Jason Johnson, longtime customer and avid rider, recently picked up Wahoo’s debut into the radar-equipped taillight game. Here’s his take:
Radars have been a hot product in the last few years and that popularity has only increased
with the recent introduction by Wahoo with their all new Trackr Radar. This expands on the
Wahoo ecosystem and natively integrates with their Wahoo bike computers. I have tested the
Radar with an original Roam and I did not have to do anything special to make it work even with
the older Roam model. As long as you make sure you’re on the latest OS update from Wahoo
you should not run into any issues.
I bought the Radar because I was getting back into cycling and would be spending a lot more
time on the road. Now, I did not think that having the Radar would magically make the roads
safer or that it would prevent me from getting hit, it did give me the peace of mind to know when
something was behind me. This is especially true when you’re riding at speed, either by going
down a hill, or on winding roads. When you’re riding say 15+ MPH, the amount of wind in your
ears can be deafening and that always was an issue for me. I would often get surprised by a
fast moving car coming up from behind me. That is even worse with electric cars as many do
not make any noise unless they are backing up.
With that said, I found the Radar to be pretty darn accurate when it came to vehicles
approaching and with ample warning. On the left side of the screen there is a green ribbon that
signifies a road. When a car is approaching, a moving car will appear in that ribbon while also
alerting and changing color based on the approaching speed of the vehicle. When there are no
vehicles OR the car is moving relatively you’re moving speed it will be green. When the car is
approaching faster than you are moving by some variable it will be orange and when the car is
moving at a high rate of speed it will turn red. If there are multiple cars they will appear in the
ribbon, spaced similarly to how they will approach you which was nice. There were only two
times that I noticed the count of cars was off, once when it said there was more than one vehicle
but it was a large 18 wheeler and another time where the second car was so close to the first
the radar could not determine it was more than one car. In either instance, it didn’t change what
I was doing so it was a mere anomaly. The other quirks I noticed while using it was that on the
backroads around here we have a lot of tight twisty corners and rolling hills and both of those
have the chance that a car will appear and “disappear” before reappearing again. Additionally,
another great feature which I can’t say I can experience myself but others have noticed is that
the light will change how fast it blinks when a car is approaching and the light will get brighter
when you are slowing down. There is an accelerometer built in that allows this to function.
Otherwise, the light is not as bright as it can be when there are no cars around and it will slow
the blinking as well to help save on battery. Finally, the all important for anything electronic is
how often it needs to be charged. I have had this for a few months putting in 6-12 hours a week
and I have only charged it twice.
Lastly, yes I would absolutely recommend the Wahoo Trackr Radar if you spend any significant
time on the road. It is a nice peace of mind for when you’re focused on the road ahead and the
wind is blowing through your helmet straps. It’s even better for those back roads where you
don’t expect traffic and when they can sneak up on you.
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