Magene l508 vs garmin radars

[aliexpress_junkie]

Lots of reviews I've read on the magene are older (8+ months every time) and they always end up saying it's not quite as good as the garmin radars. A few false negatives, several false positives, clearing up the alert way too soon etc.

This is also valid for all the other "clones" as well, from Bryton etc.

Anybody still have that experience with the latest firmwares? I had a friend tell me the magene is amazing a year ago but he never actually had a garmin one, in a group ride we had both and it was clear the garmin one was a lot more accurate. I really love having a radar but I hate having to buy a micro-usb one like the garmin if that's the only one that's working decently, so was wondering if the firmwares made them better now or if it's really a hardware issue for most of them.

[kbernstein]

This guy says the firmware is a lot better now


I agree it is a shame how many youtubers review products after one week, point out software issues and then never update us later once said issues have been addressed. And don't count on chinese manufacturers to give us a detailed changelog either

[zerstorer]

Been using the Magene l508 since it was released, since July 2022.

It has never produced false negatives. No radar should do that since it would be unsafe and useless.
It used to produce an occasional false positive but you hardly see it nowadays.

The good thing about it is the app that allows you to customize every parameter from it's time to sleep, brightness and flash frequency of every single light mode and the point at which it goes into power saving mode.

[pushpush]

Even the garmin produces occasional falses (neg and pos). I believe after a lot of use that this is the result of their noise filtering. The most disconcerting behavior is when a car sits behind you at a consistent distance for some period of time. The radar on occasion will decide that it isn't a moving object and will stop reporting it. When the distance to the car changes it suddenly reappears.

I still prefer riding with radar whenever possible, but it isn't perfect. None of them are. I have no experience with the Magene units, but at this point I'm sure they are as good as the Garmin ones.

[aliexpress_junkie]

Yes I don't think expecting perfection from a radar is reasonable, you should always be on guard all the time and the radar is just something extra that helps.

Thanks for the recent information, this is a bit reassuring, as firmware issues that can be fixed via software is better than having say a bad sensor that just would never work no matter how much code you throw at it.

How's the magene in group rides? Does it go crazy?

[sbellote]

adding up to the conversation, I bought the Bryton Gardia R300L a few months ago, and it's been great! Occasional false positives, but no false negatives, it does the job pretty well. Especially considering I got it cheaper than the Magene, and of course than Garmin...
This is a case of updates saving the product, initial samples and reviews trashed Bryton since there were lots of false positives and negatives. But updates improved a lot the product, and the more recent reviews I saw before buying were already more positive - which gave me confidence to risk it

[zerstorer]

How's the magene in group rides? Does it go crazy?

The threshold speed for the radar to trigger is quite high(maybe 20kph difference). Never had it trigger in group rides before.

If you are stationary by the roadside then maybe it will trigger.

An alternative you might want to consider is the latest addition IGPSport SR30. It seemingly has much better
Battery life.

[nickobec]

I own both a Garmin Varia RTL510 and Magene L508 with current firmware.

I bought the Varia first, had a minor issue with the micro USB cover bouncing loose on a gravel ride and it had to go back to Garmin for warranty (to replace the cover). I bought the Magene as a temporary replacement as I feel much safer riding with a radar on the rural roads around here with radar.

I have had one false negative from both the Magene and the Garmin in about a thousand hours of riding.  In both cases I could blame how I mounted the radar on that one bike, below a seat roll, without a full unobstructed view.

False positives are common from both units and they occur when vehicles pass in the opposite direction (about 1 in 100), they are very brief.

Differences
The Garmin has micro USB port and will hold the signal of a vehicle that approaches you and then matches your speed for a few seconds longer than the Magene
The Magene is USB C, has a spot for a lanyard and acts as a smart tail light aka brake light. You decelerate it goes brighter.

I have lent the Garmin to three friends I ride with and they have all bought the Magene, after being convinced of the need of a radar and all are satisfied with the Magene.

Never fully tested battery life, my max ride is usual 6 hours and I recharge my devices after that.

How's the magene in group rides? Does it go crazy?

No, it will pick up bicycles as vehicles and if a bike is approaching  with a speed differential (best guess is 8kph or so)  it will issue an alert. So it is quiet during a bunch ride. However, I do use it during races on closed circuits with the light turned  off. It will give me an alert if I am riding on (or close to) the front and somebody is launching an attack from the back.

[aliexpress_junkie]

So from the replies so far it looks like both the Magene and Bryton (with latest updates) are looking quite usable at the moment.

It's a shame the Magene really went up in price since its release but I guess it makes sense if the product is a lot more refined now. I feel like some websites should update their reviews on that to reflect the newest firmwares. I remember the bolt first release had a lot of issues as well, and now it's a really good product, same thing with the karoo computer.

