100% agree with your post: “Thus, any rear-facing camera I buy for $400 needs to at least be capable of capturing non-sad moments on my ride. Because I think capturing those moments is just as important to remembering this sport (still) as fun and viable, as opposed to the assumption that riding on the road is so inherently dangerous that we need to spend $400 in hopes of capturing those sad moments”.

this is why i love DC Rainmaker honest reviews and tells it how it is, I don't get too excited about new tech until i see what Ray says about it first in my experience so far i've not bought a recommendation from Rays reviews that has disappointed me yet, Cheers Ray

I’ve used my RTL715 for 3 weeks. The radar works great. The camera works well also. For getting videos off the RTL715 you have 2 means besides the VARIA App Wi-Fi connection. 1) Take the card out after each ride and flip all the videos off to a laptop or iPad with a flash card adapter/reader. 2) Plug the USB-C cable into the Radar and then into a Laptop or iPad (for iPad you will need an adapter. Your laptop or iPad will read the card in the as a DCIM folder with the videos. Videos can be viewed while in the Radar and acceptable videos can be saved off. The video is correct that the Varia App is cumbersome and needs updates. I only is the App after a ride to make sure there is something on the card and the beginning and end of ride are captured.

I thought this was a super harsh review until you explained the app… WOW! The rage is real. Many thanks

So great to see an honest review for such a pricey yet flawed piece of kit. I do hope Garmin will learn from this and turn it around likw they did w/ power metering pedals!

Excellent review. We rarely see peope doing good, indepth and honest reviews. Much appreciated.

Ray, you sir are a legend. I saw the title of this video and was SOOOO excited and almost just rushed out and ordered one. The frustrations you highlighted are exactly the types of things that would drive me insane. Also, as someone who has had the unfortunately experience of being hit and seriously injured by a vehicle, and navigating the legal nightmare afterwards (determining liability, etc...), and working with an experienced lawyer, BE CAREFUL with your cycling camera. The footage my be great for law enforcement to identify a driver in a hit and run scenario, or perhaps establishing who did the dangerous thing that caused the accident, having that footage on your camera can very much work against you when a fault/judgement is being decided. If you turn over your camera footage as evidence, the defendants lawyer can request ALL of the footage from that camera. NOT turning it over can be seen as 'hiding evidence', and worse, there is almost CERTAINLY going to be footage if you (the rider) doing 'illegal' and 'dangerous' things. Change lanes without signaling? DANGEROUS!. Roll through a stop sign? DANGEROUS! Going faster than the posted speed limit (on a road or a bike path) ? DANGEROUS! If the defendants lawyer gets their hands on footage from the camera that shows you doing things that could be construed as 'dangerous', they will use this to attempt to reduce any judgement. Just be careful and don't assume that any footage your camera records is going to be useful/helpful in a courtroom. It could be the exact opposite! (this also applies to dashcams).

Thanks! Excellent review. I almost parted with $400 this morning.

Thanks for this excellent review! You saved me from spending €400,00, and kept me from cancelling my order of the Garmin Varia RTL 515. I subscribed to your channel as a token of gratitude. Greetings from Berlin, Germany.

I still have the original Varia radar (synced to my edge) and it's the best cycling gadget I've owned. So valuable, and appreciated particularly for quieter or country back roads *where they sneak up on you fast* I think this is a decent product and the size doesn't concern me (if you don't get this one, get an older non camera model for sure) If you are a cyclist who sometimes imagines phantom cars approaching and you keep checking behind you. This gadget is for you! Eliminates a lot of that traffic anxiety. 👍

I ordered it the minute it was listed and canceled the order after seeing your review. I would have gladly paid if it were only satisfactory. I love the Varia so much that I refuse to ride without it and I have wanted this since the first day I bought the Varia. I will continue to wait for something that really works.

As somebody that still using the first gen Varia (RTL500), I was so excited to see this announcement ... and then the sad trombone sounded.

Another fantastic review. The most comprehensive and trustworthy reviews out there.

