inside this box there's something that's going to change my cycling forever
the new garmin varia rct715 catchy name now this is a bicycle light but it's not
any bicycle light this is the old varia and it's basically a bike light with a radar in it when a
car is coming up behind you it warns you on your header unit it links via bluetooth and it tells
you how fast the car's going plus a load of other stats that makes it really useful for riding out
on the open road and today literally today i'm filming and posting this video on the same day
they've released a new one which has some very significant upgrades
before we get started i'll be clear this is not a product review this is just a first look
an unboxing garmin sent me this device early to have a play with but it did only arrive yesterday
night so well and today's the release date so in the box instruction manuals mounts to fit it onto
your bike cable tires elastic ones they look very different from the old system they've slightly
changed the look of the mounting system and these rubber pieces that fit to your seat post i imagine
this is because of the uh well influx of aeroseat posts on people's bikes they wanted to give more
options there's some rubber bits that are actually fasten it on but here's the old one you can
see the actual design has changed significantly these new ones look quite neat and quite nice usb
cable this is a usbc so another change and an upgrade from the old one which had just a
mini usb or micro usb better for me because this is what all my cameras use and then finally
the device itself right first impressions he's a chunky boy slightly bigger than the old one from
the front and a lot thicker as well but for good reason this new veria has a camera in it i love
bikes and cameras this is definitely my kind of thing already the best bit ready for the best bit
that's ridiculously bright light i've just shined in my face yes it's got a camera in but this isn't
a camera for cinematic purposes or for posting stuff on instagram this is a camera for safety
and a camera perfect for reporting incidents when you're out on the road if you've ridden a bike on
the road in the uk before then you've probably experienced issues first hand close passes
tailgating abuse from drivers and there's usually nothing really you can do once they've driven off
but that's why loads of cyclists have started riding with cameras on now i've done a video
piece on this topic before with a guy called cycling mikey and i'd urge you to watch that
i'll put a link in the description down below but the gist of it is if you run a camera and
an incident happens you've got video evidence to back it up and you can actually make a difference
whether that's reporting it to the police or with insurance claims just the same way as you'd use
a dash cam in a car previously cameras on bikes have been a bit of a faff because well this has
been the go to a gopro and the problem with these is that you've got to have them running all the
time and then you end up with massive files at the end that you have to sort through and try
and work out where the incident happened on top of that the batteries don't last that long especially
if you're recording the whole time if you look at the video that i did with cycling mikey he has a
box with him uh because he's constantly recording and he's switching out his batteries and his
memory cards all the time but this device solves those problems like the original varia it links
to your head unit or your phone via an app and it will tell you when there's a car approaching from
behind but now you have the option to save a video clip or a snapshot of what's just happened once
you've set it up there's a few different options but you can have it set to constantly record
and then when an incident does occur that you want to record or for example you get a close pass
you can save just that snapshot with a bit of footage before and a bit of footage after
now i would like to be able to tell you something about the video quality but
i only just got it so let's go outside and see what the video quality is like
so
so just to explain i put the variate on my bike turned it on and press record so all
of the settings that you're seeing are straight out of the box the resolution
whatever the default resolution is i actually had a quick look through some of the footage
at the bike shop and you can see how clearly you can make out number plates and stuff so
good job with the image like i said it's not for cinematic stuff generally so it's not going
to have the same sort of soft image like a gopro would but definitely in terms of setup just then
two buttons and you're good to go are you gonna sell these yeah i mean i can't believe you got it
so quick i've actually been quite excited for this because i mean i use the normal one just the radar
at the back and it's i've seen it on james quite a lot you can see when you slow down obviously
the light gets brighter um when you've gone you can see this car is behind you so it just kind of
keeps you more lit but that stuff i wasn't too worried about the video on yeah so i don't have
all the details yet i should go and study up today exactly because garmin spoke to us about a
month and a half ago about it contingency films there's different settings you can get a cert
continuously after a while deletes the footage so you don't have to worry about filling up memory
cards and things but the big thing is having the radar bolts in it's gonna sense if a car passes
you too closely or a truck or a lorry or van or something like that on your head unit should be
a thing pop-up you can instantly save the footage if you don't have an automatic save already um and
the clarity of the footage is high enough that you could actually submit that to number places and
they can actually prosecute based on that because that'll say how close somebody's past you as well
obviously it's not like trying to like do people but if you people continue to start submitting
it at some point the awareness will spread well if you get it well if you're getting a ticket
you're going to be careful the next time because you're not going to know who's got it who doesn't
have it so like everyone doesn't even need to have it it just kind of stops people from like
overtaking too closely it's all on it you don't have to worry about it's not like
having a camera on your head and then trying to justify it that will do everything you needed
to do and then added benefits of warning when people are coming from behind it tells you how
many cars how far they are i've just googled it i think we filmed it too early this is illegal you
shouldn't be showing people this embargo device in the coffee shop there yeah true we did signed
nda's so just at home now the device has officially launched so the app is now available on
the app store i've just installed it and had a bit of a tinker in the next few weeks i'll highlight a
little bit more in these videos about what you can do with this and what the different settings do
we did a little ride up the road just then there were a few close passes of course because we're in
england and the footage i think you'll agree was very clear crisplicious out of the box it produces
1080p files and they've added some sharpening as well so you can really make out number plates and
it's just very easy to see what's going on so i'm excited to try this for the next few weeks and see
what happens the more people using devices like this and reporting bad driving the more people
will end up knowing about it because well the drivers will end up with fines and then
be scared to drive badly which is ultimately the goal and something that i would like to see
i just want to be safe while out riding my bike good drivers have nothing to worry about
any questions you've got about this please put them in the comment section down below and
anything you want me to cover in a future episode hope you enjoyed this and see you guys soon