I bought the $100 Bryton Gardia (Varia competitor) - Ask me anything
 

I don’t really like Garmin’s borderline monopoly on certain products and I hate Micro USB so didn’t want a Varia.

I bought the Bryton Gardia instead. I’m impressed. Currently $110 on Bryton’s website. It has USB-C. For all intents and purposes it behaves identically to the Varia.

It’s connected to my first generation Elemnt Bolt and it’s working without a hitch.

The product was received poorly at launch but after firmware updates it’s now much better. I used it for 2 hours yesterday and got no false positives. It alerted me when a car was behind me, the icon of the car on my Bolt was accurate and once it passed, I got another alert.

The only time it got a bit confused is when I was approaching the crest of a small hill with a car 20ft behind me. When I went over the crest, it lost sight of the car for a split second and thought it had passed me already as it didn’t reappear on the radar.

It came with a mount for round and aero seat posts. I’m using the aero mount and it’s actually very good.

It has an app. You can change the light mode in there or physically by cycling through using the button on the light.

Thanks will have to check it out.

Sounded like it checks all the boxes at a lower price. Thanks for the review.
https://www.amazon.com/Bryton-GARDIA...hoC92IQAvD_BwE

Have you seen any mounts for it that will work on saddle rails? I see some aftermarket options but didn’t see that yet in my searches.

Edit: I found one…6$. I am in. Looks like a better light than the varia as advertised.

if you use a saddle bag, you might need an extender to push the light rearward, but the clampon mounts seem to be very useful.

That radar + computer bundle looks intriguing as well.

Can you tell us some about run times? I need it to last for 5+ hour rides.

This was a good review of the Varia, Magene and Gardia from last year.

Two quick questions, too lazy to look it up.:rolleyes:

Does it flash more rapidly when cars approach?

Does it remember the chosen flash mode when turned off?

Thanks!

Tim

Do these radar tail lights work if you don't have a compatible head unit, ie some kind of audio warning? I still run wireless computers on my bikes, and my fly6 just bit the dust. The radar seems slightly more proactive than the camera to me.

Does it have a radar only mode?

Yes

I'm going to go watch the Youtube later but might just bite the bullet and try this one out.

I do find it interesting that Trek put out their light which is similar to Garmin's including pricing. I wonder why they wouldn't go either higher or lower since it would seem that most non-Trek riders would not necessarily view their product as better than Garmin's and choose Trek over Garmin. Maybe it's a rebranded Garmin made device and the deal was to sell at same price?

Garmin varia just works. I guess if you want to save a buck .....

It’s more like 50-100 bucks. Maybe this one just works too. Sounds like it according to OP. It is better in most every way, IMO. If it works :)