This is exactly why I'm a paid supporter of your site. Need honest independent reviews.

i watched like 5 videos and you are the only one to include the radar section for review/explain... well done

I’ve been waiting for this. Thanks for your honest review. You’ve saved me some money

Spot on review Ray,as always! Biggest fan. Keep it up!

Thanks again for your details and in-depth reviews

Thanks Ray. Great review. I second the ask for more details on what is likely to be fixed, what is unlikely to be fixed and what is unfixable

Don’t agree safety first, not to bothered about fun stuff, if your not alive you can’t have fun stuff, but great review has always 👊🏾

I have the RTL515. Have been thinking about a Cycliq but still haven’t bothered as I didn’t want a gallery of devices hanging off my bike. When I saw the announce, at first thought cool, finally! But your review has steered me clear of this. Thanks!

Thanks Ray! One of your best reviews! I’ve been saving up for the Varia. I hadn’t even considered the combo radar/video device until I saw this review. I’m of the opinion of keeping them separate so that I can use them separately or together for different reasons. Seems like Garmin couldn’t decide on whether or not to commit. Whatever the case may be, $400 is a huge chunk of change these days. I’ll still pick up the radar unit and maybe start a fund for the cyclique camera. Thanks again for the passion and information.

Appreciate the honest review, I love gadgets and my kneejerk is to buy something that "seems" cool.... Saved me the hassle/frustration, much appreciated!

Think I’ll wait until it’s all rectified. Thank you Ray 🙌🏻

Oh dear, certainly sticking with the standard radar for the time being as it is so good.

Ray, can you please clarify which of these issues might be fixed in a firmware update (and/or software update) and which are definitely hardware limitations? It will make the difference between buying this now, or waiting 2-3 years before Garmin makes the next generation. I was so close to buying a Cycliq Fly6 THIS WEEK, then your video pops up. It sounded like everything I have wanted for years! I love my current Varia radar light. The BEST cycling gadget I've ever had. 👍 But we've all wanted a camera to go with it. How can they only give us 1080p? At least bump it up to 2.7K. I have found that 2.7K is a good middle ground (sometimes, cars pass so quickly that 1080p, on most cameras, doesn't allow a good freeze-frame) for battery life and resolution. It's like Garmin got SO CLOSE to the perfect device, then got rushed to push it out prematurely. If they can fix some issues in firmware, great. If not (obviously no Hardware stabilization) then I'm not waiting several YEARS for the next gen of this device to come out with higher resolution and stabilization. Thanks! Great video. 👍

What a fantastic review. I was thinking of getting this but I think I'll wait for version 2 !

I added this to my cart and found your video before I committed, so happy I did. I guess I’ll just stick with my 515.

As always, great review!!

Absolute on point. I am a garmin user for many many years…. Will wait on V2.0 of this product. Keep the old varia going

Honest review as expected. Hopefully it drives Garmin to update their product

Brilliant, honest, candid and insightful review, and a good reason to wait until some of this silly stuff is sorted. Thanks again

Thank you for this review mate... I had 3 on order for the shop... I do not any more...

I’ve watched this and bought it 😄 I agree wholly with the review but the combo of the light, radar & camera with the hope they’ll improve the app made me buy. I commute about 230km per week so I just wanted to catch the inevitable incidents on camera

Awesome review. Thank you for your honesty.

This was a terrific video and review even if it made it clear that something many of us have wanted isn’t quite there yet. I have generally positive feelings toward Garmin and their products but there are definitely some mixed situations as well. Assuming they don’t abandon the product, this is hopefully something that will improve by software improvements but maybe hardware as well. My interpretation of this is that it is to maximize profit. They think people want to be able to have the proof so bad when bad situations happen that they will pay a premium price for a mediocre bundle of products duct-taped together. They are probably right to some extent. You mentioned the video quality (1080p) and the lack of stabilization but OMG 4 hours of battery life!?! I thought my current one was bad at 8-9 vs the 10 it claims! Thank you so much for the review! Hoping for an Edge 540 coming soon!!!

