Garmin Varia Radar RTL515 - Unboxing & Review

Christmas came early for me this year as I cash into my entitlement from AECO Technologies as the Everymove Sports Club which I am very much part of the past 2-years is being KIV due to changes in direction from AECO itself. It is a sad moment for me, more so after a whole 13 or 14 years of collboration with AECO representing the Garmin brand and myself has been on the forefront of all devices that was launched, learning about them and sharing it here in my blog. As a friend said, cherish the good memories and move on.

And this is indeed a move on post, and I write them with mixed feeling.

The journey so far with AECO Technologies

I've only been reviewing wrist devices mostly over the years; from the first unit of FR910XT and the first ever Fenix, to everything cart GPS and iteration of all the Forerunner (FR) series to all the Fenix series, Cycling power meters such as Vector 2s and Vector 3s, All permutation of HRM OG to HRM Pro Plus, cycling computer such as Edge 1000 and Edge 1040. I even have the Vista handheld series such as the HCx which accompanied me in my early days pre-wrist watch Garmin, and a Vista10, which was replaced as HCx was beyond repair.

The Edge 1000 (thank you AECO) now belong to my son as he starts his triathlon journey. In fact, he inherited the Fenix7X that was given as an entitlement in 2022 and my daughter took over the Fenix6 (2020). Some older devices were given away to friends that wanted to start the sports, while some ended up as electronic waste as they can't be fixed anymore as they are effectively extinct even in Garmin directory.

I have always been curious of the Radar or Varia - and it was indeed a missing link to the Garmin ecosystem that I never had. So with the Entitlement that was due to me for 6-months (and a lot of bargaining), I managed to exchange it for 2-units of Varia RTL515, and you guessed it right - one for me to pair on Edge 1040 and one for my son for his Edge 1000. 

(now before you think i left my Wife out, I bought a FR965 for me using my entitlement in 2023)

Thank you AECO Technologies, for this and the good memories with Garmin as a brand. And yes, this also meant I am no longer representing or able to represent Garmin (via AECO) anymore from July 1, 2024 onwards.

Garmin Radar Varia RTL515 - A very quick Review

Garmin has a few variant of cycling radar. And by radar we really meant something that can detect vehicles (and motorbikes) behind us and gives you the heads up warning on your cycling computer or compatible wrist devices. It is safety at it's best.

Couple that with super bright LED lights that can be seen hundreds of meter away, and flashes in such a way it should really alert any road users that you are there. Radar is indeed an underrated companion for many cyclist. First debuted in 2015 as Garmin acquired a South African company that does this technology (Thank you iKubu) with the release of RTL500 and RTL501. Little changed over the years until 2018 where the new shaped RTL510 and RTL511 came out. The 1 at the back actually denote the European requirement that the LED lights must stay ON all time without flashing. So anyone outside of EU can use those fancier flashing and strobe functions.

A mix feeling, really

The RTL515 is to date, 4 years old. It is no changes to the design vs the 2018 RTL510. So it does not surprise me when the two units of Radar I receieved carries both AECO sticker (aka been in the retail shop for at least the past 2 years) and Garmin Malaysia (the new mothership) sticker. Essentially nothing change in terms of packaging.

Notice the two different stickers

The old packaging is glossier

As how a father should operate, I kept the newer unit for my son, and I took the AECO unit for myself - also for sentimental value being associated with AECO. The unboxing is pretty straight forward with the unit well packed with all things you required to attach to your seatpost.

The box at the end showed this unit was dropped before from display :(

Here is the step by step unboxing, since I did not take any video to show. You can see that the Radar unit is in plastic bag, so is the attachments for it, the Micro-USB charging cable, the user manual and two sets of stickers. We all love stickers.

And here they are, all out of plastic.

three different grommet to attach to three different type of seatpost, including aero-post, and two silicon band to secure the unit

The next few series of photos shows how the unit looked like from all angle. Comments or observation in the photo captions as required.

Similar mounting as per the cycling computer

Rubber cover on the charging port. Micro-USB

Top view of the On/Off button. Press 1s to switch it on. Do not look at the light.

I repeat, do not look at the light

Damn bright

There is light window on both left and right, I believe supposedly lend visibility to people on your flank

Also as bright, just less intense from the side

A status LED (in blue here) help you to know if the unit battery requires charging, the charging stage and for blue, it denotes "smart" mode where it "talks" to your headunit

The other side

Base mount attached to the RTL515

On my Steel bike seat post

Mounted as per instruction. The whole front facing area below the LED is the radar console

Bright! 

Paring it with my Edge 1040 is straight forward. 

The pairing of the RTL515 to the Edge 1000 and Edge 1040 were straight forward. it will link as a Radar first, and then you will need to search and link it as LIGHT. This way, the setting can be optimised as you can control the LED behaviour from your headunit very easily. I do not or did not take any video of the unit pairing up, but once done correctly, it will prompt you to update the RTL515 firmware and just follow the intructions on your headunit or wrist devices (I have no issues linking it to the Fenix 7X and my FR965).

And if you are curious on how the unit behave, this is a short video showing how it detects vehicles coming at speed, and the approximate "distance" based on visual on the Edge 1040. The accuracy is good and the past few bike ride was with a lot of confidence that I do not need to constantly look behind even when on straight road to check over my shoulder - and of course using this to supplement the usual looking over the shoulder as I change lane or when I saw obstacle on the front that I would like to avoid.

The beep was loud enough to be heard going at 35km/h and it was fun watching some of these dots turning RED as they approach nearer to you (at approximately 140m). The RTL515 is capable to detect traffics from a 3-lane road as it has a wide "field of vision". 

It picks up motorbike very accurately as well but not bicycles. I believe part of the reason is that the radar detects significant speed differences between you and the objects coming from behind - and alert you on the actual threats rather than giving a false positive. 

Hope this very short write up provide some insight to the Radar units. Of course, if you have more questions, please do ask away. As the functionality of this Radar i pretty straight forward, there is really nothing more I can write about unless you experience it yourself.

This Unit retail for RM1050 at all Garmin Malaysia retail and online store. This could be one of the best money you may spend on for safety if your riding is constantly outdoor in trafficked area. The LED brightness alone is already a first line of sight for vehicles - the only way they will miss you is because they are driving distracted or under the influence, or in some cases, they just hate anything on two wheels and look at you as a target to bully. For these reasons above, no amount of radar or careful riding will save you.

Just ride safe and defensively!

See you all on the road soon!