Varia Series - Recent Threads

RE: Rearview 820 Permanent False Postive when riding in a Group/Peloton

Rory_Loveland — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 16:35:58 GMT

Could not be more frustrated w/ the constant beeping when riding in a group.

Rearview 820 Permanent False Postive when riding in a Group/Peloton

mikeprytherch — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 21:32:19 GMT

I have reported this to Garmin but interested if others are getting this issue.

Today I did a club ride, once I was riding at the front or mid group my Edge Computer showed a cyclist on screen permanently, this meant the radar overlay was permanently on screen and the lights flashed and no doubt annoyed the group riders behind me, the 515 did not suffer at all like this and ignored riders in a pelaton.

I changed the light setting to peloton mode but that no difference, not surprised it made no difference as that is a light setting but I thought it was worth a try.

I suspect this is the new algorithm which stops same speed vehicles disappearing, but it renders the unit virtually useless and annoying when riding in a group, fo sure it can be fixed with a software update, but this is bad news for anybody riding in the group until it is fixed.

RearVue 820 downgrade to 6.34

1525804 — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 05:27:57 GMT

Hi,

I am using the RearView 820 with firmware version 6.70 and am experiencing the issues already mentioned in the forum. Is it possible - or could someone provide me with the previous firmware 6.34 so that I can downgrade?

Thanks.

RE: RearVue 820 downgrade to 6.34

1525804 — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 16:09:39 GMT

Gibt es mal Info´s, wann die nächste Firmware ohne diese ganzen Fehlermeldungen erscheinen soll? Das Schweigen hier ist recht groß und die Fehlfunktionen nerven. Für dieses viele bezahlte Geld unverständlich. Nun?

RE: Varia rear View 820 Radar Error

Ivanb1964 — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:06:23 GMT

Getting radar error with the latest public beta 32.12

Varia rear View 820 Radar Error

L. La Marca — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:34:43 GMT

I am seeing radar errors when riding. The error is "Radar Error, Radar Data Stale, Disconnected". If I touch the screen on the 1040, the error disappears and the radar appears to operate normally; threats are again displayed. The error appears at least twice an hour, sometimes more

I am running 6.34 on the Varia 820 and it's connected to a Edge 1040 Solar on software Beta 30.18 (1CA41AA835)

RearVue 820 needs option to ignore cyclists

ArminMW — Sun, 03 May 2026 13:35:27 GMT

I am a longtime user of the Garmin RTL radars. I recently upgraded to the new RearVue 820 which I use with my Edge 840.

While my previous RTLs such as the 510 and 515 were perfectly usable in group rides (with the light off or in peleton mode, and only flashing when larger vehicles were approaching), the RearVue 820 is not usable in group rides, because it constantly warns about other cyclists in the group.

I need an option to make the radar ignore cyclists behind me.

When in a group ride, I want the radar to ignore (not warn about) cyclists riding in my group, but I still want to be warned about larger vehicles approaching, such as cars and trucks.

Thus ideally a new option should be introduced with three settings:

(1) all cyclists trigger a warning (current behaviour)
(2) only cyclists approaching trigger a warning (ignore those cyclists riding at same speed = group ride)
(3) no cyclists trigger a warning (ignore all cyclists = RTL 510/515 behaviour)

It would also make sense to make (2) the default in peloton mode.

RE: RearVue 820 needs option to ignore cyclists

changrenyong — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:57:35 GMT

Disabling radar threat mode does not prevent detected objects from appearing on your bike computer. Disabling radar threat mode only prevents the taillight from flashing at higher intensity when an object is detected (this is more subtle in peloton mode). You don't put it in peloton mode in group ride?

RE: RearVue 820 needs option to ignore cyclists

Craig.thebiker — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:47:07 GMT

Sure, but what's the point of having a radar unit, if the threat mode is disabled. I firmly believe that the 820 model needs to have an option to disable objects behind that are at the same speed. Otherwise, this unit is useless in any kind of group ride.

RE: RearVue 820 false positives

changrenyong — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:26:24 GMT

I have reported this to Garmin support and I have an active case with them.

RearVue 820 false positives

changrenyong — Fri, 01 May 2026 04:12:19 GMT

I have owned every Varia radar from the original RTL500 to the current RearVue 820. The Varia radars had pretty much been the gold standard in bike radars and that's why it's quite shocking to me that I am getting a lot of false positives with the RearVue 820. Who else is seeing false positives with the RearVue 820?

RE: RearVue 820 false positives

3381756 — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:22:36 GMT

So many that I had to turn off the audio notification on my unit this morning. I was riding alone, on the Westchester (North County) bike path with no one around and the alert kept coming up showing someone right on my tail. Not sure who the ghost was, but he or she was driving me crazy.

This happens all the time. Pretty much everything here is a false positive except at the occasional street crossings.

