Take a look at the My Bike Radar ConnectIQ app.
DCRainmaker has a more detailed write-up at How To: See Map Overlays of Varia Radar Data, with Vehicle Counts | DC Rainmaker
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I know this is a thread on the 515, but it’s pretty active so I thought I might post here on my 510. I just bought the 510 on sale and I’ve been having connection issues with my wahoo bolt. I’m wondering if anyone has had similar trouble?
The 510 has been dropping and reconnecting to my bolt randomly in intervals of five to fifteen minutes. Turning the unit off and back on immediately reestablishes a connection, but who wants to do that on a two to three hour ride?
Thanks
- Justin
Wahoo Element Bolt / 510 combo here. I’ve not experienced a single drop out ever. So that is definitely not normal.
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Thanks! I’ve messaged garmin support.
Check to see if there’s an update for the unit you have. The Varia units do have firmware updates from time to time. Garmin Express on Mac/PC and a USB cable is the best way to check/update.
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Thank you! I hadn’t heard about the Garmin Express software!
It’ seems to me… but I don’t know for sure… that the element (bolt, roam…) has some logic about whether the blinking light, or the radar, is more important in low battery situations. I’ve seen the behavior you are describing…but only when my Bolt is very low on battery.
Pretty good chance that I just making up a story in my head to fit the behavior that I’m seeing to make me feel better.
Hi,
Thinking of getting a Varia 515. Somewhere in the thread I read that the 515 cannot use the radar only, without the LED light. I guess that is not correct. I read in the manual, that the light can be switched off completely while the radar stays active. 2seconds pushing the devices button. Is that correct? Can I switch off the light on the device directly and not need a Garmin headunit to do so?
Another question: does the Varia work well with the Elemnts? Read about some dropouts. Any experiences?
Is there any hint that Garmin will be bringing out a successor to the 515 soon?
Thank you.
For mine (515/516) you hold the button for two secs to turn on. Then tap the button for Bright/medium/day time/ radar only. Holding it again for 2-3 secs powers it off.
I only use mine with a 1000 but I think it works with Wahoo.
Edit what I thought was radar only/ flash off on the 515 still has an occasional flash (you get 16h of battery) and there’s no dedicated radar only.
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On my rt510 the only way to get it to radar only is through the light menu on my Garmin. Not sure what the case is with rt515 or wahoo.
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If you want to turn light off but still have it work you can do that in light network on garmin head unit. Not sure why you would though as the battery is great and you can always change the mode it is in.
I leave mine on auto most of the time fwiw.
@ericallenboyd @kevistraining @HLaB
Do you have any comparison concerning the varia battery runtime in radar only vs radar with lights mode?
Its a big difference - I’d say at least 5x as long without the light - maybe more?
I run mine like this most of the time due to the big battery increase and I also find the light is a bit too bright.
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Had a Varia for awhile now with a Roam…zero issues.
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I got mine August last year and I run it in the daylight Flash and never had a problem with rides up to 5h or two rides of 3h between charge. IIRC you get something like 2h on bright 3h on standard and 6h on daytime flash. I dare say you’ll get a little more if you run it radar only.
Just googled it, you get:
6h solid,
8h peleton mode,
6h night flash (I think that’s what I use, regular flashes) and
18h day flash (occasional flashes, off initially)
And there is no dedicated radar only mode.
Not interested if needing to charge every 1-2 rides… but @kevistraining comment is very promising so I might be in.
I think garmin messed up not putting the same size battery on the rvr315 otherwise I would recommend that instead.
The manual says it gets 16h in day flash mode. I can only go with the claimed 6h for night flash setting that I use and it’s good for more than that, so I would expect 16h in that setting but I’ve only had the Varia for 7 months.
Confused now… i thought the 315 has a bigger battery life than 310
I’ve never understood “Daylight mode”…IMO, you want the light to be brighter during the day because there is so much other “light noise” around and you want it to stand out as much as possible.
Don’t think I have ever used that mode…
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