I’ve had the 1st and 2nd gen Varias for a long time. Honestly the mount works fine on my previous round seat post 2015 Trek Domane. Worked on 3T Exploro RaceMax. Works on my grocery store bike Giant Escape. Worked on rented bikes including the two most recent Spec Allez and Trek Checkpoint SL5. Works on my current Tarmac SL7 D post with the small/strong bands. But if I use a slightly larger band, it will move around a little. Enough that I replaced the larger/thinner band with the small/thick band and the problem disappeared (its been 18 months).
I suggest that if you get a Varia, try it yourself. You might inadvertently bump it with your leg while getting on or off, and slightly move it. Or you might have an old/narrow band and need to use a new small/thick band. Those are some reasons you might get annoyed and buy a special 3d printed mount. But honestly I’ve moved 1st and 2nd gen Varia around to a bunch of bikes and never had an actual real issue when using it with the small/thick bands.
But yeah, if I was bored and wanted to upgrade something else on my bike, or being a little OCD, the 3d printed mounts for your exact seat post will likely be cheap and easy to find.
In any case, one of the big pluses of the Varia is that it uses Garmin’s vanilla quarter turn mount and there is a whole universe of mounting options out there. I have a K-edge stem mount for my Wahoo and the quality difference between that and the mounts my Wahoo came with are from different universes. And the Wahoo mounts are good!
That’s a limitation for e. g. the SeeSense front light I have, the Beam+. It is great, but uses a less known mount by some other company. The first mount they included was a little loose and my light was rattling. Plus, I cannot just put a dual mount on my road bike, I’d have to use one that takes their GoPro-style mount (with those loose tolerances).
I rode the factory mount for the Varia on the aero seat post of my synapse for years without problems. When I got my Madone I dug around and found these guys:
They had a mount that integrated with the rear reflector mount that came on the bike (thereby making it actually useful). Super clean, and perfectly placed. They make bike specific mounts for a lot of the common bikes and all the major head units. Some really strange stuff too. They also did a custom Fly 6 mount for me that integrated with the Madone’s Flare mount under the seat (a melding of two products they already had). They are a bit pricy, but it imho, worth it.
I 100% love my Dinotte light. I actually double-up most of the time with my Dinotte and my Varia 515. I like the Varia’s radar capability, but from a brightness perspective, there’s no way it can beat my Dinotte. I’ve had cars pull up to me at traffic lights and tell me how great that light is and how far away they could see it, in daylight. They have all sorts of mounting options. If I had to choose between the two (or only use one), I’d go for the Dinotte. Its runtime can’t be beat, either.
I use this on my commuter to switch on/off the RT lights because I don’t use a garmin to commute. Don’t know if you can pair other ANT+ lights or the Varia.
+1 to get RT and Varia like @webdev511 mentioned to have a backup
Agree completely. There’s no comparison when it comes to simple visibility at distance in bright daylight. Varias are far better than cheap $20-50 lights that predominate, but they are not super bright and can be easily beaten. If Garmin would add 100 lumens then I’d be straight online to buy one. I avoided the lumens and visibility chat above as debating lumens is another of those endless biking forum rabbit holes like “how do you measure FTP”. The MTBing forums are full of lumen debates.
Of more interest to me is who runs a daytime FRONT light? I’m considering a front white flasher mounted beneath my Garmin. But undecided whether it’s worthwhile. (Aside: Dinotte do a daytime orange front light but I’m unsure as to legality in UK, plus it’d look odd…)
I do. I’ve used a few different ones, but I’ve never had anyone comment on them like they do the Varia. I definitely notice that I see oncoming cyclists faster when they have a front flasher, but I wonder if that’s because I’m on the bike going far slower than most cars. I almost always leave at day break, so I use it as a headlight if I leave while it’s still a little dark and then switch it to the bright flash once the sun comes up. Honestly, it’s probably overkill, but I’ll take the weight penalty just in case it saves my hide some day.
One note, I very much prefer the lights that Mount underneath your Garmin. I’ve had ones that mount on the bars and find it can impede hand placement at times. (Example - the Bontrager front flare)
I have a front light, and have definitely noticed an influence on driver behavior. I have far fewer close calls with oncoming left turns, or cross traffic rolling through stop signs. Many times I’ve seen the telltale front of the car lift as an acceleration starts, then a sudden deep drop as the brakes are slammed when they see me.
I’ve also been flipped off, honked at, headlight flashed, and yelled at, when I was using a Nite Rider 750 lumen on flash. A coworker saw me on a lunch ride and commented on the brightness of the flasher. That light had only one flash setting, so I couldn’t dim it, though I did point it down a bit. All the offended drivers were oncoming, on narrow twisty roads, so likely had a straight-on blast of light. Fine with me - if you flip me off, you’ve seen me.
I’ve since switched to a Fly 12, which has a less focused dimmer light. I still get the occasional headlight flash, and I still see that I’ve been seen by the “body language” of cars.
Motor cycles have had to have a daytime headlight for decades, so they can be seen better. Why wouldn’t the same benefit apply to a bike? If anything, we need a headlight more than a moto does.
You probably shouldn’t be surprised that I also run a daytime front flashing light. I use either a Bontrager Ion or a Nightrider Lumina 700. The Bontrager is smaller and I typically use it for group rides or when I want a smaller light on my front, although the Nightrider has a much, much longer battery life and is also a lot brighter. Like @tim_nh I’ve been shouted at by people about how bright it is, but usually it’s other cyclists, although sometimes it’s vehicles. We have also bought the 750, but we like the flash pattern of the 700 better (although they don’t make it anymore ).
Obviously I want to be seen, between all of my various lights.
IMHO the front flashing light is way more important for safety than a rear light. While cyclist do occasionally get run over from behind, those situations usually occur with drivers who are so inattentive ( read drunk or drugged up) that flashing rear light wasn’t going to make any difference.
On the other hand, if you ride in an urban or semi urban environment your odds of having a driver pull out in front of you at a cross street or coming out of a parking lot or turn left in front of you are nearly 100% on every single ride.
My rear light light makes me feel comfortable and I wouldn’t ride without it. But I am absolutely certain that my front light has on numerous occasions saved me from close calls or actually getting hit. I frequently see drivers hitch up and stop after they see me and I know it’s because they’ve seen the flashing light. If for some reason I was forced to only have one light, it would be a front light, not a rear light.
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