RE: RearVue 820 needs option to ignore cyclists

changrenyong — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:17:03 GMT

You can disable radar threat mode in the Varia app.

RE: RearVue 820 needs option to ignore cyclists

brian416 — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:29:57 GMT

I solved this issue by running an RTL510 with groups and leaving th 820 at home. Another issue is that others with 820s constantly detect other cyclists in the group as “threats” and it does the flashing pattern for cars which is incredibly irritating and blinding if you’re in shadows and the Varia is mounted up high.

RE: Varia rear View 820 Radar Error

Zoli — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 10:07:15 GMT

Hello Garmin support,

It looks like you do not know yet what cause the issue.

Let the community help you: and share the source code, share the technical details.

This is apply to other thing like Virb360 camera. It is no longer sold nor supported what does keep you away and what is the reason behind Garmin does not share the source code and technical details?

Also it looks like a few of public email address does not work as there is no response. If you need IT help to repair email system just ask.

Garmin products are expensive and it looks like we "so called customers" pay high price to help you to test. Example: Vector3 pedal, Rally 200 pedal. Why 1 pair of pedal body costs 300 eur in Hungary? Why the left pedal body is no longer sold and why do you make your customers to pay the same amount for upgrade that is enough for a New pair of pedal from your competitor that called Assioma? Why do I want to replace the pedal body? Because the material may be weak: right side of both pedals has a wear like it was described in Garmin forum a few times. Only the right side of both pedals. So it does not depend how I remove my shoes from the pedal. It has a wear only at the right side of the pedals.

Keeping the price on premium and Keeping the quality medium to low means your so called customers will slowly choose a competitor.

RE: Varia rear View 820 Radar Error

4325969 — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 09:41:30 GMT

Put a request into Garmin Product Support 4 days ago. No response. Annoying problem having to double clear the message multiple times an hour. If it disconnects a couple of times in a second, then I have to clear 4 messages. Short term fixes could be to combine the messages into one and have it self clear in a few seconds like the other notifications do. It obviously knows the radar is still working, I see the icon in the upper right, and it alerts.

What's going on Garmin? Give us an update. Let us know you are aware of the issue and are working it or let us know you are ignoring your customer issues. Not knowing is worse.

Is this a head unit issue? (I have the new 1050) When using my phone and the Varia app, it never disconnects.

RE: Varia rear View 820 Radar Error

Jay Cee — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 04:41:56 GMT

I have been seeing this error with my 1050 on every latest Beta firmware for the last few months. I touch the screen and it goes away until it comes back again 4 or 5 times per ride. No pattern that I can detect. Radar still works but the notification won't clear without touching it three or four times as one annoying message replaces another all to do with Disconnection/Data/Stale/Error and the like. My 715 and 515 never did any of this and a few firmware versions ago using the 820 it didn't do it either. 820 and Edge both on latest firmware.

RE: Varia Vue headlight camera, 1 year of problems

arachnofreak — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:56:04 GMT

I think the updates they did early this year were to fix the constant disconnecting issues the Vue had but by doing that they broke the " on radar" function. Not sure why Garmin is having such a problem with this. Will they ever fix it, or will they just end up releasing a new version of the front Vue camera? If they do, they better offer free to us who bought the original version. It has been over 2 months now with no fix, very frustrating!

Varia Vue headlight camera, 1 year of problems

arachnofreak — Tue, 12 May 2026 10:22:54 GMT

So Garmin decided to add the Vue name to the new rear radar when the front was called just " Varia[emoticon:7d377b609b6f44bf9290e3d8a0b9a733] Vue ". That's not at all confusing.

I am posting here because support claims they have no idea what I am talking about and asked me to create a video. So I am trying here to see if anyone else is experiencing this.

I have had the Varia Vue headlight camera for over a year now (since launch), and it has not gone well. The original one had a major issue and would not pair, and the Wi-Fi didn't work. They sent a replacement. The replacement had issues disconnecting all the time. After talking to support for a month or so, they sent a replacement. The new one was better, but it still got disconnected sometimes. After a few more months of talking back and forth to support and sharing all my files, they then decided to replace it AGAIN. Then it was winter, so I did not use the cam until spring. Now my newest replacement never seems to disconnect, YAY! But now it's something new. I have a hunch that Garmin made a big change in the programming of the "light network" to fix disconnect issues, and it was never a hardware problem with the unit at all.

So here is my newest issue that I attempted to talk to support about, and they say they don't know what I am talking about.

