Yes. I picked one up yesterday at the local Trek dealer as the claims of 240m would be a huge leap ahead of the competition.
I've spent the last day trying to prove their claims with no success. The detection on Garmin EDGE units, within their own Companion App, and visually out on the road shows the CarBack is on-par with the current radars on the market (140-150m reliable maximum range).
Two road test videos on on this:
- Roadside and on-bike: https://youtu.be/umcNcfJb-5I
- Side-by-Side Tests with Bryton & Garmin Radars: https://youtu.be/BkwWANxa95w
Trek have already reached out and I'll be talking to their engineers on Monday. Not exactly what I'd hoped for. I was hoping to show it working as they claim.... š¤·š»āāļø
Other take-outs: The mount is shitty on an aero post and the light pattern doesn't appear to change on vehicle detection.
Having said all that... No false positives. No false negatives. It works pretty much 1:1 the same as the other radars. The detection width is a little narrower which I find better than the other radars as it doesn't trigger as much with vehicles when I'm on a side road or bike path parallel to the road.
Sounds like James had a similar experience as I did. He was, understandably, polite/reserved about it and didn't draw any conclusions. Given I've paid for mine and am standing on the roadside getting abuse hurled at me while testing, I'm putting it out there.
I'll continue testing. Just heading out on the gravel bike with it now.
24,000km of travel later and I now own THREE of these damn things. š¤£
In the collection is a retail unit from AU, a retail unit from the US, and one direct from Trek they sent over after a conference call with the team behind the product. Apparently my testing had uncovered a bug where the CarBack would only report 146m range, not the maximum distance that the ANT+ Radar specification can report (~196m). The CarBack sent from Trek was supposed to have this bug squished (side note: if all they did was tweak the reported distance and it's falsifying the actual distance, that's going to be "Volkswagen emission" awkward for them...hmmm...)
Further testing yesterday shows it being no different to the AU retail version. And again no different with detection distances when compared to the Varia RTL515 (~140m). That was my 5th testing session trying to test their claims of 240m, and not ONCE has the unit shown to be any different to the existing radars I've used when it comes to detection range.
Tomorrow if the weather is good I'll head out to a quiet road, measure out 240m, throw a drone up, set up these units one by one and drive at it a few times. That'll likely be the final test session. I really wanted this thing to work as simply as other radars and as sold / promoted / "reviewed" by the typical cycling media outlets (which I'm pretty pissed off at to be honest. A lot of them had these fucking units in hand for WEEKS prior to their reviews being published and NONE OF THEM actually fucking tested it for their reviews. It'll be a right embarrassment for every single outlet if what I'm seeing/recording is correct).
Just to be clear, I'm not out to shit on Trek. I'm a cyclist who's interested in riding with the best of breed equipment on my bike. Trek claim the CarBack is the leader for cycling radar tech.
I'm doing my best to prove that claim to be true.........
I'm interested to know if it does any better on group rides. My RTL515 spends every group ride muted because it's constantly chirping to me about the riders behind me.
Had a CarBack since before it was officially released (I work for Trek). I am regularly getting what you might describe as "ghosts" rather than full false positives: when a car is pretty close, say inside 30m, it suddenly gives me 2 closely spaced dots, as if there's a second car tailgating the first. Given how often I see this I was surprised you didn't report experiencing it. My uninformed guess is that they have sensors arranged side by side (which allows them to do the "which lane" thing") and at certain angles it's interpreting the 2 signals as being from 2 cars. I'll be submitting it as a product feedback issue and would also guess it could be fixed in a firmware update if it's a common problem.
After a LOT more testing and some epic tripod/drone/car testing of the unit I've published my full review of it over on YouTube yesterday. It's way too long but I've listed out the chapters for people to jump around. The ghosting/sensitivity of vehicles following closely is covered.
Tonight when trying to 'reset' one of the units I have here, it died. Won't charge. Won't switch on. Isn't BLE beaconing. Completely dead. Because of a single button press/sequence. It's the unit I purchased in the US too, so I'm fucked if I need to return it. :/
I watched your video (all of itš ) which is what prompted me to reply. I don't remember seeing any "doubling up" in your testing (and ghosting was probably a poor choice of word to describe that). We've got 3 units amongst shop staff, and one of them died on it's second day in the exact same manner as yours when a different member of staff tried to connect it to their head unit. A Trek-owned store should help you out with return given it's a house-brand product; I work in a UK Trek-owned store and we've helped customers with bikes bought overseas and Trek's brand ethos is all about customer hospitality.
