Bryton Gardia R300 Cycling Radar In-Depth Review

Equipment
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Nope nope nope.

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I’ll keep my Garmin thanks

Garmin
Garmin526Ă—701 48.6 KB

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What is on it and why?

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a cover that has a lanyard point because I didnt like the idea of a unit self ejecting and painted it white because I could.

image
image1178Ă—696 83 KB

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I read the article and ouch - product sales killer

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If you’re gonna have a “me too” device for about the same price, it better work as well as the one you’re knocking off!

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Particularly because the varia is near universally loved.

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I like how it says it doesn’t impact GPS signals. Thats not the signal I’m worried about.

Do wish they used that big surface area to put a reflector, well as long as it doesn’t impact the radar

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I am considering some sort of design using red “ScotchLite” tape at some point. but figured the red flashing light was good for now.

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I want to pull out this old thread because I bought a Bryton Gardia about two months ago. I don’t have any experience with the Garmin Varia, so I can’t compare both. But maybe the information helps someone who still wants to make a purchase decision.

Reasons for buying the Bryton instead of the Varia: (this is a very subjective decision of course)

  • Price
  • Longer battery life
  • USB-C connection
  • Brake light functionality

Experience so far:

  • The device came with an outdated firmware version. Updating the firmware through the app was quick and easy. Very important to carry out this step because most problems reported earlier seem to be fixed.
  • It doesn’t seem to detect bikers approaching from behind. I don’t know if I would want it to, but this surprised me.
  • Firmware updates still keep changing the performance. While the last version of the firmware sometimes introduced ghost vehicles, it was able to track vehicles that approached from behind and then matched your speed. The current firmware doesn’t show ghosts anymore, but also doesn’t track vehicles anymore that travel at about the same speed as you are. I assume that Bryton is still fine-tuning.
  • Similarly, I consistently lost connection between the Garmin and the Bryton for 1 second when I passed a certain location. I assume this is due to radio interference in that area. Latest firmware fixed this as well.
  • When riding on a road, vehicles approaching from behind (given a reasonable difference in speed) are detected very reliably.
  • The number of vehicles approaching from behind and their relative distance is not always exact. For example, if a bus is approaching followed by two cars, the cars don’t show up. Similarly, a car followed closely by a bus may show up as a single vehicle - but I guess that is a physical limitation, not because Bryton did a poor job. Groups of regular cars are detected reliably.
  • When riding on a separate bike lane next to the road, vehicles traveling on the road next to you are detected very late. Interestingly they are detected very early when approaching from the right hand side, but very late when approaching from the left hand side. I don’t consider this to be important though.
  • The rubber fixation on the seat post can sometimes lead to movement. If you pull the rubber band tight and start to ride, vibrations in the seat post will cause the rubber band to “equalize” its tension (I don’t know a better word here), which will point the Bryton a little bit to the left or to the right. The Bryton is very sensitive to angular deviations, so detection will be off on one side. But after 2-3 adjustments it is very stable.
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