The thing about cycling is that it’s only as complicated a pastime as you make it. An $80 Huffy performs the same basic function as a carbon-fiber street racer costing 100 times more, just with a lesser degree of effectiveness. Similarly, you can go the old-school way of glancing down at the cycling computer mounted on your handlebars whenever you want an update on your ride — or you could strap this tiny $400 monitor from Garmin to the side of your face and get a continuous stream of telemetry data without taking your eyes off the road.
The Varia Vision is Garmin’s recent addition to its ANT+ cycling accessory collection, ANT+ being the proprietary wireless standard that Garmin’s various devices leverage to share data with one another. The Vision is a heads-up display that pairs with select models in the company’s line of cycling computers. I tested the Varia Vision with the Garmin 520 computer, though it’s also compatible with the flagship model 1000. There’s also the possibility that other ANT+ community members will integrate it with their own bike computers in the future. Plus, if you’re already using Garmin’s Varia Rear Radar device, the Vision will also display incoming-car warnings in addition to the standard mix of speed, distance and performance metrics from the computer itself.
The Varia Vision weighs a scant 1.1 ounces, lasts about eight hours on a charge and can be mounted on most any pair of sport-style sunglasses using a strap-on base plate that the HUD twist-locks into. The 428-by-240-pixel screen automatically reorients itself whenever the device powers on, and it can be mounted ambidextrously on either the left or right temple of your glasses. I did find that putting it on the left side, however, completely blocked my peripheral vision on that, side which made it difficult to glance over my shoulder for cars while overtaking other cyclists.
Also, the Varia Vision really does need a set of sport glasses. I initially installed it on my Ray-Ban Wayfarers and, while the Vision did work, the placement and orientation of the screen was less than ideal. I mean, the screen arm bends in only about 80 degrees, and there’s no way to really angle it up or down, so if the glasses arm sits high compared with the lens itself, part of the screen is blocked by the bottom edge of the display’s mount.
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