I live in the uk and cycle 15 miles to work along country lanes, the only time I’ll ever want to look at the footage is if I end up in hospital, I’ve ordered one to upgrade the radar and hopefully I will never need to look at the footage 👍

Great honest post ! Please keep up the great work

Your review made me buy it.

Thank you for this. When I first saw this, on paper, this is 100% a device I wanted but didn't exist, so I was ready to run out and get it. Maybe Garmin will fix the crappiness via Software updates, but it obviously isn't ready for market. But the lack of image stabilisation probably means it will never be worth my hard earned cash.

Dude, thanks for keeping it real! Hopefully they will see this and get version 2.0 quickly with a longer battery life! On my velomobile, I currently use the RT515 and a Gopro Max. I was hoping that this would have been bettter.

Wow and I was considering buying this! Thanks Ray.

Thx so much for your honest review!

Thank you for giving an honest review.

Thank you for the honest review

Top man DC Rainmaker giving a straight and honest view.

Cheers Ray. After having a 'moment' today I thought I would look at one of these units. I've been using the standard Varia radar for the past 18 months and it's the best thing I've ever bought for the bike and have been awaiting the integrated camera version for some time. Think I will give it a miss for the time being based on your review. If you can do another review in future, if you can convince Garmin to iron out the bugs that would be awesome.

Spun a “Uey” on my purchase decision after watching this and GP Lama’s review. Thanks for the comprehensive review. Will stick with my RTL510 for now.

I appreciate this in depth review. I have purchased this and completely recommend it. I had the old taillight/radar before and upgraded to this and have already used the footage. I agree with all of his knit-picks and he isn't wrong, but the combination of the radar sensing/taillight and camera feature make this worth having if it doesn't stretch your budget. I own several go pro's and use them regularly but the battery life is not even close.

As an avid RTL515 user, when I first heard about the RCT715 today I was super excited. Then as I started to see more details around price and battery life, I had to start tempering my expectations - and your review helps to illustrate even more shortcomings - some of which, as you say, might be addressable in software/firmware updates, but others we're stuck with. Such a shame. I hope this mis-step doesn't tarnish the whole bike radar concept too much because the standard RTL/RVR products are so good.

Thanks, DC. Really great review. Maybe a little more in the future about what you feel like could be easily fixed to make it better in the short run. Because, you know they are paying attention to your content. Thx!

Another useful and helpful video. Thanks for your honest reviews. We like to know the good and the bad.

Earned my like thanks for the honesty

Garmin user for years and years but they seem to be just phoning it in for the last few years. Great review, I was thinking about buying this as I love my varia but I won’t now. Thanks for saving me the cash.

I was just hit by a car and my Varia was destroyed. I am so glad this announcement came out when it did. Gives me some tech to look forward to on my new bike when I get it.

Thank you for your honest opinion

This is an amazing tool! Quick and easy!

I was annoyed when I first saw this clip because I just bought the RTL515 on sale recently (248aud or ~174usd) - it works brilliantly but I now knew why it was on sale. So for you to state quite early on in the clip that the RTL715 has several issues was a relief for me! 😆 Anyway, thanks for the honest review - the product has a lot of potential so it's such a shame about the poor software and lack of stabilisation. 😫

I’m one of the people who have been hoping for this device for a long time now, and this is why I love your reviews. It’s just not good enough yet for me to buy it. Fix the clip length, image stabilisation and app usability and I’m onboard. (Although I would also like it to go on a diet)

Super honest review, thanks so much for such a great content

Awesome. I was going to impulse buy, but I’ll wait. I have the regular radar so no rush.

That was super interesting, having just got radar it’s also a great tutorial on varia radar! Not sure I would go for the camera version the GoPro footage looks so much better!

