I don’t always start off a review with praise, but if you’re in the market for a rear radar tail light, the Coospo TR70 is simply the biggest bargain out there.
To be honest, I was never convinced that I needed a rear radar, so I was somewhat sceptical when I received the TR70. In practice, it paired easily and seamlessly with my Coospo CS600 computer. Out on the road, there’s an audible beep when the radar detects vehicles behind, and you can see little dots along the left edge of the computer’s screen, showing how many vehicles are approaching. The TR70 can track up to eight approaching vehicles simultaneously. The radar range is stated to be up to 140 metres, which seems about right. On rural roads, I often found I could hear a car approaching, even before the radar alerted me. However, when there are multiple cars, you can usually only hear one. With the radar, I could see exactly how many vehicles were behind me, along with how far away they are. Importantly, I found that, when cycling on very windy days, I often couldn’t hear cars approaching, but the TR70 never failed to alert me.
Some people say that rear radar is less useful in heavier traffic, but I found it to be extremely useful. Traffic noise usually means you won’t hear approaching vehicles from behind, and while there’s absolutely no substitute for doing life-saver checks over your shoulder, a quick glance at the Coospo CS600 head unit immediately tells me if I can even think about changing lanes at that exact moment.
A colleague has a Garmin Varia, so we wheeled our bikes onto a pavement, alongside a busy road, to do a side-by-side comparison. I’m happy to say the TR70 at very least matched the Varia for detecting approaching traffic. The crucial difference is the TR70 costs significantly less than the Varia!
In the box, you get the TR70, a charge cable, a seat-post mount (with rubber inserts for round seat posts, and aero seat posts) and the TR70 secures via a familiar mount, similar to what the head unit uses. It also comes with a safety lanyard, which handily is rather stretchy. I stretch that over my bike’s saddle, so it hangs down around the seat post. The seat post mount is sturdy, and I have no reason not to trust it, but nevertheless, I don’t want to risk losing the TR70.
Pairing the TR70 with the CS600 was very quick and easy, and once paired, in the top-right corner of the CS600, there’s a visible indicator that the radar is active. Approaching vehicles are displayed as dots along the left of the screen, and I found it took some time to adjust, and get to know exactly when traffic would start passing me. On multi-lane roads, it will show overtaking traffic, even if that’s in a different lane. Also, you will find cars are already next to you, before the dot representing that car disappears. If a car is pacing you, close behind, after a while, the dot representing that car will disappear, similar to what a Garmin Varia does. The radar detects approaching traffic with speeds of between 3 to 128 km/h.
Coospo has an app, which controls the settings of the TR70, and it works extremely well. You can adjust the brightness of the taillight, as well as whether to have it pulsing, steady, or “breathing”. Which option you choose will impact the TR70’s impressive battery life. When cars are approaching at speed, you can set the TR70 to start rapidly blinking, to get the driver’s attention. Speaking of battery life, if using radar-only, the TR70 has a claimed runtime of 50 hours, which is immensely impressive. Also, the TR70 has an emergency brake light feature, which activates when the unit detects you’re sharply braking, causing it to go to brightest light, for around 5 seconds.
You can cycle between the different taillight modes by using the app, or simply using the power button on top. The sequence is low brightness, high brightness, breathing light, day flash, night flash, group ride, and radar-only.
The Coospo TR70 is a very capable device, with a high-quality finish, delivering features that would cost lot more, if you had to go for a competitor’s product. The IPX7 rating means you don’t have to worry about using it even in the heaviest of rain (provided you properly closed the charge port cover).
Full disclosure: I didn’t pay for this device, but it manage to completely change my mind. Before, I thought rear radar was a solution looking for a problem, but I very rapidly learnt to rely on the functionality it offers, and I’m now a big fan of rear radar.
You can get yours here, for £57.99 (plus p&p) at the time I wrote this, compared to the £144.99 for a Garmin Varia. No contest! Get the Coospo TR70 instead!