Just a few years ago, Garmin had the bike radar market to themselves with their ubiquitous Varia models. That’s rapidly changed as Magene, Bryton, Magicshine and even iGPSPORT have entered the market with their own radars. The new Trek CarBack is one of the latest bike rear radars to hit the market and offers a few unique features. Trek has set the retail price on the radar to be $199.99 and incorporated a 90 lumen focused LED that is reminiscent of the popular Trek Flare RT. What is unique about the CarBack is the four-bar LED battery gauge that lets you monitor the battery status and a claimed 240m range that can detect 7 vehicles simultaneously. The CarBack also uses Trek’s clip-on quick mount as well as a modern USB-C charging port.
The Trek CarBack radar combines Trek’s popular Flare RT with a reliable rear radar and convenient battery status gauge.
| Retail Price | $199.99 |
| Rating | 8.2 / 10 |
| Measured Weight (in g) | 84 (radar), 14 (mount) |
| Likes | + Four level battery status gauge + Long distance visibility with focused LED + Reliable detection of simulations vehicles |
| Dislikes | – Lacks side visibility – Flimsy rubber mount that can move around on round seatpost – Claimed 240m detection range can be hit or miss |
| Where to Buy (US) | Trek |
UNBOXING
The Trek CarBack radar comes in a compact white and black Trek branded box with graphics printed on it. Trek has added an opening front face that shows additional marketing images and lets you see the radar inside the box through a window. Inside the box you’ll find:
- CarBack Radar
- Quick Mount
- USB-C charging cable
- Instruction manual
As with other larger companies, the packaging has a sustainable design with a cardboard holder that eliminates plastic bags and trays.
MOUNTING
Trek has utilized their standard slide-on clip design for mounting the CarBack to the bike. It’s the same mount design that the Flare RT and other Trek and Bontrager devices use. Trek includes a quick connect rubber strap with the radar to mount it on a seat post. It’s a simple design that locks into place and as a release tab to remove it. The mount has a built in angle offset to keep the radar parallel to the ground and a rotatable design which gives you more flexibility on mounting options. Because this light uses Trek’s existing mount, you can also use the CarBack radar with the Blendr saddle rail mount for an even sleeker installation. On our standard 27.3mm round seatpost, the included mount felt flimsy and required stretching to nearly the last hook on the rubber strap to get a secure fit. Given the price of the radar we would have liked to see a more robust mount design like the ratcheting designs KOM has introduced.
FIT AND FINISH
While Trek might be a bit late to the bike radar market, they’ve nailed the branding with the “CarBack” product name. It’s exactly what you’d yell out to other cyclists on the road when you know there is a car coming behind you and is the perfect name for a bike radar. Trek has also given the taillight a unique shape with a square-ish profile instead of the elongated rectangle design that is used by other brands. It’s quite a bit wider than other radars with its 70 x 50 x 25 mm dimensions and flat black radar surface. Beveled edges breakup the otherwise glossy black surface of the light which is a dust magnet and shows scratches after its first use. Branding is limited to Trek printed on the side and CarBack on the upper surface which gives the radar a clean look.
On the top of the radar you have a single button interface with a wide and flush button. It’s a very large button which makes it easy to use while a little ridge helps you find the button by touch. On the bottom of the light there is also an integrated USB-C port with a sleek weather cover. A small cutout on the top lets you slide a finger nail under it and pull the cover up to access the port. While Garmin radars still use micro-USB, it’s nice to see large brands like Trek bring USB-C to their new products. On the side of the light is a four-led battery gauge which is illuminated whenever the radar is on or if you do a single press of the power button with the radar off. It’s a nice feature that lets you quickly check the battery status of the radar before you start riding.
In terms of the taillight, it seems like Trek has simply taken their Flare RT and embedded it into the top of the radar. You have a highly focused single LED with a textured lens that helps disperse the beam. While the focused LED works well and keeps you visible from a long distance away, Trek has forgotten about side visibility. There are no side markers or transparent side panels like the Flare RT which means the taillight is not visible from side angles aside from the battery gauge on the left side. However, Trek has kept the number of modes very simple with only four options: day / night steady and a day / night flashing options. They are easy to tell apart and avoid having to cycle through a bunch of modes to find your favorite. Keeping with the simple approach, the CarBack also doesn’t have any smart features such as brake or ambient light sensors.
