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Varia Radar and Edge audio alerts - How to improve based on my experience.

Flow
over 4 years ago

Hello everybody.

I always had my Edge 130 mounted in the stem, and I could clearly hear the alerts, even with a lot of traffic. But I recently bought the Varia UT800 and mounted my Edge in the Garmin out-front mount. I didn't know why, but the audio alerts became very, very low. With traffic the alerts can't be heard. Then I decided to mount the Edge 130 again in the stem, and the volume sound increased! What is my conclusion? Is that the edge sound "reflects" in the stem, and "don't go away", but "stay there"! That's why the alert sounds can be heard. Please try with your gear. Hope my (bad) english was good enough to be understood... Thanks.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to cheracogoff

    Yes I do have the 515. Battery life on ear piece is not an issue as I'm using a wired ear piece which plugs directly into the Taotronics unit. So only battery life issues concern the iPhone and the Taotronic unit. I'll probably carry a power pack (Pebble) for longer rides as a back up. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Why doesn't the radar/tail light beep?  Why do I need to use it with a smart phone or $200 + head unit in order to get the safety of rear looking radar?  All I want is a beep when there's a car behind me, I don't need a graphic display.  Waiting on this before I buy a Varia RTL.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Keyno

    The radar display gives you a much better idea of what is behind you. Many times I have thought there was a single car behind me only to find out there were several cars. The radar will tell you how many and how close they are to you. If it just beeped, you would not know how far away the car is from you. Sounds like a simple mirror is all you need.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to cheracogoff

    Yes - I have a simple mirror, and I'd like a simple beep from the radar unit to tell me when to look in the mirror!

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Keyno

    So, you want the radar unit to beep? Since the radar unit is on the back of the bike, I would think that a beep from it would be very difficult to hear. The Varia senses a car at about 400 feet. That's a long distance to monitor a car approaching without a display.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to cheracogoff

    Yes. My ears are about as close to the radar unit under my butt as they are to the head unit on the handle bars

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    My experience exactly with the 520 plus and UT800 mounted together, disappointing that this issue has been repeatedly mentioned in these forums yet Garmin still sells the mount. When i used the GPS unit with the varia and turn by turn i could clearly hear the beeps with it mounted on the stem. That works fine but leaves me mounting my light on the duo mount with the gps unit on the stem :( 

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to SB2112

    I knew alert tones on my 130 were on the low volume side. My hearing is quite normal-so says my doc.

    Yes, I can get better volume using the Varia app and my phone. That was fine until I forgot my phone. My bad.

    So I decided that tones from my 130 would have to suffice.  Ambient road noise, wind noise, construction equipment and lawn mowers operating nearby drowned out audible alerts quickly. Fortunately I still had the visual display. I learned that hearing an alert on my 130 helped me focus on looking at the 130 when I was focusing on something else.

    I became annoyed that such a fine computer, that I paid good money for, by a great company had this type weakness.

    I wonder if Garmin is aware and fixing?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to eKram

    The loudness of the tones has been frequently discussed here. I can't hear them at all but it seems the majority of riders hear them fine. I have had a rider next to me asking what the alert was for and he thought it was loud. So, I don't think Garmin will do anything for us with hearing issues in the frequency range that the Varia produces. Only option is buy newer 515 model and send alert to phone.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to cheracogoff

    I just got a 315 last fall.  My doctor says I have normal hearing.

    I use the Varia app and my phone.

    There are times that the phone gets forgotten or the phone battery is low or needs to be preserved-don’t use for the Varia.. I would want to rely on the alerts from the 130.

    So to solely rely on the volume of the 315 alerts is a challenge and easily the alerts are drowned out.