RIDDEN AND REVIEWED RADAR UNITS

Genuinely useful or just another gadget? We test the latest in road safety technology

- Words: Simon Fellows

We ask a lot of the best bike radar units. They must accurately warn of approaching traffic by continuously translating a rapidly evolving environment into audio and visual prompts. Whether on a head unit, front light, or smartphone app, these alerts must be instantly understandable and reliable without becoming a distraction.

Sadly, not all radar units are up to the job, with reporting inaccuracies turning genuinely useful safety tech into a dangerous gimmick. In this test we looked for lights that don't report false positives – warnings of vehicles when there are none – or false negatives – a failure to warn of approaching vehicles. We also assess detection range, angle of detection, and accuracy at lower speeds.

Radar units identify traffic via relative velocity, which has the consequence of making vehicles undetectable when they match the rider's speed. So, we'll be paying special attention to units with higher sensitivity.

ROAD TESTING

While we're primarily interested in radar performance, we'll also assess how effective the tail lights are in terms of visibility and smart features.

The mount is also important. A poorly mounted radar product is less likely to perform optimally, and a unit that's awkward to click into place is more likely to be left at home.

To test the effectiveness of these units, we rode a predefined 13km circuit that ensured a variety of traffic conditions and reflections from buildings and structures likely to confuse a bike radar. We also set up a static rig on a long, straight section of road, which enabled us to accurately test range and log false positives and negatives with confidence.

¡GPSPORT SR Mini £79.90

Proving that bike radar doesn't have to be expensive

It's disappointing that some false positive detections were experienced

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