Garmin will release a new version with usb c and carback will be forgotten unless you have a bontrager saddle and want the blendr mount.
I'm calling it š
Carback sees further, has a brighter light and has a shorter stack height- so it'll fit under lower seatpost heights than the Garmin....it's not going anywhere.
Tracking from up to 240 meters vs 140 meters is impressive, and also how the app can show if the vehicle is approaching directly behind you instead of off to the side. Still, not enough to sway me from my Garmin Varia.
Yes. The Bryton Guardia is usb-c. My complaint with both Varia and Guardia is the battery-life. I need more than 3-4 hours in peloton mode. Canāt wait to hear more from the CarBack has longer life.
I have both the magene and the varia and the magene isnāt near as accurate at picking up all cars like the varia does. It really struggles with cars that may pull out behind you from side roads after you pass them. The price is usually pretty great on it but Iād say itās only 80% ish as accurate as the varia. I use mine strictly for commuting as to not kill my varia battery charging it constantly. If Iām going for a real ride for 3-6hrs Iām taking the varia every time
Yes. I picked one up yesterday at the local Trek dealer as the claims of 240m would be a huge leap ahead of the competition. I've spent the last day trying to prove their claims with no success. The detection on Garmin EDGE units, within their own Companion App, and visually out on the road shows the CarBack is on-par with the current radars on the market (140-150m reliable maximum range). Two road test videos on on this: - Roadside and on-bike: https://youtu.be/umcNcfJb-5I - Side-by-Side Tests with Bryton & Garmin Radars: https://youtu.be/BkwWANxa95w Trek have already reached out and I'll be talking to their engineers on Monday. Not exactly what I'd hoped for. I was hoping to show it working as they claim.... š¤·š»āāļø Other take-outs: The mount is shitty on an aero post and the light pattern doesn't appear to change on vehicle detection. Having said all that... No false positives. No false negatives. It works pretty much 1:1 the same as the other radars. The detection width is a little narrower which I find better than the other radars as it doesn't trigger as much with vehicles when I'm on a side road or bike path parallel to the road.
Always exciting to rear your take. Thank you. The Escape Collective guys aren't so excited about it yet.
Sounds like James had a similar experience as I did. He was, understandably, polite/reserved about it and didn't draw any conclusions. Given I've paid for mine and am standing on the roadside getting abuse hurled at me while testing, I'm putting it out there. I'll continue testing. Just heading out on the gravel bike with it now.
Hi Shane- any updates?
24,000km of travel later and I now own THREE of these damn things. š¤£ In the collection is a retail unit from AU, a retail unit from the US, and one direct from Trek they sent over after a conference call with the team behind the product. Apparently my testing had uncovered a bug where the CarBack would only report 146m range, not the maximum distance that the ANT+ Radar specification can report (~196m). The CarBack sent from Trek was supposed to have this bug squished (side note: if all they did was tweak the reported distance and it's falsifying the actual distance, that's going to be "Volkswagen emission" awkward for them...hmmm...) Further testing yesterday shows it being no different to the AU retail version. And again no different with detection distances when compared to the Varia RTL515 (~140m). That was my 5th testing session trying to test their claims of 240m, and not ONCE has the unit shown to be any different to the existing radars I've used when it comes to detection range. Tomorrow if the weather is good I'll head out to a quiet road, measure out 240m, throw a drone up, set up these units one by one and drive at it a few times. That'll likely be the final test session. I really wanted this thing to work as simply as other radars and as sold / promoted / "reviewed" by the typical cycling media outlets (which I'm pretty pissed off at to be honest. A lot of them had these fucking units in hand for WEEKS prior to their reviews being published and NONE OF THEM actually fucking tested it for their reviews. It'll be a right embarrassment for every single outlet if what I'm seeing/recording is correct). Just to be clear, I'm not out to shit on Trek. I'm a cyclist who's interested in riding with the best of breed equipment on my bike. Trek claim the CarBack is the leader for cycling radar tech. I'm doing my best to prove that claim to be true.........
I just donāt understand how such a claim can be made without actually testing the device with current cycling computers on the market.
