Cars following losing white dot

No, I think it has something to do with the size of the object.

If that's the case how does it cope with a motorcycle, I've had clowns in the past who think it funny to buzz a cyclist at warp speed.

If that's the case how does it cope with a motorcycle, I've had clowns in the past who think it funny to buzz a cyclist at warp speed.

Not sure, most of my routes aren't very motorbike friendly so can't remember last time I was passed by one - I'll make a mental note to see what happens if one does though

Yes and no - I agree that the Varia probably uses a simple doppler radar like a speed gun, but for this very reason it should be very simple for it to register vehicles moving the same speed as you. In fact, it will already be doing this, just not showing them on the display. ... All they would need to do would be to reduce that threshold to 0km/h (or maybe a little less) to keep vehicles trailing you still showing on the display. The key thing is it's all about speeds relative to the bike/varia and the car - the actual speed you're travelling is irrelevant.

:) We are in agreement. I think what I was trying to say was lost in translation and that's my fault for not communicating it effectively. I absolutely agree that the Varia is registering those vehicles with a zero speed differenthial behind us, but just not reporting them due to the threshold. My point is the issues of what happens if they lowered the reporting threshold down to zero, or even 1 kmh due to error variances. The Varia will work beautifully while we are riding, reporting those vehicles as the come behind and pace us. However, there is a huge problem when we come to a stop, say at a traffic light. Since there no longer is a speed differential threshold before reporting an object, it will show as a white dot not only a car stopped behind us, but anything else that it picks up. Depending on the environment, urban for example, your screen could be clouded with white dots. This can be a problem because a static object, car or otherwise isn't a threat. But a car moving towards me at a high rate of speed is, whether I'm stopped or not. How do we see that vehicle easily on the screen if it's filled with other dots such as parked cars or mailboxes? I think Garmin wanted to avoid that scenario and therefore put in the speed differential before showing a dot. This is why I think being able to get speed from the Garmin Edge is the solution. If you are moving below 5 mph, or whatever you want to set, just like you can the auto pause in the Edge, no objects with a zero speed differential reported. Then we only get reports of vehicles moving towards us at speed while stopped. This is what I would want to know, not that there is a car stopped behind me, or a mailbox or tree for that matter. :p We get up to our preset speed on the bike, the Varia switches modes and reports everything. Then we now get the car pacing us showing up. Actual static/fixed objects are not going to be reported due to moving past us as we ride.

Not sure, most of my routes aren't very motorbike friendly so can't remember last time I was passed by one - I'll make a mental note to see what happens if one does though

I had a motorcycle pass me today and that was shown on my 1000.

Worked well on my ride today, the only annoying thing was not being able to see the last digit of the time ahead on segment screen when Varia seeing cars. The important number!

:) We are in agreement. I think what I was trying to say was lost in translation and that's my fault for not communicating it effectively. I absolutely agree that the Varia is registering those vehicles with a zero speed differenthial behind us, but just not reporting them due to the threshold. My point is the issues of what happens if they lowered the reporting threshold down to zero, or even 1 kmh due to error variances. The Varia will work beautifully while we are riding, reporting those vehicles as the come behind and pace us. However, there is a huge problem when we come to a stop, say at a traffic light. Since there no longer is a speed differential threshold before reporting an object, it will show as a white dot not only a car stopped behind us, but anything else that it picks up. Depending on the environment, urban for example, your screen could be clouded with white dots. This can be a problem because a static object, car or otherwise isn't a threat. But a car moving towards me at a high rate of speed is, whether I'm stopped or not. How do we see that vehicle easily on the screen if it's filled with other dots such as parked cars or mailboxes? I think Garmin wanted to avoid that scenario and therefore put in the speed differential before showing a dot. This is why I think being able to get speed from the Garmin Edge is the solution. If you are moving below 5 mph, or whatever you want to set, just like you can the auto pause in the Edge, no objects with a zero speed differential reported. Then we only get reports of vehicles moving towards us at speed while stopped. This is what I would want to know, not that there is a car stopped behind me, or a mailbox or tree for that matter. :p We get up to our preset speed on the bike, the Varia switches modes and reports everything. Then we now get the car pacing us showing up. Actual static/fixed objects are not going to be reported due to moving past us as we ride.

Got you - and that's a good point about being stationary. I'm now tempted to try rolling backwards down a hill and see how many trees I can get it to register before I crash :o

I must agree with the comment above.

You are in potential danger from a car that is approaching you as eventually they will get to you and have to pass.

You are in no danger from a car that is not approaching you since, by definition, they will not be passing you.

So the unit only reports objects that are approaching. If the car slows and is no longer approaching you, then it is not reported after a period of time. If it speeds up and is approaching again, then it will be reported.

Seems logical to me.

I think this is dangerous, the car approaching is tracked from 140 m behind to closely behind then the dot disappears. If a car follows for a distance it is easy to look down at the Edge and think all is clear behind.

I agree with this. I'd definitely prefer the radar to give me clear idea of what is behind me. If a car is a few meters behind me going at the same speed as me there is not much of a time to react once it accelerates.

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I find the most useful quick check is the green light on the display unit - supposedly "all clear".

Currently I can have a car sitting behind me in an attack hover and it is giving me a deceptive green light. I would prefer for close cars to still appear as a warning, even if they are matching speeds.

I ran 2.2 software for the first time today and noticed that the green all clear band is more likely to be shown when a car is still following than with the previous software. Previously the wjite dot disappeared but no green band was show till the car passed.

First ride with Varia today. Overall, I'm very pleased with how it works. 8 miles (both directions) of my 23 mile ride was along a 2-lane main street 1 block up from the beach with lots of right-angle feeder streets. The entire 4-mile length of street has slow-moving cars - from 5 to 25 mph. So for much of this part of the ride, I received few, if any notifications because I was going the same speed or faster than traffic. This is fine. What I noticed though, is if I was 100 -200 feet beyond an intersection and a car turned onto a traffic-free part of the the main street from a feeder street and was coming towards me, I never received a notification because of the 5 MPH (or whatever it actually is) threshold. The car would ultimately pass me at around 10 mph so it would have been helpful to see a notification. What about having an optional setting to increase and decrease the threshold to something around 2.0 mph on the low end? I think in this particular ride, I would have received notification of 80% or more of the "missed" notifications.