I’ve used the Cycliq for a bunch of years, and certainly have my complaints (many). I also own the original Varia (the matchbox shape variety). Largely, my reason for camera is accident recording. Yes, over the years I’ve pulled some clips to share with friends or enjoy part of a ride in recording. But, vastly, I turn on and ignore (except when I actually did benefit from a recording when nearly hit by a school bus). I’ve largely not used both the Varia and the Cycliq at the same time…just too much hassle and bike junk, but wished for both. Sounds like for those of us who really just want to record for evidence purposes it’s a successful device, minus frame shake. I think many of us want mostly bike cams for evidence purposes, at least most of the time. Thanks for the review.

Great review, thank you!

That’s for the video Ray!!! Iv left a far more detailed comment on your site. Do keep up the excellent work

Brilliant analysis as usual DC-Many thanks! I have both Garmin Varia and the Cycliq Fly6 and they work perfectly-I’d change to a single unit but clearly this is not IT!

Thank you for this review. I've had one for a few months now. I love the radar and now I wouldnt ride without it. On a long ride (>6hours) I switch the light off to ensure max length battery life, and use another rear light. I have abandoned attempting to use the app and view the MP4 files with a connection to my pc. Works well and just about instant. Files can be copied and uploaded to social media quickly and easily but need pc or laptop obv. Totally agree, an option to override and choose to take a video would be a great software update. Love the most recent software update that embeds overtaking vehicle speed into the recording.

I vote for a DCR/Hambini roast collaboration on this one.

Thank you ☺️ for this Video!

Thanks for the info/explanation of it. I have a GoPro 4. I use it on and off. Usually on my helmet so where my head goes, the camera film. I can mounted on the front or rear of my road bike. I wish I could have 2. The battery last me for 60+ minutes cont recording. If I have connected to my cells , maybe 30 min ..but all I care is to record continues. In my expirience, must of my traffic issues are ahead of me, never a rear fender. Thank be to God. So, I have being reviewing for Garmin rear camera/radar...but not totally sure if is worse the $500+-... agree 100% on your comments. Look forward for Garmin to renew the system and maybe soon I make up my mind...thanks!

My 2.5-year old Cycliq Fly6 CE Gen 1 died the first time it lightly rained during a short ride. Cycliq support said the only thing they can do is offer a 20% discount on a new unit as a gesture of goodwill. Cycliq released a Gen 2 with a near-identical design except for ... improved water resistance. So they knew their Gen 1 had a defective design but did not bother supporting their previous customers. I should have taken it up with Fair Trading here in Aus as it would be considered not durable, but I really didn't have time then. I didn't bother giving Cycliq more money after reading on reddit quite a few comments about how they have terrible customer service. I was hoping Garmin would come out with one. Looks like I have to keep waiting. :(

A much needed advance in rear awareness. However the cons would be frustrating to many given the price point and you did a superb job establishing that! Until the kinks are ironed out a mirror + radar 515 unit + GoPro is superior setup. The Quik app could also be used for instantaneous rear view with a stem mounted smartphone (so the mirror and Quik app for rear mounted camera will complement each other). The GoPro can run/record for 6 hrs + at 24K30 or all day at 1080p30, 99.9% of rides up to a century, i.e. except ultra long rides without recharging battery bank. With a 10,000 mAh battery bank, a USB C cable and USB pass through door for GoPro will power sufficient charge for both GoPro and Varia radar to run all day.

That was a really funny video, thanks Ray.

Excellent video!_ actually I ride one of those velo things (and with a Varia515 on the rear!) Glad I watched your review as I had been wondering about the 715- now I'll stick with the old separate camera.

Nearly bought one, but saw that you had reviewed it so I have changed my mind until Garmin at least update the software.

I totally agree with your points. With a price tag this high, I do expect good features from the beginning. I know, Garmin will say that the software will be improved, the process more streamlined and everything is going to be faster, but this feels a bit half backed, to get it in sale for the 2022 cycling season. Also some form of stabilization should be a must have. I can't imagine, why the skipped that feature, when the camera is mounted on probably the shakiest part of a bike. I don't expect the quality of a current GoPro, considering it would kill the battery, but god almighty, none at all seems like such a clear "well, maybe we can get away with it and safe a few bucks" thing. When I first of the RCL715 I was hyped and didn't bought a normal RTL515, but now im assured, that the 515 ist definitely price/feature wise the better choice.

