Garmin Varia Smart Headlight Out front Reviews Summary

Brightness & Light Quality

Pros:

• "Very bright at high setting."
• "It's really awesome how it can turn on automatically if you have a compatible Garmin Edge device."
• "It is bright and has a great beam shape."
• "It's crazy bright and has a good beam pattern that really does get wider and more narrow with your speed."
• "It is so bright that I can see reflections from traffic signs."
• "This light is like a torch - great bright light- illuminating my ride."
• "The light is very powerful. Ample light."

Cons:

• "Low light is probably not bright enough for night riding unless you're going <10 mph."
• "800 lumen may not be enough for a light when you are riding in the dark."
• "Not bright enough."
• "Doesn’t last more than an hour on high."
• "Mediocre run time, subpar lumen output."
• "This light is nearly useless for overnight riding!"
• "An ok headlight, kind of pricey but bright enough, battery won’t last more than 1.5 hours when paired with a Garmin computer on a auto light adjust during a night ride."

Battery Life

Pros:

• "This light last a pretty long time depending on what setting you have to on."
• "Good battery life unless you use the brightest setting."
• "The battery life is plenty enough for my ride needs."
• "Battery life is very good too."
• "The battery life is fine. I just finally recharged it and I bought it in mid-September though I didn't ride that much outside and mostly I do use it in flashing mode to save battery."
• "It gets about 3 hours of battery life on auto-adjust mode when paired with my computer, more if I run it on blink mode."
• "Battery life is great! I charge it when I charge my computer and it has never died on me."

Cons:

• "Battery life is terrible. Get low battery warnings 20 mins into my ride."
• "Unfortunately battery only lasts for about 1.5 hrs on full blast."
• "After a 45 mins ride the battery is down to 15% much less than quoted."
• "The battery only lasts 3 hours at 400 lumens (1.5 at 800)."
• "However, at night, at anything other than a slow roll, it's on high, and the battery warning comes on at about 45 min, and it dies completely less than 20 min later."
• "Battery doesn’t last longer than 3 hours if connected by Bluetooth."
• "The battery doesn't last long."

Build Quality & Design

Pros:

• "It's a little weighty but doesn't bother me. In any case it just gives me confidence in this product, for being well built and looks like it can withstand drops/shock."
• "The mount is well made and sits under the Garmin computer inline with your handlebar stem."
• "The light mount is easily adjustable and secures firmly once you settle on how you want it pointed."
• "As for thr build quality, well, Garmin has really built a solid product."
• "The design is also great, and has withstood some rough riding and weather conditions."
• "The construction of the light feels like a high quality light, it’s sturdy and looks like it will hold up well."
• "I was immediately taken by the build quality. Very solid."

Cons:

• "The power button fell off before my first ride while I was installing it."
• "The light is now useless. Lucky I had it linked to DI2 and it turned off automatically when I finished the ride or the light would still be on as I write this review because the only button on the entire light fell off making it a battery powered paper weight."
• "The mount that comes with the light cannot tighten enough to hold the light horizontal."
• "Light mount requires some finesse to attach."
• "The mounting bracket on my light snapped off."
• "Good light however the locking mechanism released on my third ride causing the light to impact the road at approximately 20mph."
• "My only issue is I would like to easily be able to move between bikes, but the fixing it slightly awkward to get to and requires an allen key rather than a twist lock like you see with the Garmin computer mounts."