Cycplus L7 Review: The Best Radar for the Money?

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If everything went according to plan, this Cycplus L7 review was originally supposed to come out at the end of 2023 because Cycplus presented this radar at Eurobike 2023. However, its launch has been postponed several times. The first official launch took place in May 2024, but the radar was soon withdrawn from sale again. And only now¹, two years after its introduction, I was finally able to buy it. So, how does it compare to competing radars? I tested it to find out.

My L7 rating at a glance:
Reliability 3/5 | Multi-object Detection 5/5 | Battery Life 4/5 | Brightness 3/5 | Side Visibility 2/5 | Mount 5/5 | App 4/5 | Price 4/5 | WEIGHTED OVERALL SCORE 3.9/5
More about this cycling radar scoring.

NOTE: I tested this radar with firmware v2.0.8 and hardware v2.0.0.

Cycplus L7 Summary

Below is the summary of the Cycplus L7 technical specifications.

My Experience with Cycplus L7

Based on my testing, I found the following pros and cons of the L7.

Initially, I used the L7 with the Hammerhead Karoo 3, but after the issues we’ll discuss later, I paired it with the iGPSport BSC300. I then also paired the Garmin Varia RTL515 with the Garmin Edge 840 for side-by-side comparison. The L7 has 20m longer detection distance, but the same detection speed, so in theory it should detect cars faster. And on the clear sections, it did. It detected vehicles about a second faster.

The L7 also performed pretty well in detecting multiple cars at once. It was able to track them well, especially in bends when multiple cars were driving behind me. I tried to replicate this by pointing the radar at a highway, but due to high speeds, it was often not able to track the cars.

The number of false positives was not as high as with iGPSport SRTL SR30 or Magicshine R300. I got 3-5 per hour, depending on the area. For example, in urban areas, the false positives are more frequent than in the countryside. I also noticed that Karoo 3 struggles with radars a bit, as it gave multiple audible alerts for one vehicle. This was sometimes annoying because I got two, three, or even more alerts instead of just one. I confirmed this behavior with Varia RTL515 (you can order it here) paired with Karoo. I first thought it was because of the radar, but the head unit was to blame, as L7 worked well with Edge 840. So, I then switched to iGPSport BSC300.

The battery is supposed to last 22 hours in the flash mode. After deducting all stops when I manually turned off the radar, I ended up with a number of around 15.25 hours. This is a decent battery life, but it lags behind the claimed one. It would also be nice if the auto-sleep feature could be adjusted for a shorter period, for example, 5 minutes. The 10-minute period is too long. By the way, one feature I want to highlight is the LED battery life indicator. When it’s green, your radar still has more than 30% of the battery. Below you can see the battery life of some other radars.

Cycplus L7 brightness is average. The flash has higher brightness, so I prefer using it instead of the solid mode. The following picture (credit to the GP Lama for the idea) shows that the Varia RTL515 and Bryton Gardia R300L have a very centric LED, while the Cycplus L7 is very spread out. I believe it is also because of the lower brightness that the L7 achieves better battery life.

The radar remembers the last used mode, and the flashing pattern changes throughout the entire overtaking period. This helps alert the drivers. You can also control the L7 light modes from the head unit if the head unit offers this functionality. Unfortunately, the bike computer can’t automatically wake the radar from standby mode, so you have to turn it on manually.

The Cycplus app allows for adjusting light modes, similar to the Magene L508. The options are a bit more limited, though. You should also keep in mind that increasing the brightness will lead to shorter battery life. I kept all settings default during my testing. Please also remember that the app can’t replace a bike computer by showing you cars like some other radars (Varia, Gardia, etc.). It doesn’t have this functionality.

I also have to highlight L7’s mount, which doesn’t slip on my seatpost. It’s one of the firmest mounts, depending on how well you tighten it. This means the radar stays in place even after wild sprinting or riding on cobblestones. It also doesn’t look as cheap as the Trek CarBack one. Also, remember that the box includes a solid saddle mount, but it prevents you from carrying a saddle bag. Another good news is that the Cycplus L7 is compatible with the Garmin mount, so I use the Cycplus one instead of the Garmin one.

Cycplus L7 vs. Other Cycling Radars

The following table summarizes the technical specifications of the L7 and other popular cycling radars.

Things to Consider Before Buying Cycplus L7 (or Any Other Bike Radar)

Cycling radars have to be highly reliable. They may give you false positives, but they should never give you false negatives, meaning they never miss a car.

You should have zero tolerance for false negatives if you buy a device like a cycling radar. But you also shouldn’t 100% rely on a bicycle radar and use your other senses while riding.

Based on my testing, the L7 proved reliable in terms of its technical specifications. It detected cars quicker than Varia and did not miss any cars, but gave me more false positives than Varia radars (3-5 per hour of riding).

My Verdict

I appreciate that Cycplus postponed the launch of their radar and did their best to improve its accuracy before they launched it to the public. It took longer than expected, but the delivered radar is pretty decent. It’s currently one of the better Chinese radars on the market. Of course, I would love to see a number of false positives closer to zero. The number of false positives is lower than on some Chinese alternatives, but still higher than on Varia radars.

I’m a bit disappointed with the battery life, which is decent (~15 hours in day flash mode), but only about 70% of the claimed one. On the other hand, the mount is one of the best from all the radars I tested, and it detects cars about 1s quicker than Varia, giving you more time to react.

Considering the price, and remember, I advise not saving too much money on such a critical device as the cycling radar, Cycplus delivered more value than some of its competitors.

Cycplus L7 FAQ

1. The Cycplus L7 was re-launched in late 2024. ↩︎