REI has a 20% coming up, in a few days I think? Might exclude the Varia, but wanted to give you a heads up.
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Donât count on it because it will be worse.
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Well, somehow Garmin managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I had been hoping that they would release something like this, as the Cyclic stuff is not something I will buy again.
So many poor decisions and poor implementation has resulted in a device that I donât think Iâll be able to bring myself to buy, and it sounds like those who do buy it are likely to be frustrated by many aspects of it. This is a totally different experience than most people have with the existing RTL devices.
My fear is that based on the poor sales that this will almost surely have, that Garmin will decided that this is a type of product that nobody wants, rather than making a gen2 addresses these shortcomings.
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Hey @dcrainmaker long-time fan and reader of your reviews. I saved some time and pulled up your YouTube review, and skipped ahead to the end âReal Talk Time (Recommendations)â of the video. You hit the nail on the head - for $400 it better have stabilization, be easy for me to pull up a single video on my phone, scrub to that moment I want to see, and create a short clip that I can send via text/email. A couple people I ride with have Cycliq and they are constantly complaining that it isnât working and/or recording.
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Yes. Thatâs my fear as well. Unless Garmin can address a lot of the shortcomingâs that Ray, Shane, Desfit, etc. have identified with a firmware + app updates, they should (zero chance the will) pull this from the market until they come out with a âworkingâ product
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Plenty of precedent with Garmin (various head units, Vector 3 pedals) that they wonât, but thatâs hardly a Garmin problem alone. Wahoo with the Kickr Core and Kickr 2018, for example. Why these companies canât get their releases right is beyond me.
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Iâve had this issue with my fly12 (original version.) I finally had a minor issue I wanted have video for, and when I went to pull it off I found out that it had been silently not recording at all for the past several months. This to me is an unforgivable fault - to operate apparently normally but not be recording is unacceptable for a safety related device.
I can overlook many faults, but this is the single thing that keeps me from taking a chance on a fly6.
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The one guy complaining the most, well he did get a video of the unlucky day recently that âPKâ was on the Wed social ride and accidentally hit a concrete blog and did an end-over. The Cycliq video quality is very good, if you want to see search for âcement blobâ on this forum but be prepared its painful to watch the video (within days PK was back riding and is fine). The bumpy video from RCT715 that I saw at the end of DCRainmaker YouTube review looked pretty poor by comparison.
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If my bike is stationary almost anything will set my Varia off, pedestrians etc.
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I reckon is that one major reason why they didnât fix it because Garmin canât. Doing software is hard, and you see this a lot with medium-sized companies: it is hard to attract talented software developers and manage software efforts well. Perhaps the people in charge of that project did not know Garmin at one point made cameras with built-in stabilization. Smaller companies like TR can benefit from employees and users that highly identify with the product.
Again, this is just ramblings from someone outside of the industry so take everything with a grain of salt.
Thanks, thatâs pretty unanimous in this simple straw poll. Whatâs odd is that my gen1 would always pick up cars, but rarely any cyclists.
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I have a question: is it possible to embed information like speed, power, date and GPS data as metadata into the video files? Permanently overlaying it onto the video feels a bit like those film cameras that burned time stamps into the film (always in red).
If you just want it as a security camera, I get it. But if I also want to use it for footage during rides or for race footage, I am sure I wouldnât want that.
PS Yours and @GPLamaâs reviews are always appreciated.
Sometimes theyâll trigger on strange (but explainable) things. If I put the garage door down and a car drives past when the radar is facing the garage, it triggers. Iâve also had it trigger on really windy days riding past trees that are moving around a lot.
As for troubleshooting a Varia Radar, the first thing to do is plug it into a Mac/PC via USB and load Garmin Connect. The RTL units have had firmware updates over the years that can be easily missed. Other than that⌠hmm⌠mount angle, height/clearance from rear wheel and saddle bag, all the standard stuff. Next would be a unit return if itâs still playing funny games.
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thx, having owned a gen1 radar I had plugged it into my MacBook upon purchase. Tried again and it has the latest firmware. The gen2 radar appear to be very sensitive as compared the gen1.
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I have been using the new Varia version for more than a week now.
My thoughts:
- I think the product is for someone who is doing most of his/her riding in an enviorment with LOTS of cars on narrow roads or in city. I commute through the city and have a lot of places where cycle lane ends and I have to become part of cars. I have had situations with public transport pushing me to curb and at that point itâs their word against mine. Now I have video proof if needed.
- I havenât used the unit in low light situations that much. So no opinion.
- Should you buy the product. I donât know, it depends where you ride and what the traffic is like. The more angry drivers the more you probably need it (again if something happens - your word against theirs).
- Will it save you from getting hit? No.
Both of the reviews bring out all the problems that currently exist, nothing more to add.
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God damn it Garmin. Give us the Edge x40 already.
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Just donât put a frickinâ camera in it!
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I agree. I get all the things you mentioned with mine too. However, whether or not this is useful is a use case thing. I rarely do group rides, and when I do, I turn off the radar because I donât want it constantly triggering. I DO do road and gravel rides where there are lots of other cyclists though, and I find it very helpful that it tells me when cyclists are coming up behind me, especially as the world changes and fewer and fewer people do the courtesy call out. Ideally, for me, it would trigger on riders or groups approaching, but not on people within the pack on a group ride.
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This broke my heart. Iâve been pining for garmin to do exactly this and was really excited when I heard they DID. My cycliq was replaced twice for getting slightly damp during rides before I gave up on replacing it for the third time (durability and software SUCKS!), but I considered both essential and would actually ride with both the cycliq and the Varia on the seatpost. Sadly, Garminâs software incompetence overshadows otherwise amazing products. Theyâre the hewlett-packard of fitness equipment.
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Yes, I wish it was Acer. boom tish #dadjoke
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