Any of our trusted friends review this yet?
I wouldn’t bother. I don’t remember seeing trusted reviews, but especially GPLama has tested so many bad radars over the years that he may have burnt out on testing them. According to the reviews I have watched/read, I’d only consider two:
- Garmin Varia 515 (because why wouldn’t you want a rear light)
- Wahoo Trackr Radar
Only those two have tested very well by the usual suspects, i. e. reliable detection of vehicles and no false positives. The Wahoo has longer battery life whereas the Garmin has a slightly larger field-of-view (35 vs. 40 degrees). I don’t know whether the latter is actually a disadvantage in practice as the Wahoo will detect vehicles later that are in another lane or so.
Riding with a radar has had a huge positive impact, easily one of the best bike-related purchases ever. I feel naked riding without a radar on my bike these days.
For the record: I have had a Garmin Varia and was extremely happy with it. But I misplaced it and haven’t been able to find it for over a month. I am not waiting for the delivery of my Wahoo Trackr Radar. The Wahoo’s longer battery life tipped the scale for me.
4 Likes
2 Likes
Speaking from past experiences with lezyne products: Lezyne is quite similar to Shimano in their products: if it contains any kind of electronics, don’t bother. If it’s purely mechanical, they are awesome.
Notably Shimano has Di2 nailed, but let’s not forget about their continuing quest for a functional Powermeter. Similarly, Lezyne may have a few good electric products in their offerings.
To add to that, it seems the problem isn’t just the electronics, but the software (firmware) that runs on these things and processes the data. I reckon that a lot of the other radars have hardware that functions well or well enough. Getting the logic right, which processes the data is probably much harder than these small manufacturers think.
I have a Magene radar/light and I love it. I sometimes get false positives if cars are going away from me on country roads but it’s never missed a car coming up from behind.
1 Like
I do have a Garmin rear radar light that’s about 5 years old and it works fine.
On my older bike I used a Lezyne quad tail light for years. It still works fine and it’s now on the wife’s e-bike.
For fast night riding I have a Lezyne drive light that lights up the world. Don’t need to hit any critters at 25mph on the down hills. It’s probably 5 years old and still holds a good charge.
I was curious about the new radar light for backup or to put on one of my other bikes.
I will wait for a review…… maybe not.
I think the strap mount is a no go for me.
1 Like
Looks interesting, it’s the first Radar that doesn’t look like a Radar and the not having to use a head unit is an interesting take (will be handy for me on winter commutes)
I’m not sure if I trust Lezyne enough to try taking a punt on it, and it’s not a brand tha DC or GPL will review
Here’s the best overview of features I’ve seen so far.
Lezyne’s New Radar Light System will Alert You without a Phone or GPS - Bikerumor
The front light strap is removable to support a GoPro-style adapter.
The bundled price is enticing.
Unless a hands-on reviewer who does road comparison tests says otherwise, I’m in.
I’m tired of battery runtime issues on my 515s and the dreaded last hour without radar.
1 Like
This is a non-review “review”, i. e. it summarizes the specs, shows some unboxing picture and links to a product marketing video. I don’t think it is useful.
… assuming the radar works well. If the radar is a glorified rear light, then it isn’t worth it.
A radar is a safety critical component. I wasn’t sure whether it was worth getting one, but after all the raving, I caved. Having a reliable radar on my bike has been a game changer, I feel naked riding without one. The Varia has been great at e. g. detecting two cars in close succession (where the driver of the second car was tailgating), something I wouldn’t have noticed by combining my sense of hearing with the occasional shoulder check.
The sense of safety and increased awareness of my surroundings is precisely due to the trust I have developed in it. And that’s because I haven’t noticed false negatives or positives on the road at all.
Why won’t they review Lezyne products? GPLama has reviewed lots of radars from obscure/less known brands.