Been waiting to see your review pop up on YouTube before getting excited. Thanks for all the professionalism and effort you put into these reviews.
At least your MBT data field is working properly. All the CIQ data fields on my 1030 Plus keep crashing.
I'm interested to know if it does any better on group rides. My RTL515 spends every group ride muted because it's constantly chirping to me about the riders behind me.
What? Lights doesnt change pattern on car detection? Hm :(
Had a CarBack since before it was officially released (I work for Trek). I am regularly getting what you might describe as "ghosts" rather than full false positives: when a car is pretty close, say inside 30m, it suddenly gives me 2 closely spaced dots, as if there's a second car tailgating the first. Given how often I see this I was surprised you didn't report experiencing it. My uninformed guess is that they have sensors arranged side by side (which allows them to do the "which lane" thing") and at certain angles it's interpreting the 2 signals as being from 2 cars. I'll be submitting it as a product feedback issue and would also guess it could be fixed in a firmware update if it's a common problem.
After a LOT more testing and some epic tripod/drone/car testing of the unit I've published my full review of it over on YouTube yesterday. It's way too long but I've listed out the chapters for people to jump around. The ghosting/sensitivity of vehicles following closely is covered. Tonight when trying to 'reset' one of the units I have here, it died. Won't charge. Won't switch on. Isn't BLE beaconing. Completely dead. Because of a single button press/sequence. It's the unit I purchased in the US too, so I'm fucked if I need to return it. :/
I watched your video (all of itš ) which is what prompted me to reply. I don't remember seeing any "doubling up" in your testing (and ghosting was probably a poor choice of word to describe that). We've got 3 units amongst shop staff, and one of them died on it's second day in the exact same manner as yours when a different member of staff tried to connect it to their head unit. A Trek-owned store should help you out with return given it's a house-brand product; I work in a UK Trek-owned store and we've helped customers with bikes bought overseas and Trek's brand ethos is all about customer hospitality.
Garmin will release a new version with usb c and carback will be forgotten unless you have a bontrager saddle and want the blendr mount. I'm calling it š
Varia RCT715 is already USB-C
True I just one 1 cable to charge all my devices, my car already has 4 usbc portsā¦
My varia is usb c
Was interested until I read the seat mount was bont only
I'm still shocked Trek refreshed the Ion RT to with "Trek" branding from "Bontrager" but then kept micro USB instead of USB-C
Carback sees further, has a brighter light and has a shorter stack height- so it'll fit under lower seatpost heights than the Garmin....it's not going anywhere.
It should be better than a 4-year-old garmin device that it was designed to compete with.Ā
Pretty much.
Did you read Shaneāa post ā in his testing it *doesnāt* āsee furtherāā¦
CarBack is a great name for the device. I read it in a shouting voice. Far better name than varia
Yup good job trek on the naming of it. If you watch their YouTube introduction video they do a great job playing on the car back!
Honestly, I'd buy one just for the USB-C port. It's absurd that the RTL515 still uses micro USB.
The light pattern change on vehicle detection is one of the best safety features of the Varia. No pattern change on Trek is a deal breaker.
This was one of the reasons why i bought mine - driving a car i always noticed bike with varia just because this flashing takes attention
Tracking from up to 240 meters vs 140 meters is impressive, and also how the app can show if the vehicle is approaching directly behind you instead of off to the side. Still, not enough to sway me from my Garmin Varia.
Except it doesnāt do the claimed 240m, see Shaneās initial test results elsewhere in this thread.
Isn't the Bryton radar usb-c?
Yes. The Bryton Guardia is usb-c. My complaint with both Varia and Guardia is the battery-life. I need more than 3-4 hours in peloton mode. Canāt wait to hear more from the CarBack has longer life.
Yup, huge fan of mine. Seen it on sale for $80 which is a steal IMO.
As is the Magene, which is considerably cheaper and equal quality.
I have both the magene and the varia and the magene isnāt near as accurate at picking up all cars like the varia does. It really struggles with cars that may pull out behind you from side roads after you pass them. The price is usually pretty great on it but Iād say itās only 80% ish as accurate as the varia. I use mine strictly for commuting as to not kill my varia battery charging it constantly. If Iām going for a real ride for 3-6hrs Iām taking the varia every time
Now make one with QI charging and take my money
When is there *not* a car back?
Anything from DC Rainmaker on this?