One thing people don’t realize and no reviewers are saying is that this is a radar, just like police radar, planes, back up sensors in cars etc. It operates at the 24.050 - 24.250 GHz range which is K Band Radar. The same as the majority of police radar devices. They are K, Ka, Ku, and X band. Ku is common in European counties, but MOST radar detectors are for K, and Ka bands. What this means is that having this on your bike and activated, will alert drivers with a radar detector before they even see you. It will make their detector go off and they will start looking down the road for the police, possibly drawing their attention even more to you than the bike and light does alone as it will make a constant alert on the detector and get louder as they get close to you. I don’t know if radar detectors are legal in European countries of it they have K band alerts, but you can look at it as an extra layer of safety. And being a cop that has used radar for years, typically people that have the detectors are speeders, so it’s an even bigger advantage to have them start slowing down and focusing on the road well before they may even see you. Their detector may go off a half a mile away and keep going off until they pass you, they will get an alert long before they will show up on your display. Reason is, even if the distance the machine can’t detect vehicles is 400-500 feet, that signal is still being sent out in a cone behind you. It’s just not strong enough to bounce off something and be able to be sent BACK to the unit to detect a speed until it’s within that 400 feet. But it will still be strong enough to set off a detector further away.

Interestingly enough, even with all the negative criticism, it still sounds like the product for me. Most of my road riding is my solo commute on insane roads.

Garmin just got slayed - yeah boi!

Great video, thanks! I can assure you, it’s the same thing with the Garmin Dash cam mini. I hate the experience of it, and I wish that I never have to dig out a clip from that thing ever.

Thanks for posting this video with your well informed thoughts. I have the Cycliq Fly 6 which is annoying because home safe turns it off when there is 12% of battery left even though I have it configured never to use the rear light function so I hoped this would be the answer. But I'll stick with the Cycliq because the radar activated camera pricked my interest but that sounds flakey. Also some time ago I went down the Wahoo Elemnt route so I'd be relying a lot on the app which sounds dreadful. So many thanks for saving the money!

excited that Garmin jumped back into the "dashcam for bikes" game although it is not a huge market hence why Cycliq barely survives. The radar is very useful and Garmin is huge so they can offer this even though again the market for bike surveillance vs action cams is limited. And typical Garmin for a first run design and you are the firmware test subject! And I need a surveillance camera first with battery that runs 4-5 hours and don't see how they add stabilization and better footage without compromising battery life. This IS the first model with more designs likely in the future. I'll keep my powder dry and watch the next couple of releases in this new product line direction. Having worked in tech product development for years I can appreciate the fact that you never launch all your arrows at once. Given they've now ramped up hiring for camera engineers, I trust the product and engineering talent will evolve and improve. Although powering 3 components with a single battery makes no sense to me. I use a GoPro for surveillance but of course battery life is poor. Now GoPro has a grip to act as auxiliary 4900mah battery to extend camera run time. Hope to see Garmin break out a camera as a separate device. Perhaps a removable battery or add-on extended life battery pack would be nice. I don't need the best footage just the decent surveillance for capturing what I hope does not happen.

I’m stumped by Garmin, they have super good capabilities but always seem to miss out on the user experience, they could have out Strav’d Strava initially if they though about the complete experience of the app and website. Oh wait, I bet it’s engineers engineering and mashing capabilities together rather than thinking about the complete user experience (employ some UX people Garmin and get more riders to beta test before releasing, theses days it all about the app). Like others I was regretting my recent bargain varia purchase (which I’m super pleased with) seeing this radar and camera combined. Having used Cycliq products I do not want to be the software engineers guinea pig again. Thanks Ray for the honest review.

Awesome video. You did the right thing - Never just criticize. Only criticize if you can say how to do it better. Garmin should listen and make these changes. I'm sure they will. The only puzzling thing is why did they release something with such a poor user interface.

