Wahoo Trackr Radar and flashing unit competes with established Garmin Varia for top radar spot

With quite a few other competitor products out there (some I have reviewed) the Trackr is an enhanced safety device that functions very similarly. When paired with a Wahoo head-unit it’s easy and intuitive to use, it’s quick to remove on and off the bike thanks to a 1/4 turn lock and it has reasonable battery hours. The Trackr has top notch radar sensing and an appealing aesthetic, but if you are looking for longer battery life the tried and tested Garmin Varia will give you that.

Sensing : The Trackr device alerts you to approaching vehicles from behind using your head-unit as a audio and visual indicator. Errors like ghost vehicles and missed sensing can generally be problematic with these types of sensors, but the Trackr was high accuracy with a low amount of false alarms or errors. The sensing algorithms and optimization seem very well tuned, appearing that Wahoo have spent time refining the radar chipset and parameters. I would rate this as a very good sensor and well engineered settings.

Battery Life: USB C charging and stated as between 10 and 20hrs runtime depending on flash mode. I use low solid for most of the time, so a 15hr estimated run. I found the battery didn’t quite live up to that but it was really close at 13hrs. The unit also has a battery saver mode that dims the LED when no vehicles are present, then quickly back on upon sensing. I thought this was pretty smart and wasn’t offered by other competitors. I couldn’t tell how much battery this was saving, so I think it’s pretty negligible and also probably depends on how busy the roads are where you ride. Other’s empirical data suggest the Varia may last longer on high flashes.

Interface: I sense that the programmer folks have worked really hard on this unit and it shows. The firmware is well done and the hardware / chipsets seems very optimized meaning great radar and excellent BT connectivity. And software wise, when attached with a Wahoo head-unit, it’s very simple to navigate and set up. It can be paired with a Garmin head-unit, and visually the alerts are the same, but navigating the functions seem a little more clunky to use. A bonus tweak , you can also choose between optimised sensing for left and right of the roads, should you take your unit abroad.

The physical interface is also well refined, the 1/4 turn removal is great and makes for easy charging and removal in public places ,after a little learning curve, I rate the seatpost clip is ok and got over a little awkwardness of how the clip orients. rather than pulling the tab and stretching, you kinda push it from behind with your index finger, I think the designers did this for aerodynamics and looks more than usability, and I understand why. The unit comes with three seatpost shape adaptors, round tube, aero “v” profile and a aero square profile, these adapters click into the back of the mount on setup.

In Use : Paired with a Wahoo head-unit I found it to be very easy to use, it paired quickly, was always there and turned on and off at the beginning and end of ride automatically. I found in general it kept its place on my round seatpost tube and that it was easy and handy to remove with the 1/4 turn. The aesthetic of the unit is also modern and more sleek of say the Garmin Varia and Magic shine making the appearance more appealing to me. With all of these units I feel the best way to handle them is to take a few minutes on setup, explore flash modes and configure before riding, the Whoo did feel like the one that was easiest to change mid ride.

	Wahoo Trackr $249	Garmin Varia 515 $199	Magicshine Seeme 300 $130
Sensing	9/10	8/10	5/10
Battery	7/10	10/10	7/10
Interface	10/10	8/10	7/10
In Use	9/10	8/10	4/10
Overall Rating:	Best	Better	Worst

Is it worth the extra $50 ? if looks are important and the Wahoo does provide marginally better sensing then yes. If max battery life on a high day flash is you main concern, I say go with Garmin Varia

Packaging & Initial Setup

My first impressions out of the box were a nice looking front, a smooth semi organic pill shape with nice horizontal lines, a balanced look and minimal branding. It looks different in the landscape of radars out there, more modern than the Garmin Varia more thoughtful than a Magicshine, plus it also reads as very Aerodynamic with it’s smooth yet kinda engineered shape vs more geometric edges. The Wahoo packaging presents the product really well, it’s sectionalized cardboard with nice details on how all the pieces tessalate Overall the packaging was minimal, I would say eco and well designed / thought out.
I then went on to download a wahoo app and make sure the firmware was up to date, it did need updating, this took 30 seconds and then I scanned a QR code with my phone to find out the run times of the 4 flash modes that are cycled through with the top button on the unit -.

The App also lets you configure some additional flash mode add-ons like battery save dim and flash on approach. At this point I did see note that if you hold down the button for 6 seconds it fully turns off the product (all the radio connections), making me think that if you just hit the off switch for a second it’s still using power as its asleep vs actually off. Might be something to consider if you go for more than few days between using your bike to preserve some battery life.

Extra Mounting Notes:

There are a couple of third party manufacturers making mounts also, worth considering, but I have not tested.
KOM Cycling … https://amzn.to/3YNYTak
Seat Rail Mount from Amazon $12 – https://amzn.to/4sd5XuF and here https://amzn.to/48SrjpI
Frames and Gear Seat Rail Mount https://framesandgear.com/en-us/products/framesandgear-computer-mount-for-the-saddle-rail?_pos=1&_psq=TRACKR+RADAR&_ss=e&_v=1.0&variant=53659562770755

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