We wait with baited breath for dcrainmaker,com and gplama.com to get a lezyne sections, I simply said that because thet aren’t a brand that brings in bike hits and neither of these sites are are which and are funded by hits and clicks, gp does a video reading the release notes on Zwift, where’s the same for Trainerday or TrainingPeaks virtual ?
I just don’t expect to see anything (maybe GP, but not DC)
I don’t think that’s true. If this discussion were about small pumps, I’d actually say they make some of the best out there. (I own two and they have been great, small, light, reliable and relatively inexpensive.)
I also would consider front or dumb rear lights. Radars without a positive review by a trusted source? Not so much. If there is no review, I’m not going to bother for a safety critical part.
Cool, I look forward to being proved wrong
I think it looks like an interesting device…. I’d be surprised if they don’t review it.
Looks a great option for folk who don’t have or want a head unit (if it works well).
Not sure why anyone with a head unit would choose this though - but probably not the target market.
Hopefully they’ve sorted it but I found Lezyne lights good for around a year and then their long term battery was terrible. Its 9 years back now (so it probably has been sorted) but I’d often find I’d charge the lights for the commute, press the battery sensor which said it was good (green), but before I was home (35mins later) the rear light had switched off and given it was a rear I couldn’t really say where and when. The battery tester should only flash green when there’s several hours of battery left (not sub 35mins)! So I don’t think I’d trust Lezyne.
My varia RTL515 is good for about 3.5-4 hours now in peleton mode after 5 and gives me a couple of warnings well before it fails and I can see on the head unit when it does (when it does I can see on the head unit it has). When it was new, I‘d easily get the claimed 8hours. When that replaced it’ll be with another Garmin Varia, I cant decide though if I want the heavier 715 with shorter battery or the reliable 515.
2 Likes
Thats what I’ve found with Lezyne, good lights, but will it last the ride ?
Like I said above, this has a few things going for it, like it doesn’t look like a radar (accidently leave it on the commute bike, less likely to be picked up) and i so suffer from alarm fataugue (from Garmins, phones and medical devices) i really like my rides to be quiet, so a big red light instead of a beep strangly appeals
But not going to go near it until I’ve seen a good (none influencer) review
1 Like
I’m in a similar possition but with the older RTL510. I only really use it with the light off now because the battery isnt brilliant otherwise.
I’d buy the 515 but i’m holding off for an update - surely they will be releasing one with usb-c and a bettery battery soon?
1 Like
Speaking from experience: The radar alerts can become annoying if you are e. g. in a city center surrounded by cars all the time. But then the issue is — one way or another — “traffic fatigue”. Another setting where alerts are annoying is if you ride on a bike path parallel to a busy road. My Varia would dutifully beep and show me the cars that are there, but no danger to me. Also, you can disable alerts. Just having the “string of cars” on the left/right side of my Wahoo is helpful by itself.
However, a radar is most useful when you are on normal and quieter roads. This is when you want to have alerts. Electric vehicles, for instance, are very, very hard to hear at best.
Not coupling it to a head unit can be counterproductive in some situations. My Varia will intensify its flash pattern when someone overtakes with a large differential velocity (and I assume the Lezyne does something similar). That by itself is not super useful as this has royally pissed off some drivers who didn’t make the connection. I’ve gotten choice words during drive-bys, claiming I should ride on the sidewalk even though the road was clear and they could overtake immediately without having to slow down. On my Wahoo (ditto for Garmin and any other supported head unit) fast overtakes will get a more serious alert.
Why not buy Wahoo’s Trackr Radar?
It seems to work equally well (I can tell for certain soon), but has much better battery life (essentially double if you put both on low steady light, 15 hours vs. 8 hours, 67 % longer on high steady, 10 hours instead of 6 hours).
I recently lost my Varia that I was very happy with — except when it comes to battery life.
I dont like the way it fits to the seatpost - i move my radar between 4 bikes and the garmin mount is super convienient.
But i agree that it is a really good option 
1 Like