Wahoo has announced their first cycling radar, aptly called TRACKR Radar. This new radar does pretty much all the usual cycling radar bits, and integrates with everyone else, and costs about the same as everyone else. It has a handful of new features though, and better battery life – which may give it the edge. Plus, it’s got USB-C.
I’ve been riding with it for the past week or so, putting it through its paces. So I’ve got a pretty good feel on how it handles, and how it compares, since all of my rides have had a Garmin radar concurrently to validate detection range/accuracy. The Garmin RTL-515 is widely considered the gold standard in cycling radar, and thus this needs to match that.
Yet, this isn’t an in-depth review. That won’t come till next month or so, once Wahoo hopefully starts selling it (more on that later). As such, consider this the first look/hands-on post as titled.
With that, let’s dive into it.
The Specs:
Ok, so getting into things, the Wahoo radar is pretty similar to others on the market. Both in terms of specs and features, though, it does have a few unique features. First, the standard ones:
– ANT+ Radar support: This is, of course, the main radar protocol that every radar and bike computer company leverages, and Wahoo uses it here as well.
– ANT+ Smart Light Control: This means it acts as a light network on cycling computers and watches, according to the standards everyone uses. Good to see.
– Quick Alert: This will automatically trigger a flash pattern when a car approaches. This is standard for all radars out there.
– Configuration & Firmware Updates via Wahoo App: This one is pretty straightforward; however, do note that it does *NOT* have a radar overlay option within the app. Meaning, you can’t use the smartphone app to see radar alerts for cars behind you, as you can with competitor devices. You must have a bike GPS or a compatible watch.
Now, there are a few unique bits here:
– Brake Light: When you start braking, the Wahoo Radar increases its brightness automatically. This is leveraging accelerometers and other sensors to do so.
– Dual LEDs: Wahoo is using multiple LEDs in the product, to increase brightness. You’ve got one main LED in the upper-middle, and then a secondary set around the outside edge. While Garmin and others have a smaller edge/side light, this is definitely more pronounced from the side.
– Battery Extender Mode: When there are no cars behind you, after a predetermined time (you configure this), it’ll automatically reduce the brightness to save battery.
– Mode Memory: This will remember your last setting the next time you turn it on. Practically speaking, this feature doesn’t matter unless you don’t have a bike computer. Otherwise, every bike computer is automatically remembering and configuring those settings for you.
When it comes to some weight/spec details:
– Weight: 99g/3.5oz
– Size: 90mm/3.54” (W) x 82mm/3.22″ (H) x 42mm/1.65″ (D)
– IPX7 water resistance, so 1 meter deep for 30 mins
– Radar Field of View: 35°
– Warranty: 1 year (2 years in EU)
Oh, and yes, very much USB-C:
Finally, here’s the official battery life chart:
For comparative context, if looking at the Garmin Varia RTL-515, here are those specs. In short, Wahoo easily beats Garmin here in almost every category:
Said differently, aside from daylight flash, which is basically a wash, Wahoo’s battery claims are roughly double that of Garmin.
The Mount (and Boxed Bits):
Now first up, here’s what’s in the box:
There are three mount adapters in there: D-Shape, Flat, and supposed Round/Aero. I say supposed, because it’s basically just an aero mount that you can squish into being a round-post mount. And yes, it does technically work. I’ll need a month, though, to decide if it works well. Stay tuned.
Besides that, there are two different straps (long and regular), as well as a USB-C charging cable and some paper stuff.
Now, if there’s one thing that annoys me about the Wahoo RADAR, it’s the mount. In fact, it’s probably the only thing that annoys me about it. Specifically, Wahoo designed the mount tabs to be about 1mm bigger than what everyone else uses, thus, it won’t fit in other standard mounts. And that sets aside just how much extra bulk this mount design has.