[FullCarbonAlchemist]

What are people’s experiences with the Magene app for adjusting settings on the radar light? I’m on iOS and the reviews for the app in the store are absolutely terrible, almost all one-star. But a lot of those are from people using it for other Magene products.

I haven’t even bothered to download it yet but wanted to try playing around with some settings like brightness, and wondered if anyone had tips for using it in English because a lot of the bad reviews are for the fact that a significant amount of the interface is untranslated.

[zerstorer]

I am on Android but what you mentioned sounds very odd.
The Magene Utility app is in English. But there is also another app 迈金助手 which is for the china market, did those users download the wrong version? When the L508 was first released it could only be controlled via the china market version because back then it was not available for international sale yet. But after the international launch it has already been supported by the English app for a couple of years.
Perhaps those users are just nitpicking because of a few lines of poor grammar but the app functions really well otherwise.

Just download and try for yourself.

[aliexpress_junkie]

I can't even use the english app, mine only connects to the chinese app, which is a bit annoying since there are no translations for anything. Is it possible there are two firmwares? Or even two hardware lights marketed for different regions and I ended up with the wrong one?

[zerstorer]

Some c606 users have reported that the bike computers are now region locked. Might be the same for other recent production devices.

I bought my L508 when it was first launched in china and it works fine with both china and international app

[Petr (CyclistsHub.com)]

Lots of reviews I've read on the magene are older (8+ months every time) and they always end up saying it's not quite as good as the garmin radars. A few false negatives, several false positives, clearing up the alert way too soon etc.

This is also valid for all the other "clones" as well, from Bryton etc.

Anybody still have that experience with the latest firmwares? I had a friend tell me the magene is amazing a year ago but he never actually had a garmin one, in a group ride we had both and it was clear the garmin one was a lot more accurate. I really love having a radar but I hate having to buy a micro-usb one like the garmin if that's the only one that's working decently, so was wondering if the firmwares made them better now or if it's really a hardware issue for most of them.

I tested Magene, Bryton, Garmin, and iGPSport radars, and Garmin is still the most accurate (with the fewest false positives). None of these radars ever gave me a false negative.
Regarding L508, I tried it again a few weeks ago, and it feels the same as it did a year ago. It still gives more false negatives than Varia.
Basically all Chinese alternatives give about the same number of false positives - more than Varia. On the other hand, they offer USB-C, light customizability (Magene), better mount (Bryton), or battery life (iGPSport). If you want to dig deeper, feel free to check out my radar comparison article (https://www.cyclistshub.com/best-cycling-radars/), where I evaluate multiple features of cycling radars.

This guy says the firmware is a lot better now
I agree it is a shame how many youtubers review products after one week, point out software issues and then never update us later once said issues have been addressed. And don't count on chinese manufacturers to give us a detailed changelog either

One of these "YouTubers" here (I don't like calling myself that way ). I understand your point, but we are in a pretty difficult position. If you don't release a review within a few days after the product launch, you are basically irrelevant, and nobody cares. Spending another 5-15 hours making a second video, which will most likely have a much lower reach, is not viable. If I update the firmware of the reviewed product and find a change in behavior, I try to update my written reviews or write a comment under my video reviews. But yeah, cycling is much more niche than technology like smartphones, where you get hundreds of thousands of views (if you are good), and each video pays for itself multiple times. 

What are people’s experiences with the Magene app for adjusting settings on the radar light? I’m on iOS and the reviews for the app in the store are absolutely terrible, almost all one-star. But a lot of those are from people using it for other Magene products.

I haven’t even bothered to download it yet but wanted to try playing around with some settings like brightness, and wondered if anyone had tips for using it in English because a lot of the bad reviews are for the fact that a significant amount of the interface is untranslated.

My experience with it are mixed. Sometimes, I had to restart it multiple times because it was not able to find the device. If it did, then everything was pretty ok. But it's not as reliable as Garmin or Wahoo apps, for example.

[Greenred]

I have the Varia and it’s excellent. I literally never experienced any false positives.
The only issue I have with it is the battery life, it goes above 7h but that’s it.
For ultra distances the IGSport sounds great in terms of battery life. Unfortunately it’s not a worthy replacement of the garmin since it only increases the blink rate for 1 second when cars pass by. Duh. That’s one of the key features to be seen by cars. It’s as if they didn’t grasp the problem they’re trying to solve, maybe because they just focused on copying instead of solving cycling issues. Rant off .
In conclusion, I’ll probably rather buy a second Varia for ultradistances or a normal light than an imperfect copy.