bikes.

 

[edobici_forza]

On my ride today. I was surprised by the radar hit being a very fast SUV Aventon type eBike riding in the middle of a road traffic. I was riding in the middle of a shoulder bike lane at a decent speed (in Eco mode) He was flying... approx 3x my speed.
I have Garmin Varia RTL515 and it does detect anything moving towards the radar. i.e. If I am stopped and a runner is approaching, they are detected, so a bicycle would be too. There needs to a difference in speed to be detected. If someone is following me closely they will not be detected. (all of this was true for the last 5 years, for Garmin) They just release an updated model that has more advanced radar 820 and can detect the vehicle size and represents them with different icons on the newest Garmin GPS units.
Check out Shane Miller videos on YouTube ( link ) he reviews all of the bike radars and has many screen examples.

 

[Aushiker]

There needs to a difference in speed to be detected. If someone is following me closely they will not be detected. (all of this was true for the last 5 years, for Garmin)

That is an interesting point. One I will have to watch for and see if that explains the lack of detection with my Trackr Radar.

 

[stompandgo]

I have an original Garmin RTL715. It will detect a bike if they are closing on you.

 

[GMA52]

Anybody use any of these units - like the Garmin Varia or Wahoo, etc? I know they're designed for cars, but do they detect bikes? Our bike paths are overrun with motorcycles, scooters, onederwheels and anything else folks can think up (electric or otherwise) & I've been thinking I'd like a way to tell when they're sneaking up on me without constantly monitoring my 6. Or the Chance Armstrong road types. Will these devices reliably see these types of things?

I am using a Garmin Varia RTL515 and a Garmin 1050 together. They work great! They detect cars or bikes etc going slightly faster than you. If one slows to your speed it will disappear though. Doesn’t happen often. It was just pulled into the garage and parked when my wife walked in behind it and it detected her. It is pretty sensitive. I was riding in the park and it started detecting cars on the nearby road. I use the Peleton Light mode that stays illuminated at a low level and when it detects a car etc. it starts flashing brightly which saves on the use of the battery.I was using a Garmin Edge Explorer 2 but switched to the 1050 as my old eyes needed a little larger display. Both work nicely though. I will probably sell the edge explorer 2 if I do not give to my sister.

 

[mschwett]

mine typically detects bicycles…. but they have to be gaining on you. ride faster

 

[DiggyGun]

As others have said, if the bicycle or other vehicles are going faster than you, yes, they will pick them up.

Mrs DG usually rides behind me and she goes a bit faster than me, then it picks her up.

Mine is the Garmin Vario RTL515.

DG…

 

[fooferdoggie]

The Banger radar is not as sensitive. That can be a good thing. I don’t have all the false alerts when I am not moving like I get on the Garmin. Or as many cars off to the sides. But the Banger has stopped letting me turn off the light with the GPS. It defaults to full on. I have to manually change it each ride with my Garmin.

 

[GMA52]

False alerts, I have not experienced false alerts with my Garmin. Every one have been legitimate so far. If it picks something up behind such as a bike is because it legitimately detected an object going faster than me. That is how radar’s work. They do not know what it is only that an object is detected due to movement faster than mine. I would rather it pick something up than not.

 

[6zfshdb]

As others have said, if the bicycle or other vehicles are going faster than you, yes, they will pick them up.

Mrs DG usually rides behind me and she goes a bit faster than me, then it picks her up.

Mine is the Garmin Vario RTL515.

DG…

Can you turn off the light completely on the RTL515 to save battery?

 

[DiggyGun]

Can you turn off the light completely on the RTL515 to save battery?

No, but you can buy just the RADAR on its own.

DG…

 

[fooferdoggie]

False alerts, I have not experienced false alerts with my Garmin. Every one have been legitimate so far. If it picks something up behind such as a bike is because it legitimately detected an object going faster than me. That is how radar’s work. They do not know what it is only that an object is detected due to movement faster than mine. I would rather it pick something up than not.

man I have had thousands. My bike is underground in my shop I start my Garmin, and it can go off 20 times more with nothing moving. It seems when I am not moving. I used to get it when I first started riding one parked car would set it off. This is over 3 separate units on different GPS's

 

[stompandgo]

There's a new unit out from Garmin, the Rearvue 820. $100 more, but with much longer runtime, USB-C charging, and a lot of options.

 

[edobici_forza]

6zfshdb said:
Can you turn off the light completely on the RTL515 to save battery?

No, but you can buy just the RADAR on its own.

The RVR 315, radar only, without the light, battery life is up to 7 hours. This is less than the RTL 515...see my notes on the RTL 515 which I gathered over the years. And "Individual" is a mode that is Radar-only/Light Off mode. You have to use a Garmin Edge computer to enable that mode. I have this mode set up on mine.

 

[stompandgo]

You can turn off the light on the Rearvue. You can even create your own lighting sequence.

I'd set mine to flash dit-dit-dit-dah-dah-dah-dit-dit-dit when the grade gets above 8%.

 

[6zfshdb]

You can turn off the light on the Rearvue. You can even create your own lighting sequence.

I'd set mine to flash dit-dit-dit-dah-dah-dah-dit-dit-dit when the grade gets above 8%.

I don't have a Garmin Edge, or smartwatch and I carry my smartphone in my pocket. Not sure if these radar products will work for me.
There are reports on the web about the 515 being compatible with other Garmin GPS units that have Ant+ functionality. Not sure if I could get it to work with my Montana 700i.

 

[stompandgo]

I don't have a Garmin Edge, or smartwatch and I carry my smartphone in my pocket. Not sure if these radar products will work for me.
There are reports on the web about the 515 being compatible with other Garmin GPS units that have Ant+ functionality. Not sure if I could get it to work with my Montana 700i.

The whole point of these radar units is to report the location of approaching traffic from the rear, and give you an idea of how far back it is and how fast it is approaching. It does that by displaying a slider on your bike computer next to whatever screen and data that you are viewing. The radar display stays in view if you switch screens. The audio comes from the computer, not the radar.