But when it comes to the non-compatibility, it means it won’t work with the gazillions of 3rd party mounts out there. Those mounts work just fine with Garmin, Bryton, Magene, and other radars. Trek is the exception…well, and now Wahoo. It doesn’t fit the KOM cycling mount I have, or my wife’s triathlon bike saddle rail mount:
And look, I get that Wahoo has their ‘own’ bike GPS mount (which is just a Garmin quarter-turn mount rotated 90° and the tabs thickened 1mm to make it non-compatible and avoid what they thought a decade ago might be legal issues from Garmin). But given there was never a Wahoo radar before, there was zero reason to make it unique/non-compatible. Absolutely none. Especially now when it’s clear Garmin (over the course of 15 years) hasn’t gone after any other company for using that mount design in any bike computers, radars, lights, or anything else. Sigh.
Ultimately, this is only going to hurt Wahoo. It’ll lessen the chance people convert over, because many people have bought saddle rail mounts for their Varia radars, and with no saddle mount option available yet from Wahoo or partners (save a single KOM saddle bag for Wahoo), people are less likely to buy both a new radar and a new custom mount.
Some Initial Riding Thoughts:
In many ways, a radar works best when you kinda forget about it, and it becomes an extension of your bike. Living in the Netherlands, I frankly rarely bothered riding with a radar, because so much of the bike infrastructure was separated, I was on mostly desolate roads, or drivers were just really considerate. However, upon moving to Spain last year, it’s back in the ‘must have’ category. Drivers are largely good, but the road infrastructure isn’t the same for cyclists.
The roads I ride are sometimes long and narrow, and other times twisty mountain passes. Both are great scenarios for radar, especially on faster descents where the wind noise will cover up an overtaking/approaching car.
(Preemptive reminder again, this software isn’t final, and may change in the coming weeks, see my final review eventually.)
Over the last week I’ve been riding with both the Wahoo and Garmin radars concurrently, paired to their respective bike computers. In probably 90-95% of the cases, the two radars triggered identically and within half a second of each other. In about 5-10% of the cases, the Garmin would trigger first by about 1-3 seconds. On paper, the Wahoo has a slightly longer detection range (150m vs the Garmin’s 140m), but as we learned with the Trek radar last year, paper detection range doesn’t mean anything (the Trek consistently triggered after Garmin).
At first it was a bit tricky to figure out why Wahoo was likely triggering a little bit later, but riding on a bike path adjacent to a highway started to illuminate things. Specifically, the Wahoo wasn’t quite picking up as many highway vehicles as Garmin. At first glance, that’s not a bad concept – after all, short of a Fast and the Furious style Hollywood-esque action fail, these 120KPH vehicles weren’t coming anywhere near me.
Yet at the same time, there are plenty of wider roads, 3-lane each-way, stroad’s in other areas that you would want to know about those offset vehicles.
A bit of digging with both Wahoo and Garmin started to illuminate the likely reason: Wahoo’s radar FOV is 35°, whereas Garmin’s is 40° [Update: Correction, the RTL-515, RCT-715, and RVR-315 actually have a 50° FOV, which explains even more why it was triggering better in greater width. Whereas the older RTL-510 has the 40° FOV]. Of course, that’s only part of the picture. The other piece is the differences in underlying radar tech range and radar type, a factor we’ve seen play out in offerings from numerous other players in the market.
The second area this seems to play out in, is some twisty mountain roads, where in just the right amount of cases, the car coming around a corner isn’t seen as quickly as the Garmin. Did this extra second or two matter in any of my cases? Nope, not yet. But that’s the rest of my testing period.
Moving onto some of the other features, these actually mattered more for cars, than for me directly. Meaning, there was no tangible benefit on my bike computer, but there was a benefit to drivers seeing me. This includes the brake-light action triggered by the accelerometer internally, as well as the longer-battery life by lowering the brightness when there were no cars around.
Beyond that though, basically everything worked as expected. I didn’t see any false positives yet in my rides (note that other cyclists are not false positives, those are very much correct detections).
Though if I’ve learned anything from radars, it’s not really a matter of if you’ll see false positives, but rather, when/how you’ll see them. Ultimately, radar bounces off objects in quirky ways. Most of my riding has been well out of the city in mountains/forests, whereas most false positives I see tend to be in city environments where things bounce oddly off of metal surfaces. Again, more in my full review.
Wrap-Up:
Once Wahoo releases the TRACKR RADAR, I’ll do a proper review after what’ll likely be at least a month or more of usage. Until then, this will act as that placeholder. However, short of it somehow crapping itself in the next month or so, it’ll probably be the radar I switch to going forward: Almost entirely because of USB-C.
