Garmin Varia and Other Cycling Radars: A Brief History

From its early beginnings as a unique cycling accessory to a now, an indispensable tool for road and gravel riding, cycling radars like the Garmin Varia, Bryton Gardia, and Magene L508 have developed quickley over the last few years. Below we will look at a brief history of the cycling rear radar.

• 2014: January - iKubu launches Kickstarter for Backtracker rear Radar
• 2015: January - Garmin acquires radar patents and technology from iKubu
• 2015: August - Garmin releases first radar under their brand name: Varia RTL 500 and RTL 501
• 2018: April - Garmin releases newly designed Varia RTL 510
• 2019: August - Wahoo adds Varia radar support for their Elemnt series GPS computers
• 2020: May - Garmin releases 3rd generation: Varia RTL515, and the Varia RVR315
• 2022: May - Garmin adds a camera option to the radar collection with the Varia RCT715
• 2022: July - Magene and Bryton announce their entries into the radar market at the 2022 EuroBike
• 2023: April - Garmin adds eBike version of the Varia with the Varia eRTL615