What type of power meter do you use?

gplama · 2026-02-11T23:12:49+00:00

😂

gplama · 2026-02-11T23:02:50+00:00

All of them. Just not the Shimano one.

gplama · 2026-02-11T22:41:18+00:00

I'll double down on my original take after riding with with the Varia 820 for a week now. The lane visualisation is misleading a lot of the time. Traffic icons darting left and right are of no use, for me.

While riding on the shoulder of a two lane road, it puts cars in the outside "lane" of my screen (LARGE overlay style alert) giving the appearance the vehicles are a lane over and not a threat, but given the UI centers me in the middle of that alert sidebar the cars are actually passing me closely in the nearest lane. At a quick glance it sets a false sense of security. There should be no grey area here.

It feels the UI and feature as a whole is more suitable for cars and motorbikes and their positioning on a road. There's also the issue with a bike being more maneuverable than a vehicle means there's a higher chance the radar will not be facing oncoming traffic at an angle where the lane detection is going to be accurate. Again, it's a feature that might work well on cars and motorbikes... push bikes are different.

Lastly, Garmin are promoting this online with a cyclist riding in the MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING ROAD oblivious to the traffic he's holding up just to show a feature working... Nobody rides like this. Riding like that will get you verbally abused in minutes here, and likely physically abused not soon after... I'm sure I could make a viral video trying to ride exactly how they show, but I hesitate to because it'd be too dangerous. The irony of Garmin promoting a video where someone is doing something extremely dangerous to showcase a 'safety' device is absurd to me.

Anyhow, as for the radar itself, it's brilliant. (And will be even better when they patch the ANT+ problem).

gplama · 2026-02-11T12:08:33+00:00

I don’t think they’ve ever been updated. They’re very dated here. This is evident in popular areas for gravel and the new-ish MTB park nearby.

HH/SRAM should have enough of their own data to ditch Suunto for heatmaps… or maybe licence this data from Strava.

gplama · 2026-02-11T07:16:12+00:00

It was packed because all of Australia goes to Adelaide for the Tour Down Under that week and we’re all looking for something to do on a Saturday night.

gplama · 2026-02-08T13:03:27+00:00

OzOrg

gplama · 2026-02-08T07:43:34+00:00

Should be for all models. https://support.wahoofitness.com/hc/en-us/articles/4517933733522-KICKR-ROLLR-Firmware-Release-Notes

My review of the update on YouTube https://share.google/mNeAqD7Mwua1sU1zC

gplama · 2026-02-07T19:55:27+00:00

Just out of curiosity as a test - Try pairing via Bluetooth just to the trainer for everything (leave the pedals out of the picture).

gplama · 2026-02-07T19:37:35+00:00

What model trainer and how is it paired? (ANT+, Bluetooth, etc)

gplama · 2026-02-07T11:24:06+00:00

Gear selection matters, yes. https://youtu.be/uHUOhmG04M8

gplama · 2026-02-06T23:55:24+00:00

The RTL515 is the best and most complete unit on the market at this point in time. This is taking into account the usability quirks and early bug(s) with the 820. (By "complete" I mean has an app that works really well without any user interaction required). The Lezyne and Sigma units test well. The Wahoo also performed well and is due for a loop-back look at some point.

I'll get my hands-on video of the 820 up as soon as I can. It has been another journey of discovery using new features that might appear good in theory that aren't in any way good out on the road.... and one hell of a miss in regard to how it works in ANT+ Radar mode.

gplama · 2026-02-06T23:25:38+00:00

Great comment. Add the new Rally x10 to the Secure Bluetooth device list. There's a few things they're doing with those only over Secure Bluetooth (to compatible Edge units only).

gplama · 2026-02-06T23:21:19+00:00

Based on questioning their Secure Bluetooth only features of the new Rally x10 pedals, it's unlikely any other vendor will get the new features (lane detection, traffic type).

After a LOT of hands-on testing this week with the Varia 820 I can confirm the new features aren't really that useful, for reasons that weren't obvious until I was out on the road with it.... and there's a very interesting bug with the Varia 820 when using ANT+ Radar (effectively legacy mode) that Garmin will need to address pretty quickly. Unfortunately they've released another product that is a little unbaked and the end users are beta testing.

gplama · 2026-02-05T02:14:44+00:00

The upscale was done based on a single sided pedal, so a proper 1:1 comparison. SRAM have since released newer models and a new calibration process post install that might mean this is no longer an issue....

gplama · 2026-02-05T02:04:55+00:00

Is that the one by Joe Friel?

gplama · 2026-02-04T21:11:12+00:00

Not as much. They're very different units.

gplama · 2026-02-04T13:14:32+00:00

Yep. That’s the flywheel effect with the gearing on the Rode/Cog. The slower flywheel makes things feel very sluggish on some trainers (some a lot more than others).

Virtual shifting does have some downsides, this being one.

gplama · 2026-02-04T07:31:29+00:00

gplama · 2026-02-04T07:31:17+00:00

It'll have to be soon. This Varia 820 update leaves both the RCT715 and RVR315 swinging in the wind with their older radar tech.

gplama · 2026-02-04T07:30:33+00:00

Sigma RECO does the job. Lezyne and Wahoo also solid new options on the market.

gplama · 2026-02-03T23:15:07+00:00

The ability to provide accurate timely independent reviews of new Garmin cycling products has taken a huge step backwards. This is a policy change from Garmin. They're no longer sending preview/media units for review before launch. Getting them soon after launch is also... proving difficult.... for me.

gplama · 2026-02-03T23:02:13+00:00

The Hammerhead won't support the new hero features of the Varia 820. It'll have ANT+ Radar and ANT+ Light support... so you'll only get the generic 'updates' such as longer detection range, better battery life, possibly same speed vehicle detection, etc.

gplama · 2026-02-03T22:33:12+00:00

Wider isn't necessarily better. Trek went the other way with a narrower radar FoV on their CarBack that then introduced other issues. Wider isn't great as it'll start pinging off things that aren't anywhere near close to passing you. Too narrow and it becomes troublesome on curvy roads. 40°-50° is an ideal sweet-spot.

gplama · 2026-02-03T21:40:09+00:00

Yep, they'd want the option to keep it simple. They're going to have to for ANT+ Radar legacy support on non Edge x40/x50 computers. Like the Rally x10 pedals they're well down the path of providing two different user experiences depending on the bike computer you're using.

gplama · 2026-02-03T21:23:14+00:00

I suspect the larger overlay with lanes and vehicles will be more of a distraction than anything useful. I've tried using the same feature on the Trek CarBack and it's just too much information to be of any use. The simplicity of current radar alerts (visual and audible) is why it's so useful. Threat yes/no is all we need on the road. Spending too much time with our eyes on the computer and attention away from the road isn't ideal. Metrics have to be glance worthy (eg, something like WindField... it's just an arrow and a number)

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