Over the winter, my wife stole my Garmin Varia RTL-515. Which is fine, it has micro-USB, and is literally the only micro-USB device left in our household. So, instead, I used the Trek one. But it’s simply not as good as the Garmin radar in terms of detection range (especially notable when the two of us are riding together, and her radar alerts before mine every single time). But you know what the Trek radar had? USB-C.
Likewise, you know what the Wahoo RADAR has? USB-C.
And I know that’ll seem silly, but me and everyone else that’s been asking Garmin for many years to switch to USB is kinda over it. We’re buying USB-C radars from other companies, even if they’re not quite as good. But in Wahoo’s case, thus far in my early testing, it seems pretty darn close to being basically negligible. Plus, it’s got some other handy features in there (I’m interested in toying with the battery gains on some of those modes).
Now, I think Wahoo’s mount is frustratingly stupid. Straight-up, totally annoying. The thing is wildly over-engineered, and doesn’t use what is effectively the defacto standard used by all other radars except Trek (Garmin, Bryton, Magene, etc… all use it). Which ultimately costs Wahoo owners more money to go and re-buy saddle and other mounts they already have.
In any event, setting aside the mount annoyances, it’s a great little radar that I’m looking forward to putting those battery claims to the test over the next month or so.
With that – thanks for reading!
FOUND THIS POST USEFUL? SUPPORT THE SITE!
Hopefully, you found this post useful. The website is really a labor of love, so please consider becoming a DC RAINMAKER Supporter. This gets you an ad-free experience, and access to our (mostly) bi-monthly behind-the-scenes video series of “Shed Talkin’”.
Support DCRainMaker - Shop on Amazon
Otherwise, perhaps consider using the below link if shopping on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot. It could simply be buying toilet paper, or this pizza oven we use and love.
Given the sunsetting of ANT+, what do you think happens to radar support? (Or is the ANT+ sunset only for HR monitors and other “personal” devices like power meters, not including radars, lights, shifters, etc.)
I asked Garmin about this back in December, in short, they aren’t really sure. Obviously, nothing breaks on ANT+, and I fully expect we’ll continue to see Garmin release further ANT+ radars, given there’s no personal info.
Currently, Garmin also has a BT profile that’s semi-private (apps like RideWithGPS can use it, but not many others).
Yep, this was an insta-buy before I saw the mount issue. I’ve got custom mounts on three different bikes so I guess I’ll have continue with the micro USB hassle of the Garmin. 😠
I would expect changing the insert of your existing mounts ought to be enough. Pretty much anyone who makes Varia radar mounts would also make computer mounts that works with both Edge and ELEMNT, so simply get a spare ELEMNT insert for use with the radar mount.
Maybe. The inserts meant for the Element head units are rotated 90 degrees so there is no guarantee that the screw holes on the insert will line up.
While there are of course no guarantees, the vast majority of mounts do seem to follow the insert dimensions once set by K-Edge with four bolt holes arranged in a 20×20 mm cross where the Garmin insert would use the front/back holes and Wahoo the left/right. While the computer mounts are indeed rotated 90°, their respective radars seem to use the same orientation, so even if the radar mount only has two holes odds are the Wahoo insert and radar will fit.
Ugh same. I saw Des’ hands on and was bummed it didn’t have a quarter turn. Then I saw this one showed it only to then be let down again bc it’s slightly different. I move my 515 from a saddle mount to a mount I have on my bike rack when I need to use it, that would mean two new mounts. Nope.
Abslutely agree. I was all ready to get two of them, but have too many custom mounts. Even when new mount options do exist, I doubt I want to spend the money to fix that.
I have a magene light / radar. Cost about half the price of the Garmin, USB c, uses Garmin mount, works perfectly. That’s another option if USB is a must
Lots of false positives and (worse) false negatives with the Magene one.
False Negative Checks …
1) Crest a hill with a car behind you going the same speed and see if the radar picks up the car on the down side of the hill.
2) Have two cars behind you, then have the one closest turn off and the second car in line maintain speed.
Same-speed cars have always been somewhat challenging for radar. In some ways, the logic still applies that if a car isn’t closing the distance to you, then it doesn’t technically matter (unless it’s directly next to you).
