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Varia 515 will not pair Lights to 945

badbri
over 3 years ago

Just received my Varia 515 and attempted to connect/pair to my 945.

Radar connected just fine.  So I thought I was good and went and connected the Varia to my wife's Vivoactive 4 so she can use it as well.  I was surprised when it prompted me to connect via a "light" pairing there as well so I did that and that connected just fine.

When I went back to my 945 to also pair the "Light" mode it fails to connect or see the sensor.  I removed all pairings from my wife's Vivo4 in case that was causing issues (it shouldn't but I'm just trying things) and still the 945 flat refuses to see the Light mode on the Varia 515.  Radar continues to connect just fine.  Not sure what else to do as this seems to be some kind of bug.

Here's the duplicate thread in the 945 forum:

https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-945/227655/varia-515-will-not-connect-via-light-paring

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I was told by Antonio via Garmin Support that the Light features of the Varia are "mainly for Edge units" and therefore not for the 945.

    So even though it works with my wife's Vivoactive 4, it will not work with the 945 and this is not seen as an issue by Garmin support. (Nor is this mentioned in any of the Varia marketing materials)   I'm posting this so others can be aware if they decide to use the new Varia unit with a 945 as your head unit.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to badbri

    Same for my Varia rtl 516 (non flashing German version) and my Fenix 6xPS; but I also didn't think that it would work.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Volker

    Why didn't you think it would work?  Is it specified anywhere that non-Edge devices don't connect with the full functionality?  Like I said, the Vivoactive 4 is able to connect to both Radar and Lights and that is a far lesser device than either the 945 or the Fenix 6.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to badbri

    That’s why I said:”but I also didn't think that it would work” Wink

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Volker

    I don't understand, are you saying you didn't think it would work just because of distrust of Garmin's ability to do something like this?  If so, I certainly follow that reasoning but I'm just making sure I didn't miss some actual official communication that this Light feature was specific only to the Edge.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to badbri

    the Varia can most definitely work w/ NON-EDGE units. I have a Fenix series and It works for it. the 945 series would also work w/ the Varia. 

    in Fact, I've even made a 3rd party data field which one can use the Varia even on devices which Garmin does not support natively. (Too bad they didn't allow it to be listed in the Garmin App Store)

    forums.garmin.com/.../garmin-varia-radar-datafield

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Nikeow

    I think you're misunderstanding.  It definitely "works" with the 945, but it only 'works' in half the functionality (i.e. connecting to only radar OR lights, not both).  On the Fenix, Edge, and apparently the Vivoactive 4 it will connect to both seperately.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to badbri

    No, on my F6xPS )(fw 9.97), I can connect it only to radar or lights, booth are not working. Maybe an issue, I reported that to the fw-team for investigation.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to badbri

    I have a Fenix and it only connects as a RADAR (not as light) [ in the sensors and settings menu option]

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Nikeow

    okay thanks guys for confirming.  it does both on the Vivoactive 4.