Yeah, I totally get that it’s more convenient. That’s just not something that would keep me from enhancing my safety on the bike. I do get it though. I just wondered if there was some feature people were hoping for beyond a better connector that would be such a game changer that you’d wait.
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I’m not sure I would ever consider no USB-C a dealbreaker as much as I get that micro is terrible.
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Random thoughts after two weeks of usage/testing (I bought a unit):
A) The heavily marketed 240m range simply isn’t real. The only time I ever got a 240m detect, was when a first car passed in front of a turning FedEx turn (the FedEx truck was turning onto the road I was on, at 240m behind me). Beyond that, about 95-98% of detects happen at ~140m, and rarely I’ll see a random one between 150-190m in scenarios I can’t nail down exactly. This is both listed distance on their own app & Garmin device, as well as measured by drone with road distance markings in chalk.
B) Side by side testing with the Varia RTL-515 and RCT-715 both static and hundreds of kilometers riding real roads with lots of American traffic, puts the Trek at a much slower detection, about 85% of the time. Generally speaking the Garmin Varia units has been picking up cars for me about 3-4s earlier, very consistently. I tried changing positions, changing head units (Garmin vs Wahoo vs App vs Hammerhead), etc… The remaining 10-12% of the time the Trek will detect the same as Garmin, and the last 2-5%, it’ll randomly detect earlier than the Garmin.
C) The Trek almost never detects the correct number of cars in a line-up of cars. It ends to miss cars that Garmin will see. It will eventually see all those cars when closer (or is closest vehicle), but if Garmin shows 3-4 cars, Trek will generally only show 2-3 cars at once.
D) Battery life does seem good, but it’s a bit messy to get a hold on with real-road riding/etc…
E) USB-C is great (versus Garmin RTL-515, the RCT-715 has USB-C)
F) Mount is blah on the bikes I tried. Sure, it works, but is kinda floppy fish. Also, it’s not quite as easy to remove the unit one-handed to put on a charger. Not a big deal though.
G) It never once detected my wife riding/overtaking me. We tried all sorts of things, the Garmin detected every single time. I have not swapped it to her bike though, to see it’ll detect me. On the to-do list.
Other thoughts, hopefully soon-ish.
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This all sounds similar to their Wavecell helmet swing & miss… grand claims that fall a bit short of the reality for something even less than an “also ran” product.
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Me either, until I damaged my Varia’s micro USB to the point where I only have one lead that works with it.
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No wonder the bike industry is having a bad time.
What is Trek’s product doing better than the reference product? It’s neither smaller nor prettier. Cheaper?
Who in their right mind thought this would a) be a good design, b) have a business case, c) stir interest.
Wait, I’ve got it… Likely there is a Trek app for that. That sucks your privacy. So it’s similar to the Cannondale speed sensor.
Another review
And a lot of people there not getting why it’s so beneficial to have a radar, as if the idea is that it replaces looking over your shoulder or using a mirror. It does not, but it’s way better than either on its own.
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