I’m far more concerned about cars that overtake/close-distance, but aren’t seen.
Thanks for the early insight! I know very little about radars but this one seems intriguing to me. If one is already “all in” on the Garmin ecosystem, is there compatibility reasons that would make someone second guess going with Wahoo here over the Garmin one? Or does it fully work together with the edge?
Perhaps a question for the full review but would be interested to know!
In general, no, I’m not seeing it matter.
However, there does appear to be a setting for the Varia Vue camera tied to triggering video upon radar contact, and GPLAMA was doing some testing there and seeing some varying results when a non-Garmin radar is used. But need to dig into that a bit more.
Thank you, Ray!
Hopefully someone 3D prints a Wahoo to Garmin mount adapter.
Let me see if I have this straight.
Both Garmin and Wahoo use the same quarter turn mount but on Elemnt devices, the tabs are 90º (North/South)that of Edge devices (East/West).
Yet, on Varia devices, the tabs are 90º vs. Edge so Varia and Elemnt tabs are in the same North/South direction except Elemnt are 1mm thicker.
Trackr matches the current Varia/Elemnt orientation except for the tabs are 1mm thicker as well?
If I already have a Varia mount that will accept Elemnt tabs, will the Trackr fit?
In a nutshell.
Some 3rd party Varia mounts will accept ELEMNT tabs (most 3rd party Garmin mounts do, since they just get rotated sideways by unscrewing the insert, though some do have truly custom Wahoo inserts). In playing around here, I can very forcefully snap the Wahoo radar into the KOM cycling mount I showed in the video, but that won’t last long. It hard will not fit into the Garmin seatpost mount though (Garmin-brounded hard plastic one). Likewise, it won’t fit into whatever generic branded saddle one that was on my wife’s TT bike.
The Wahoo tabs are 1mm wider but no thicker and no longer. You can dremel the tab slot on a Garmin compatible mount to widen the slot width. I just tried this with an old Garmin mount and slotted in my Bolt V2 no problem to test.
Maybe the fact that you said you’re switching to this already answers my question:
Is there a Garmin non-camera taillight on the horizon (within a year?) that has USB-C and better battery life.
I love my 510 and 515, but they are fading hard on battery life, and I have hated the micro-USB, since they came out.
Everyone wants to know the answer to that. Now we’re getting back into road riding season, I was immediately annoyed by the fact I had to dig out a micro-USB cable for the Varia.
I’d happily drop $200 on a new one if it was USB-C. I probably would have just bought Wahoo’s one, but the mount thing is annoying. All my bikes have Varia mounts on them already.
“which is just a Garmin quarter-turn mount rotated 90* and the tabs thickened 1mm to make it non-compatible”
You forgot about the hard stop, which as a wahoo bike computer owner I wish my garmin radar had… The mount feels so much more precarious when you can twist it a little too much in one direction and it’s back into dismounting mode.
Yeah, I suppose. But honestly, I’ve never heard someone complain about it before. :-/
Well judging by the amount of people who review those “anti-lost” cases for garmin radars that add a lanyard loop on amazon I’d say it’s a reasonably popular concern.
Does it track multiple vehicles at once? (like the Garmin) Hope to see in the full review. Cheers
Yup, it’s shown in the first couple mins of the video. Cheers!
Thanks Ray, sorry I missed that 🤦♂️ I looked twice but it was BFF (Brain-Fade Friday) 🥴 I found it now at 1:30-1:45.
Count me as one of those waiting for USB-C before buying a Varia. I considered the Trek Carback but annoyed it doesn’t appear to work with the integrated mount on the Domane seat post. Also can’t believe that Trek hasn’t updated the Ion RT lights to USB-C.
Does the USB C bring fast charging times, compared to the Varia? How longs it take to fill up, and what can I get from a 15m charge?
I’ve almost got it down to empty. Will see on recharge.
No set up option for custom lighting modes within the app?
Looks like Wahoo did not learn from the mistakes of the competitor…
Battery life: Excellent. This would be the main selling point.
Till the EU doesn’t ban it for blinding…
If your excuse is that you want to be seen…
From where do you want to be seen? From the Moon or Mars, idiots?
