Trek CarBack, the first rear light with radar from the brand

Trek, the brand that popularized the use of daytime running lights on road and city bikes thanks to its Bontrager Flare lights, now takes a step further in cyclist safety and launches CarBack, an improvement on the Flare with the addition of a radar that detects approaching cars, functioning practically like a virtual rearview mirror.

Trek improves its Bontrager Flare with the creation of the CarBack radar

Rear radars for bicycles are not a new product since, some years ago, Garmin introduced its Varia radar to its range, providing instant information about approaching cars without the need to turn your head and look or have a small mirror on your bike, as some do. A product that other brands have imitated and created their own models.

What is new is that the undoubtedly best rear light on the market, the model that made cyclists much more visible on the road, popularizing the use of high-intensity daytime lights, clearly distinguishable by its characteristic flashing, now comes with this radar function.

The Trek CarBack rear light with radar is, therefore, in terms of the lighting part, a Bontrager Flare RT, with the same light modes, the same visibility from up to 2 km away, and the same ANT+ communication system that allows it to be linked to our cycle computer to turn on when we start our route or to automatically adjust the light mode based on lighting conditions.

A highlight of this Trek CarBack light with radar is that, despite the dimensions obviously increasing, it remains very compact in size and weighs around 100 g, making it one of the most compact and lightweight models on the market. In fact, it does not require any special mounting and the Trek CarBack uses the same QuickConnect Plus mounts used in the Flare.

Regarding the radar, Trek boasts that this CarBack light has much more precise detection than other models on the market. For now, its range is 240 m, about 100 m more than usual in other market models, which means we have more reaction time between detecting a car and it passing us to realize if it is approaching at high speed, not to be surprised, or to carry out a maneuver like moving closer to the edge of the road.

Furthermore, if we use the Trek Accessory App to display radar information, it is so precise that it is possible to discern if the approaching car is in our lane or has switched to the adjacent one, leaving enough separation for passing. In any case, we do not need to use the mobile phone and can link the light with any cycle computer that supports this function, showing us approaching cars in the usual way, with a small graphic on the side showing the cars approaching and an audible alarm and different colors depending on whether the car is approaching at high speed or not.

We can already find this new Trek CarBack light with radar at Trek retail points and on their website for a price of €199.99.