I bought this unit mainly because my gen 1 Varia radar is aging and battery life is declining. I have a 1030 Plus, and so that helps with some of the issues mentioned here. After watching this review, I will run the camera in continuous mode with the max length of clip size, 5 minutes. That will reduce the number of clips by a factor of 10, but the time to open or download may be an even bigger problem. Will test that strategy this week. The bigger issue, not Garmin related, is that my US state doesn’t have front mounted license plates. So capturing the idiot that brushed my shoulder with his SUV passenger side mirror is still a problem. Update: adjusting the clip length didn’t work; unlocked clips are still only 30 seconds. Recording I initiated (locked), however, is adjusted to saving 5 minutes, but it should work for both locked and unlocked clips. Update 2: thought about this device more. I don’t care for recording any “fun” video from rear-facing camera (might feel different for front-facing video, but can do that with GoPro). So only purpose with RCT715 for me is safety, to capture video of incident. That means I won’t be downloading video, unless there is an incident (accessing video is the biggest 715 drawback I see). If you agree with this line of thought, then the only question is whether it is worth +$200 to have rear video of any incidents (+$200 over RT515). I will run this in continuous mode, 6 hours daytime battery life, and let the video overwrite as needed, never downloading except if needed. That said, would like better software interface with 1030 and possibly software image stabilization.

Great analysis Ray. That yellow velo thingy was fun to see. So many new product releases this year. Where are the new Edge devices?!?

Great Review! IMO Garmin will bug fix the issues via firmware updates, that being said, they should’ve done a tad better job on roll out.. I have the RTL 515 and will upgrade to the 715 AFTER everything is ironed out…. Thanks! 🇺🇸

And you nailed why things that are your same speed won’t show up. As a cop that used radar for years, when I’m moving mode, which is what this operates in, it’s impossible to detect objects at the same speed until there is a 2-3 -/+ MPH difference in speed. Reason is there is nothing to bounce the signal back to the device since it’s the same speed. Once there is a fluctuation, then it will bounce off. If there is a bike coming up behind you, faster than you it will show, the object size only means it will show faster since it’s a stronger target. That’s how K and Ka band radar operates.

Thank you!

Reminds me of how terrible the Garmin Pedals were when I bought those. Early adopter. Sorted eventually. This will be the same, they’ll get there. Mine is on the way!! 😁

Great review. I especially like the perspective that this is a good if you want to wait until you are hit by a car. Your yellow bike footage is a great example of what anyone with a camera wants to do the other 99% of the time. My guess is the lights are sub-optimal also. What is your favorite method of capturing stills and video while on the bike?

great video always trusts DC Rainmaker.

Is that a Dark Cycles shirt!!?!?!? Nice!

Thank god I saw this. I waa hit off a week ago and was just going to go to the bike store to purchase it (ps I always found garmin software pants so was wary) just watched this and obviously now I'm not going to purchase it. Thanks DC. Awesome reviews

Thank you for this honest review. To me the lack of image stabilization is a real killer. Regarding the Garmin Software: Those flaws don't surprise me since Garmin's Software tends to be weird. .... btw: could you speak a little bit faster please, for non native speakers like me ;-)

Yesterday I spent two hours on a MacGyvered custom saddle bag mount for my Varia RTL515. This morning I felt like kicking myself when I saw news of this release. Thanks for saving me $400 on this "dumpster fire" and another $30 on a new, jerryrigged saddle bag. Sometimes I wonder if Garmin actually has a UX team.

I like how in all the video info bars you call it RTL 715 :D

Very in depth details on a new device that Garmin didn't do a very good job describing features, DC does. I like that he was honest with it's flaws but as long as you're using a modern, supported Garmin device like most people buying new tech are. The price was tough to swallow but after a string of incidents to local cyclists, the piece of mind was easier to digest. Full disclosure I upgraded it from the last Varia device.

Ray - would love to have a follow up review with all the updates

Thanks for the informative video. What is this other camera (cyclip?) you reference a couple times? Can you give more info on that?