Garmin has announced a new addition to its Varia line of safety and visibility accessories for cyclists. The Varia Vue is the first model to combine a bright headlamp with a front-facing 4K camera designed to automatically record incidents and save footage locally or send it to the cloud via smartphone. It is currently available in the company’s online store for $549.99, as well as on Amazon.
The Varia Vue can shoot 4K video for up to six hours on a full battery charge, but battery life is reduced to 1.25 hours with the brightest headlights. Lowering the camera’s resolution to 1080P at 30 frames per second can extend the recording time to nine hours or up to 1.5 hours at full headlight brightness.
Electronic image stabilization helps reduce shakiness in rough terrain, while continuous recording allows you to capture the events leading up to an incident (detected by Vue’s accelerometer) along with the aftermath. When the camera is connected to devices such as smartwatches, cycling computers, or even a mobile app, video is recorded along with speed and GPS location data.
To further extend battery life, Vue can be paired with a Garmin camera-equipped rear radar light. This not only unlocks an additional recording mode in which Vue only starts recording video when a vehicle approaches it from behind, but also allows you to capture incidents from two different angles.
Footage is recorded locally on an SD card, but when connected to Wi-Fi, it can be automatically uploaded to Garmin Vault for added security. However, this feature requires either a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 or an annual subscription fee of $99.99.
Garmin claims that the maximum brightness of the Vue headlamp is 600 lumens, but it is only available in a flashing mode designed for daytime use. In full brightness mode, the Vue emits 550 lumens and can be dimmed to 140 lumens. The headlamp is also designed with a cut-off beam that angles the light onto the road so that it doesn’t shine in the eyes of oncoming drivers.
One additional feature that will almost certainly appeal to existing Garmin fans is that the company, which has long used Micro USB ports in its products, has opted for a USB-C port on the Vue for charging.