These devices are visible on a bright sunny day from 1000-1500m…
No custom lighting modes at this time.
Not sure I understand on the EU ban, only one country (Germany) limits brightness level, and the other (France) limits blinking lights.
Actually in Germany blinking lights also seem forbidden: link to bikeradar.com
Officially they are also not allowed in the Netherlands: link to guideholland.com (dutch official version: link to rijksoverheid.nl)
I know it’s a bummer about mount.
Though if you really like this radar you can modify your garmin mount to wahoo mount. Just make one “ear” a bit wider on garmin mount, and then wahoo should fit right in.
Something like that link to youtube.com
Nice review as always Ray!
Do you expect a new Varia from Garmin with just the radar and light and USB-C? I’ve been waiting for it for years..
PS: In Spain the minimum warranty is 3 years since January 1st, 2022 in new products
I’d sure as heck hope Garmin releases a new one.
Good to know on the Spain warranty, didn’t realize that!
The question is, when? This summer season?
It would have made perfect sense to release it with the Varia Vue Front.
I won’t buy a Varia until it has usb-c. It’s stupid and an insult to Garmin customers that they still don’t have this. Meanwhile other companies are taking advantage of this to sell their own.
Hey, Ray! Love your stuff!
Just writing to let you know that the site layout appears to be misbihaving. This is in Chrome on a 2020 Macbook pro 13″ on the native 1440×900 resolution.
Here’s the pic I meant to add
Would love to have USB C, but will not convert from Garmin. First, the mount. I use a saddle mount for the Garmin and converting won’t happen without a cheap way to convert that mount to accept the Wahoo. Second, I use the Varia app on my phone. I keep the phone in my jersey pocket and connect it to my hearing aids. Now THAt gives a loud audible warning when i’m riding solo. You will not ignore it. You simply can’t. Visible on the Gramin 840 and ringing in my ears.
The plastic mounts are the achilles heel of these devices. I’ve had three camera/lights (2x Cycliq and one Tooo) where the device is fine, but b/c the mounts are wearing, the devices wobble a bit and image quality deteriorates. Not to say this mount is an improvement over the standard Garmin, but larger size might increase longevity.
What!?
A paltry 𝟮𝟭 lumens and high flash at 𝟱𝟯!?
𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹.
I’m using a Trek CarBack with a 90 lumen flash (firmware updates coming with a cache of tweaks), for a bit less than the TRACKR in price (the TRACKR is expected to be closer to $600 in Australia when it lands — woot!?). I really don’t see the logic of slapping a weak tail ‘Christmas tree led” into an overpriced, hype-hunting device just so that radar can hog the limelight.
It’s a rear light, not a front light. You just don’t need some crazy amount of light to be seen/visible by cars. History over a decade has shown that pretty well.
Hey Ray – Austin from KOM Cycling here. Just sent you an email to highlight that KOM Cycling does now offer support for the Wahoo Trackr with all our Radar Mounting accessories!
We now have a Wahoo disc that fits the Wahoo Trackr Radar and our Radar Seat Post Mount. Our previous Wahoo disc used with our Computer Mounts did not slot in properly with our Radar Seat Post Mount so we made a tooling adjustment so it fits in perfectly and we now have production discs on hand.
Our Wahoo Trackr compatible Radar Mounting Accessories now include:
Seat Post Mount
Saddlebag Clip
Rear Rack Adapter
Saddlebag – Small
Saddlebag – Regular
We’re currently updating our packaging so that all units of the above products will include both Garmin and Wahoo discs—just like we do with our Quick Release Computer Mount Series.
Great, thanks Austin – received your e-mail, good to hear on going forward!
(Though, nothing against you guys…but this still doesn’t absolve Wahoo of creating this mess…)
As a driver, I simply want riders to have bright blinking lights I can see well before I get to them, at a minimum obvious at a quarter mile in bright sunlight. The further away I can see and become aware of them, the better. I don’t think features like brightening on braking, or only getting bright when a vehicle is detected are helpful from my perspective when driving.
Maybe. The inserts meant for the Element head units are rotated 90 degrees so there is no guarantee that the screw holes on the insert will line up.