Unsolicited Review: Garmin Varia

I got to see a little bit of how you other half live with your fancy motorized transportation.

I woke with a sore throat, still searing sunburn, some saddle sores and assurances of storms so I decided that this would be the day to skip ahead. I can’t remember ever having ridden an Amtrack before and showed up to the Buffalo Exchange station expecting something like rush hour in a NYC subway. I surrendered myself to the ticket counter admitting I had no idea what I was doing but that I had a bike. The woman working the window was very kind and calmly explained all the steps and that she would be out trackside to make sure I got into the right car with the bike rack. Also, there was no one else at the station and my fear of getting bowled over in a rush was quickly laid aside. The train was actually quite comfortable and a nice place to be. It was like riding a bike very fast without having to put in any work. I see why you guys drive around in your little boxes.

I’m dedicating today’s post to a small piece of gear that has been very helpful on this trip, the Garmin Varia radar tail light.

I was a bit skeptical about this purchase but it’s one I’m especially glad I made. The Varia tail light has a radar that syncs up with your phone or Garmin cycling computer to alert you of traffic coming from behind… or the marketing material reads something like that. Knowing I would be doing a lot of solo riding a device that could act as an extra set of eyes seemed like a good idea, but I couldn’t quite understand how some little dots on the side of my GPS would be helpful. It has proven to be incredibly valuable.

I have my Varia light paired with my Garmin 1030 Plus cycling computer mounted to my handlebars. Instead you could have your phone there. I’ve been riding a lot of two lane roads with no shoulders and this is where this set up shines. When a car approaches it gives you a good ol’ Garmin beep-beep to let you know something is coming. At that moment a dot appears on the bottom right side of the screen and the edges grow red. As the car gets closer the dot goes up the side of your screen. When it reaches the top the car is next to you.

The Garmin Varia in action.

This might not sound impressive since it doesn’t tell you it the car is aiming for you or giving you a wide safe distance but it does help in a lot of situations. Here’s some examples:

1. If there is a big semi truck in the oncoming lane and you’re on a narrow two lane road with no shoulder you know the car behind you can not safely squeeze between you and the truck (but sometimes will still try). After a little while using the unit I realized the car from behind’s progress on screen (its little dot) is accurate enough that I could tell if it was slowing down for me or not. I could keep an eye on how close the car behind was without taking my eyes off the road ahead. That was especially helpful when the road’s edge was broken up or things were stressful up front and I didn’t want to be looking behind. If it was one of those semi-truck-coming-towards-me-on-one-side-of-the-road and a big-truck-rumbling-up behind-and-not-slowing-down situations I’d know I would bbe safer with an emergency exit to the gravel shoulder (and it gives you the right amount of time to make that decision on a case by case basis).

2. After I’d heard the beep-beep of something approaching from behind I could also hear the sound of the vehicle soon after. The quiet gentle swoosh of a small car or the roaring rumble of Mad Max semi truck seems easier to differentiate knowing the distance from the sound. So about the time you get the alert you can start processing how big the vehicle behind is and if they are slowing down or moving over to give you room. All while not taking your eyes off what’s ahead.

3. It also shows multiple cars coming from behind. And it worked through the heavy rain days I rode in. It hasn’t ever missed a car. It would be easy to miss a car looking at a rain covered mirror.

4. Cruising along on old farm roads there is often a pot hole or something that I wanted to dodge. Sometimes I’ll want to quickly swerve out towards the middle of the road but I haven’t looked back in a while. With the tail light keeping track of things behind I safely knew that no one was coming from behind. Same kind of thing on those long 20 mile stretches where I didn’t see a single car and kind of forgot that there might even be one.

In a better world there’d be bike lanes, or at least shoulders to ride on, but for heading out on solo rides I really think the Garmin Varia is helpful. I most certainly look forward to riding places where I don’t need to hear this thing beeping at me all the time, but for now that chirping is worth the added safety it brings. The rechargeable battery seems to have easily lasted through my longest 9+ hours days out on the road too.