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False Alarms from Other Cyclists

cicloforza1
I've noticed several others reporting this on this forum and the DC Rainmaker forum, but I'm finding that, with the Varia RTL510, I get false alarms from almost all cyclists coming from behind. I just replaced the previous Varia rear radar with the 510 and with the previous Varia I had very few, if any, false alarms from other cyclists and 99% of the time only received vehicle alarms.
This is very disconcerting when on group rides and I consider it a reason to return the unit if it can't be fixed.
I e-mailed Garmin support about this issue on 7/2 and still haven't received a response.
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    "... verbally warn (or ring a bell) to warn you of their approach." You can't mean that seriously, can you ? The situation on cycle path when you go at 20 km/h and a hard working cyclist on a road bike pass you at forty is dangerous and you should know about him. I can hear a car at least but not the gravel or e-bike and no one bothers himself to ring a bell. Should I stop them and ask for it ? And it is nor a rare situation when you need to change your direction suddenly because of a hole for instance, isn't it ? I discussed the thing with two buddies with 510 and both of them have the same opinion and we all posted the tickets to Garmin to keep this function in the future versions of fw. And moreover according to my friend with the older RTL 500 this device signals faster cyclists the same way.
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    Fully agree with you vmojzisek!
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    How about a sensitivity option?

    High : will pick up cycles also but maybe more false alarms?
    Normal : Normal Car/Truck vehicle use.
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    I agree the ability to adjust the sensitivity would be nice. Thinking this will be done quickly is silly though. This is a config setting so it will require not only adjusting sensitivity levels on the device(sw update) but also adding a UI config setting on every single device in the ecosystem to control this setting.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    It might just be my imagination, but the latest update seems to have reduced sensitivity. I usually ride alone, so I can't say if it no longer picks up other cyclists. But today I could clearly hear a car approaching and the radar stayed idle. Before the latest update I was impressed with how far back a car could be and still get picked up. Now it seems the car needs to be much closer.

    I would love to see a sensitivity setting as well. Maybe something like City/Rural so folks in busy areas don't get overwhelmed with warnings and folks like me out in the boonies get plenty of notice about fast approaching cars. But I'm not holding my breath waiting for such an update from Garmin considering they've never addressed the need to increase the audio warning (or make it available via BT) and people have been asking for that for years.
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    I called Garmin when I started noticing the same problem with my RTL510.  Like you, I never had the problem with the older "brick" style of radar taillight.  Garmin's response was less than satisfying, to say the least.  At the time, several months ago, the rep. simply said, "Yeah, they do that" and said there was nothing to be done.  Shame on you, Garmin!  I sold my RTL500 on Ebay and bought the previous "brick " model.  Low and behold, no more false positives from cyclists.  I was so put out by the whole thing, I am selling my Edge 820 and have already defected to Wahoo Roam.  If  Garmin isn't careful, they will lose their market share soon rather than later.  jimg

  • 0 in reply to cicloforza1

    @cicloforza, the ebikers are often jerks is why.

    I am amazed when 15% of the bikers,  moto or no, announce a MUP pass.

    Oh well, that's why god gave me a frame pump. Ciao.

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    I'm having the same issues but believe it is rocks being detected that are thrown up from my rear tire. Possibly from metallic content within the rocks - not sure but it is very alarming (pardon the pun). 

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    Are you annoyed by alarms raised by other cyclists ? How about alarms generated by cars on a road that is 33 meters to the side of your bike path? Not bad, right?
    I have a stretch on my route where I'm riding along a two-way thoroughfare - there are cars coming from the opposite direction next to me, and even further to the side - about 30 meters from me in a side line - there are cars coming in my direction. RTL515 detects them - admittedly large cars like trucks, buses, and trucks - but it detects them.