TREK APP
Trek has also added an app called “Trek Accessories” which allows you to use the radar without a bike GPS head unit. Despite the name of the app, it only appears to support the CarBack radar at the moment and has a simple connection sequence using bluetooth and radar display screen. On the detection screen you can see a distance indicator and animated car icons as vehicles approach you. There is a simple settings page as well which lets you change units and check the firmware status. Again, Trek has kept things simple and not incorporated any customization modes or the ability to run the CarBack in a radar only mode which some apps allow.
LIGHT OUTPUT
The Trek CarBack supports four different output modes with two constant modes and two flashing modes. It’s a simple setup that makes it easy to find the best mode for daytime, nighttime or group riding settings. The two constant modes are called day steady and night steady which have maximum outputs of 25 lumen and 5 lumen respectively. There is also a bright 90 lumen daytime flash and a more subtle night flash (i.e. a steady alternating between low steady and slightly brighter steady mode) with 5 lumen output. Trek does not publish the run times for each mode though and only claims a 7 hour maximum runtime which we assume for the low power night flash mode.
Not surprisingly, the daytime flash is bright with its focused design and is visible from long distances away. The light design is nearly identical to the Flare RT and does a good job of maximizing the visibility of the radar without the need for multiple LEDs. Unfortunately Trek forgot about side visibility which means the radar is not visible from side angles. The battery gauge does provide some visibility on the left side but it’s not as effective as a true side marker or protruding lens design would be. As far as runtime we found the radar was around 5-8 hours depending on how much traffic is on the route. The tail light flash pattern also does not change if cars are detected which is a common and well loved feature with Garmin radars and even competitors like the Magicshine Seemee 508.
RADAR DETECTION
Right out of the box, the Trek CarBack’s radar performed well on the road and provided consistent and fast detection of approaching vehicles. Unlike other new radars, such as the Bryton Guardia R300, which require a few software updates before the bugs are ironed out, Trek has done a great job doing extensive testing before releasing the product. We were generally impressed with the detection, the radar detects vehicles quickly and can show up to 7 simulations cars at a time. One of the sticky points with this radar is the claimed 240m detection range which is quite a bit more than other radars on the market. Trek has also narrowed the detection region to about 7 degrees to each side of the radar which means you won’t pick up as many vehicles on corners or while riding on bike trails parallel to cars.
Like other reviewers, we weren’t able to verify the 240m detection range using the Trek app on our test road. Instead, it felt like the detection range was consistent to the 140m range of the Garmin Varia and other radars for most encounters. It’s still more than enough distance to detect cars before you hear them which helps you plan accordingly and ride more safely. However, there were several instances where the CarBack radar seemed to pick up vehicles that were quite a distance away. We suspect the 240m detection range is true, but may be limited to optimal conditions. We’ll see if future software changes improve this or Trek adjusts the claim in the future.
THE VERDICT
Overall, we found the Trek CarBack Radar to be a well designed and consistent bike radar right out of the box. The detection algorithm was solid from our first use with consistent and reliable detection of approaching vehicles. Although we weren’t able to verify the longer 240m detection range claim, the performance felt consistent to Garmin and other radars on the market and we felt there was earlier detection on certain roads. The rear light is also well designed as it borrows the focused LED from the Flare RT and provides long distance visibility to ensure cars see you. To be honest, we’re a bit disappointed with Trek as the CarBack has some fundamental flaws which makes the $199.99 price point hard to justify: lack of side visibility, a flimsy rubber strap mount and a radar pattern that does not change when vehicles are detected. That said, the Trek CarBack is a reliable rear radar but could use a few improvements to catch up to its competitors.
Disclaimer: The product for this review was provided by Trek. The views expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and are here to help people make an informed choice before a purchase. The authors or the blog itself does not get any monetary compensation from the product manufacturer or third-party websites/vendor links that are posted here.