Finally picked up a radar taillight with the outgoing Varia RTL515 on discount and I have to say, I've appreciated the radar/light more than I thought I would. I haven't used it in the dark yet, so I cannot speak to the effectiveness of the tail light, but the radar function has made me wonder how I survived so long without one. I assume no bike radar is 100% perfect when it comes to picking up cars, but in several weeks of usage, this model has been probably 99% accurate. Get yourself one before they're all gone!
Midwest weather had a freak warm day last week (72 degrees in March!) so we ventured a short leg-stretching ride. This Varia 820 is an upgrade for me from the 515, and it IS as-advertised. I use it with an Edge 1040 and the new vehicle icons and wider display are far more useful, particularly in the kind of riding I do... out in the country, where a car/pickup can sneak up on you really really fast. The ONLY complaint I have so far has to do with the same, ongoing problem: the volume of the notification chime. Windy rides, at pace, you just can't hear the notification. You just have to get into the habit of the quick glance as part of your awareness "rotation." These will be gifts for my grandson and his father as well.
See the online YouTube reviews from Llama and DM for really good tech evaluations.
I bought this tail light for my wife's bike, but she said it was too bright. I said that was the point, so I put it on my bike instead. Scrolls thru multiple flashing patterns or solid if you choose. Make sure you hear the 'snap' when placing into the seat post holder otherwise you'll loose it. I learned the hard way. : /
My old Garmin Varia was only holding a charge for around 3 hours. So, it was time to replace it. This tail light was just released. I've been happy with other Lezyne products and this was also about $50 less than the base Varia model and way less than the new Varia. I've now used it for about 2 weeks and I'm really happy with the performance of this product. The warnings are exactly the same as the old Varia. I've not had any false positives or false negatives. On top of all that, I got 14 hours of riding out of my first charge. That's about double what I ever got out of the Varia, even when it as new.
The only downside to this light is the way it attaches to your bike. It's just a rubber strap around your seat post. There's no way to attach it to a tab on a saddle bag or saddle rails. It's easy to move from bike to bike, but I wish there was more flexibility in where you can mount it.
Even with the lack of mounting options, I'm still very happy with this tail light.
