Varia 515 will not connect via Light paring

Update - After repeatedly, and I do mean repeatedly, attempting and reattempting to pair under "lights" I finally got a "select to add" which showed the device's number.  But when I pressed the button to add, the screen defaulted back to the sensors menu and the device still does not show up as a light.  So back to square one.  This indicates either some kind of faulty connection between the devices (unlikely) or just a buggy process overall on the coding side.

This has been frustrating to say the least.  There is no reason to believe that this device is not compatible with the 945 and it connects just fine to my wife's lesser Vivoactive 4.

Delete the current pairing.

Add the 515 specifically as a Light. Do NOT add it as a radar, or Search All Sensors.

Exit pairing mode.

Done.

It does appear to only connect via one or the other (i.e. if I connect via Lights, radar no longer shows up and vice versa).  If that's the case, I guess I don't understand why the process is different for the 945 than it is for all other Garmin devices (personally seen with the Vivoactive 4 and documented else where for Garmin Edge devices).

Further, there is no documentation on this anywhere in any of the manuals I'm seeing for the Varia etc.

mcalista said:

Delete the current pairing.

Add the 515 specifically as a Light. Do NOT add it as a radar, or Search All Sensors.

Exit pairing mode.

Done.

Sorry, this doesn't work.

Doing as you described will add the "light" yes, but you will not gain any of the radar features.  Which is kinda the point of this device.  I just tested this outside.

I was kinda sorta hoping that the 945 would somehow magically combine the Radar/Light features into one sensor-add as you described but as I said above I was skeptical as this isn't how it works on any other device apparently.

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.

Here's the Garmin web page on the Varia.  it lists the 945 under compatible devices.  I can't see anywhere that it says the Lights function is not available on the 945 (or any other device).

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/698001#overview

Even though I was told in chat from Garmin Support it's not, I'm thinking this is a bug?  Especially since Lights shows up on a Vivoactive 4.

Try this widget:

apps.garmin.com/.../116ccf55-08e6-4bb1-8869-084e47c841c4

Pairs as radar with Edge 130 Plus but not lights

Does Garmin 945 support lights and radar at the same time, or does the problem still persist?

I am interested in purchasing the Varia 515. Thanks!