capsule/gemlog/hindsight-riding-with-the-bryton-gardia-r300l-radar-taillight.gmi

As I mentioned last week[1], I recently started shifting more of my morning bike routes off the multi-use paths and onto public roadways. I ride early enough that there's not much traffic (honestly, the paths are more crowded than the roads), and I stick to wide residential roads with good visibility and plenty of room for vehicles to easily get around me. I wear bright colors and adorn my bike with front and rear lights.

=> /this-week-2024-06-29/ 1: last week

I felt *pretty* safe with this approach, but I didn't like that cars would sometimes sneak up on me; I can't always hear them before they're already passing. I'd like a bit more heads-up than that.

So a few weeks back, I picked up the Bryton Gardia R300L Bike Radar Tail Light (@Bryton[1], @Amazon[2]:

=> https://us.eshop.brytonsport.com/products/gardia-r300l-1 1: @Bryton
=> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV1Z2K62) 2: @Amazon

A red LED bike light is attached to the seat post of a bicycle. Another red reflector is mounted below it. The background shows a garage door.[1]

=> https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/jbowdre-1719719691.jpg 1: A red LED bike light is attached to the seat post of a bicycle. Another red reflector is mounted below it. The background shows a garage door.

It's a bright tail light with multiple lighting modes (steady high/medium/low, day/night flashing, and "group ride" pulsing) that also features a rear-facing radar. When connected to the Bryton Gardia app[1] on my phone (or an ANT+ compatible cycling computer), it generates audible and visual alerts for approaching vehicles. The light also briefly switches to a rapidly-flashing pattern to get the driver's attention.

=> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brytonsport.gardia 1: Bryton Gardia app

It'll even track multiple vehicles, which is pretty nice:

Screenshot of the Bryton Gardia app showing two vehicles approaching from the rear.[1]

=> https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/jbowdre-1719719978.png 1: Screenshot of the Bryton Gardia app showing two vehicles approaching from the rear.

I was a little concerned about needing to use a companion app from a company I'd never heard of and was expecting to have to create an account and fight to lock down permissions. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the app requires no login or setup. It just launches straight to the pairing menu, and once connected, you're free to get on the road. The app didn't ask for a bunch of unnecessary permissions, and while it does have the location permission in the manifest, it hasn't asked me to enable that.

App permissions screen for "Bryton Gardia" with allowed permissions: Nearby devices, Network, and Sensors. Location is not allowed. "Pause app activity if unused" is toggled on.[1]

=> https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/jbowdre-1719720092.png 1: App permissions screen for "Bryton Gardia" with allowed permissions: Nearby devices, Network, and Sensors. Location is not allowed. "Pause app activity if unused" is toggled on.

I've ridden about 100 miles with the Gardia R300L now, and I'm very impressed with it. The light is bright and visible, and the battery lasts long enough that I only need to charge it once a week (and could probably get away with once every two weeks). The app is simple and does what it does very well. The radar has enough range to alert me to approaching vehicles typically 5-10 seconds before I could hear them, which is plenty of time to make sure I'm squeezed over to the side of the road. I like that I can cruise with the gentle pulsing light mode to avoid blinding or distracting other cyclists while knowing that it will auto-switch to an attention-getting pattern when a car is approaching. The light also switches to a steady brake light mode when the onboard accelerometer detects that I'm braking.

I feel a bit like I have eyes in the back of my head, and that feels much safer.

=> https://blog.jbowdre.lol/hindsight-riding-with-bryton-gardia-radar-taillight/ 📡 Originally posted on jbowdre's weblog