I’ve been an everyday bicycle owner since 2015, and I’ve had my justifiable share of motorbike crashes — all minor, fortunately, the place I received away with a couple of gashes at worst — and the frequent denominator was that I used to be distracted by my cellphone.
A smartphone mounted on bike handlebars is a distraction magnet. The large, vivid display is nice for navigating with Google Maps, however notifications and different pop-ups may take your focus off the highway. This setup may drain the cellphone battery fairly rapidly, particularly when you’re additionally recording your trip on an app like Strava, making it lower than superb for longer rides.
Bike computer systems purpose to deal with these points. They could resemble small smartphones, however with out the distractions, recording metrics like pace, distance, coronary heart charge, time and extra. They’ll vary from fundamental fashions that price not more than AU$20, to high-end computer systems which have built-in GPS and maps, and even a digital ‘bell’ through an on-board speaker (for about the identical value as a mid-range smartphone).
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Eyes on the highway, not on a display
I examined Garmin’s latest bike laptop, the Edge 850, to see how a lot the trip expertise improves in comparison with utilizing my cellphone whereas mounted on my handlebars.
The smaller black-and-white display solely shows numbers, which minimized distractions and stored my eyes on the highway extra usually in comparison with utilizing my cellphone. It additionally has real-time alerts of any upcoming hazards like potholes and highway particles, that are normally user-reported (just like how Waze works).
The on-board GPS is correct, and the maps are simply as intuitive to navigate as Google Maps, and the Edge 850 would additionally re-calculate your route when you miss a flip.
Whereas the options above are nice, what really makes a Garmin bike laptop a necessary security improve for anybody who rides bikes is a separate add-on accent: the Garmin Varia RearVue 820.
Tesla’s car detection tech, however for bicycles
The Varia RearVue 820 could appear to be a standard rear bike mild on the skin, however it accommodates a radar to detect if there are automobiles behind you — just like Tesla’s personal vehicle-detection tech.
Bike radars should not a brand new invention by any means; Garmin made the primary business rear-facing radar in 2015, which has since spawned copycat fashions throughout the biking trade.
What units the Garmin Varia RearVue 820 aside is that it could possibly additionally inform you whether or not the car behind you is a standard automobile or one thing a lot greater, like a bus or truck.
Being overtaken by a big car at pace whereas driving a bicycle isn’t for the faint of coronary heart. The air displaced by the overtaking car creates a push-pull impact that would both make a bicycle owner veer off right into a kerb or into some gravel or grass, or worse, the bicycle owner might get “sucked in” and crash into the truck or bus’ aspect. That is one motive why automobiles of any dimension ought to give at the very least one meter of area when overtaking a bicycle owner, however that’s a subject for one more day.
I’ve been in conditions like this many instances, and I’ve had a couple of shut calls the place I‘ve narrowly prevented a crash when a truck overtook me at full pace. With the Varia RearVue 820, seeing the alert for a big car on my display helped put together me to brace when it passes, holding on to the drops of my handlebars to stop it from steering by itself.
The radar connects to a suitable Garmin bike laptop or smartwatch and provides a brand new part within the display to copy a highway. Every car detected exhibits up as a car-shaped icon with their corresponding dimension. I used to be ready to connect with the Edge 850 fairly seamlessly, however I used to be pleasantly shocked when it was simply as simple to pair with my 9-year-old Garmin Fenix 5 smartwatch.
The alerts are accompanied with beeps, so that you don’t should be glued to the display. Autos will be detected way back to 170m away to provide cyclists extra time to arrange. The radar may present whether or not the automobiles are in the identical lane because the bicycle owner, bolstering that peace of thoughts.
Garmin says this know-how is feasible because of the next frequency 60Hz V-band radar (in comparison with the 24Hz in its different fashions), detecting ‘outlines’ of a car as a substitute of a single ‘dot’, that are then transformed into digital automobiles that present up on the bike laptop or smartwatch display.
Extra seen than ever on the highway
The bike mild isn’t simply there to make the radar discreet — the Garmin Varia RearVue 820’s rear mild is vivid sufficient to be seen to different highway customers 2km away. Garmin says a automobile operating 100km per hour covers 2km in round 70 seconds, so this visibility would alert a driver a lot sooner than different bike lights would, giving them extra time to regulate.
The sunshine may flash quickly once you immediately should brake, with the Varia RearVue 820 utilizing radar knowledge and an accelerometer to detect deceleration to supply a ‘visible shout’ to alert different cyclists and highway customers. I had not been conscious of this characteristic till somebody at a gaggle trip pointed it out to me, exhibiting how efficient it was.
The linked bike laptop or smartwatch can management the sunshine remotely as a substitute of the bicycle owner having to achieve again and set it to the way you need the sunshine to look. The sunshine will be set both for full visibility or at a a lot much less vivid ‘peloton mode’ whereas driving in a gaggle.
Must you get one?
Whereas the Garmin Varia RearVue 820 is kind of correct at detecting automobiles, it nonetheless shouldn’t be a full substitute for often trying over your shoulder to examine for automobiles when it’s secure to take action.
That stated, it’s nonetheless a superb piece of security tech, given how cyclists are a few of the most weak highway customers. The addition of the brake mild performance and the elevated visibility additionally provides to the protection issue. At $299 / £259.99 / AU$469, it’s an enormous ask for some cyclists — however, for somebody who places security above all else, it’s a clever funding to assist save lives.
When you can splash for the high-end $599 / £519.99 / AU$949 Garmin Edge 850, Garmin says the Varia RearVue 820 is suitable with 162 totally different units, together with Edge bike computer systems from 2015 and smartwatch fashions from 2016.
You’ll be able to even skip the bike laptop fully and simply pair the Garmin Varia RearVue 820 together with your smartphone. The Garmin Varia app on iOS and Android replicates the identical expertise on a bigger display, and may work alongside Google Maps by showing as a slim sidebar. Simply make certain to briefly disable notifications by setting a Focus Mode or Do Not Disturb profile that’s optimized for biking, so you may cut back distracting notifications.
This makes the Garmin Varia RearVue 820 a necessary security improve for anybody who often rides bicycles on roads — whether or not you’re a critical bicycle owner utilizing a motorbike laptop to maintain monitor of your coaching, or a motorbike commuter together with your cellphone mounted on the handlebars. Heck, I’d say it’s even price utilizing once you’re taking a leisurely trip to the native espresso store.
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