I start the RCT715 rear radar cam and the Varia Vue front camera, and they connect to my Edge 1050. The Vue front cam starts recording immediately, even though it is set to record on radar only. If I manually stop the recording, it then never records at all. It just constantly records or doesn't from the start when I power it on, and it is not triggered by radar to record. Just the Vue front cam does this; the rear radar cam operates fine and only records on radar detection as I set it to do. However, if I also open the Varia mobile app on my phone, then both cameras seem to operate perfectly and start and stop recording on radar detection as they are set to. I never had to do this. I shouldn't have to have the phone app running all the time with the Garmin Edge 1050. I use the 1050 every time I ride, and I do not want to have to open the phone "Varia app" also. This is a totally new behavior that seems that it may have been introduced with the newest update to the Varia Vue front cam?

Anyone else having this issue? Or did everyone who ever bought a "Varia Vue" front camera just give up on it by now and go back to the GoPro instead?

Thanks!

RE: Varia Vue headlight camera, 1 year of problems

Garmin - KS — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 19:10:19 GMT

arachnofreak It looks like you've been actively working with Garmin Support on this, which is excellent!

For anyone else having a similar experience, please be sure to:

Ensure that all software is current on all devices (Varia Vue, the compatible rear radar, and the Edge device).
Verify that the Light Network is set up correctly, as explained here: Control Your Varia Device With an Edge Cycling Computer
Confirm that "On Radar Activity" mode is selected for both radars.
Unpair and Re-pair all devices with the Edge unit.

If you continue to experience the same behavior, please let us know! **

RE: Varia Vue headlight camera, 1 year of problems

pietr — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:29:54 GMT

Mine worked fine but just started the same behavior (since 2 Edge update ago).
But your statement makes full sense, I'll set the front one to continuous and leave the rear one to on radar activity.
For longer ride, I'll rely on a backup light if needs be.

RE: Varia rear View 820 Radar Error

changrenyong — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:22:28 GMT

I am using the latest MyBikeTraffic connect IQ data field but I believe it's using a special ANT+ channel for its data from the RearVue 820. Interestingly, I think all of the "Radar Error, Radar Data Stale, Disconnected" errors occur on my Edge 1040 Solar but not on the Edge 840. I also have the Outrider ConnectIQ data field on both bike computers and it uses BT for tire pressure data.

RE: Varia rear View 820 Radar Error

damoncahill — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:37:18 GMT

I've still been working this with Garmin Support. I've had an open case since I received the 820 at release and took it on my first ride with the edge 850. I've covered all of the troubleshooting steps in this thread, and have even had them replace the 820. I've had logging on for months, and stop my ride when it happens (multiple times per ride) to "upload". I don't think the support rep I'm working with is getting any help from the backend dev team. Here is the latest - they reached out yesterday and are sending me a brand new 820 and Edge 850. They want me to keep mine as is (not reset) so they have the devices available to test.

One note, and I've asked this of the support team, could this be a BT issue with the BT limitation of the devices. More specifically, brought on by ConnectIQ data fields? I thought I had this narrowed down to this at one point. I factory reset everything, didn't load any profiles from backup, didn't load anything from the ConnectIQ store, and went on the ONLY 3 hour ride I had taken without this error happening. Alas, it happened on my next ride.

Do others here having the issue use third party connectIQ apps or fields that use BT?

RE: Varia rear View 820 Radar Error

4325969 — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:31:48 GMT

Varia 820 paired with new Edge 1050, SW & FW up to date. Same issue, two error messages pop up: disconnect, then data stale--multiple times an hour, no pattern as to where or when that I can discern. Unpairing/repairing, on/off, does not work. Radar continues to work well before, during, and after the message. I have to clear both errors as it blocks the bottom of my screen. This is annoying. I have left it up to see if it eventually clears itself--it does not. Other messages clear within a few seconds. It would be a nice fix if this error message cleared on its own after a few seconds. The audible alert is fine, I see the alert, I see the radar is connected in the upper right, I just want to continue riding and not take my eyes off the road and hand off the handle bar when going downhill or heavy traffic: other bikes, people, etc.

Maybe this is notable: I used my phone and the Varia app for a 2-1/2 hour ride and it did not error, not connected to Edge 1050. I used my phone and the Edge 1050 on the same route and the Edge 1050 logged the error multiple times an hour while the phone app did not log a single error. I do not use or connect the Varia to my phone normally, as it kills my phone battery after 3 hours.

A nice quick fix in my opinion would be to simply have the error clear itself within seconds. The radar is obviously still working, I can see the symbol in the upper right, I hear the alert, it continues to identify threats and shows them.

Varia Camera (Fr/Rr) Continuous recording only when activity timer is recording?

lkavney75 — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 09:05:56 GMT

Is it possible to have continuous recording on the Varia Vue/RCT715 Cameras (both front and/or rear) to be set to continuous recording mode, but if I hit the stop button on the activity it stops recording?

The light controls are fine, but it seems from my operation and reading of the manual, if its set to continuous - its always recording regardless of speed, activity timer etc etc whereas the lights can be controlled by the timer