Garmin's latest products for India aim to keep cyclists safe & visible

Garmin Edge 1040 Solar
(Image credit: Garmin)

Garmin has gone ahead and launched the Edge 1040 Solar, a GPS-powered bicycle computer, and the Varia RCT 715 taillight with built-in camera, in India.

The Edge 1040 Solar has been priced Rs 72,990, while the non-solar version of the same, named Edge 1040 Bundle costs less at Rs 67,990. They are available at Garmin brand Stores and on Amazon India.

Garmin Edge 1040

Garmin Edge 1040 Solar

(Image credit: Garmin)

Key Features of the Edge 1040 Solar include power glass solar charging lens which Garmin says extends battery life to up to 100 hours in battery saver mode. The device also comes with multi-band GNSS technology for better positional accuracy. The Edge 1040 Solar comes with navigational tools such as turn-by-turn navigation, pause route guidance and off-course notifications.

Additionally, it also acts as a power guide and provides real-time stamina insights, cycling ability and course demands and custom ride profiles. Users of a bicycle fitted with the Edge 1040 Solar can manage cycling activity profiles through the Garmin Connect smart device app in their smartphones.

And there's more. With the Trailforks app, one can view routes and trail details from more than 80 countries and the Forksight mode, displays upcoming forks in the route and where a rider is within a trail network.

Built-in safety and tracking features such as incident detection, assistance and LiveTrack, along with group messaging and tracking feature are present in addition to the facility to receive notifications and pair with Tacx indoor trainer.

Varia RCT715

Varia RCT715

(Image credit: Garmin)

The Garmin Edge 1040 Solar is compatible with the Varia RCT715 radar activated taillight with built-in camera which comes in at Rs 40,490.

It comes with features such as automatic incident capture, wherein the video footage from before, during and after the event will automatically be saved and the Varia app can be used to access the video footage, transfer videos or simply customise the camera settings.

The device issues both visual and audible notifications to warn riders of approaching vehicles that are up to 140 yards away. The tail lamp can be seen up to a mile away says Garmin, meaning, before the radar detects the approaching vehicle, the driver of the vehicle can see the bicyclist.

In addition to the Garmin Edge, the Varia RCT715 can be paired with the Garmin smartwatch as well. As for battery life, the Varia RCT715 features up to 4 hours of battery life with radar and taillight on solid high or night flash and up to 6 hours with radar and tail light on day flash – all with the camera continuously recording at 1080p.

Suresh Subramaniam

Although on the younger side, Suresh, an engineer-turned journalist, has been around the field since smartphones had buttons in them. He has tried his hand at a variety of stuff, including writing articles for a Chennai-based eveninger on technology, automobiles, business and cricket at the beginning of his career. A Chennaiite can hardly escape cinema and Suresh has absorbed his fill of movies.