Cycliq launch new Fly12 CE and Fly6 CE light/camera combos

andyp wrote:

Do these things have decent light settings or only useless comedy flash mode? I like the idea of an integrated unit but only if it has a good strong steady output.

 

Fly6 is a fine rear light. You will have no worries there.

Fly12 does kick out a fairly decent amount (old400 v new600 is a useful upgrade). one caveat is that the full 400lm on mine does drain the the battery, but still good enough for a couple of hours easy. the main aspect of it that is limiting, is the use of a fresnal lens with is more suited for 'safety' light than a proper night which projects some distance.

I find both excellent for their intended purpose and these new versions will be a marked improvement.

aegisdesign wrote:

If you can find one still, Aldi were selling off their Maxtek Fly6 clone for £29.99 in store. It was £39.99 originally. Or get one on eBay. They updated the firmware a few weeks back fixing the common issue people had with it switching off mid ride due to "inactivity" though that also lost the auto off function. I'm guessing they just disabled the motion detection features. Still, £130 cheaper than the Fly6.

Or don't.

The Aldi light switches itself off after a few minutes of darkness (15-20mins). When do you need a rear light? Of course, when it's bloody dark!

don simon wrote:

aegisdesign wrote:

If you can find one still, Aldi were selling off their Maxtek Fly6 clone for £29.99 in store. It was £39.99 originally. Or get one on eBay. They updated the firmware a few weeks back fixing the common issue people had with it switching off mid ride due to "inactivity" though that also lost the auto off function. I'm guessing they just disabled the motion detection features. Still, £130 cheaper than the Fly6.

Or don't.

The Aldi light switches itself off after a few minutes of darkness (15-20mins). When do you need a rear light? Of course, when it's bloody dark!

The Aldi one doesn't do loop recording which, as noted above, is a pain.

The Aldi one doesn't do loop recording which, as noted above, is a pain.

[/quote]

Mine does!

don simon wrote:

aegisdesign wrote:

If you can find one still, Aldi were selling off their Maxtek Fly6 clone for £29.99 in store. It was £39.99 originally. Or get one on eBay. They updated the firmware a few weeks back fixing the common issue people had with it switching off mid ride due to "inactivity" though that also lost the auto off function. I'm guessing they just disabled the motion detection features. Still, £130 cheaper than the Fly6.

Or don't.

The Aldi light switches itself off after a few minutes of darkness (15-20mins). When do you need a rear light? Of course, when it's bloody dark!

...but as aegisdesign points out, they fixed the switching-off problem in the dark with the firmware update. Mine is fine now. Really pleased with it. If the firmware update has removed the auto-off function, I haven't noticed as I always remember to turn it off!

nniff wrote:

Cycliq seem to ignore the fact that the life of the battery (i.e the time until a battery won't hold a charge) was abysmal.  I had a Fly 6 which lasted for a year of commuting.  You'll look in vain on their website for anything on battery life.  Until they make some sort of declaration on whether or not they've fixed the problem then I'm out at that price.  And I'm not prepared to faff around trying to replace a fixed battery, although there are guides on the internet

Yes, this was an annoyance with my Fly 6 (one of the first proper production units).  I had it about a year, with only occasional use, and it was fine.

However, fast forward to when I started bike commuting and it lasted about 6 months with just over an hours use each day.  Checking the Cycliq forums, quite a few people had this issue with earlier units.  Some of them seemed to get a replacement.

My reward from Cycliq for being an early adopter was a 'discount' (and I use the term loosely) of £10 on a new one.  Not impressed.

So instead, I bought a replacement battery and fitted it myself.  Been grand so far, lasts ages.  I don't trust my soldering skills though so I only charge it when I'm nearby and awake

I should probably say though, that I got a Fly12 which has now done a couple of years of commuting and still going strong (lasts all week if I don't use the light), so I suspect that this shouldn't be an issue any more.

nniff wrote:

Cycliq seem to ignore the fact that the life of the battery (i.e the time until a battery won't hold a charge) was abysmal.  I had a Fly 6 which lasted for a year of commuting.  You'll look in vain on their website for anything on battery life.  Until they make some sort of declaration on whether or not they've fixed the problem then I'm out at that price.  And I'm not prepared to faff around trying to replace a fixed battery, although there are guides on the internet

I experienced the same with the Fly 6, got about 14 months out of it (4000 ish miles) and the battery gave up. Just wouldn’t hold a charge for more than a few minutes. 

I bought a branded replacement battery from a well known supplier and managed to fix it with a bit of soldering to switch over the JST pcb connectors for £17. Very carefully mind you, I was sure to buy a cell with built-in short circuit  protection and pre-wired as soldering to a lithium battery is dangerous. 

I have to say though, it is a brilliant bit of kit.

It was reliable up until that point, apart from the mount, but they’ve sorted that now with the Velcro strap design.

I ended up concluding that even with it costing £90 and only lasting just over a year, the monthly cost of about £6.50 was still worth it for the piece of mind it gave me. Knowing that if the worst happened, I would have some evidence. 

Augsburg wrote:

My wife has the Fly12 and likes it. ... And the mounting is a bit of a pain - you cannot quickly move it from bike to bike.  A quick mount option would be awesome.  

The original has a standard GoPro mount, so get another mount.

I have a Bar Fly 4 Prime mostly aluminum mount on my other bike, so it's easy to unscrew the Fly 12 and move it between bikes. The problem with the Bar Fly is that the retainer nut can fall out, so maybe get an all aluminum mount such as from Cycliq or any of the numerous mounts available from Chinese manufacturers.

Another Martin H wrote:

Augsburg wrote:

My wife has the Fly12 and likes it. ... And the mounting is a bit of a pain - you cannot quickly move it from bike to bike.  A quick mount option would be awesome.  

The original has a standard GoPro mount, so get another mount.

I have a Bar Fly 4 Prime mostly aluminum mount on my other bike, so it's easy to unscrew the Fly 12 and move it between bikes. The problem with the Bar Fly is that the retainer nut can fall out, so maybe get an all aluminum mount such as from Cycliq or any of the numerous mounts available from Chinese manufacturers.

Because the original Fly12 is so heavy, I've found the bladed "GoPro" type mount must be tightened super tight on the Fly12.  I have to use a wrench to tighten the thumb knob to keep the Fly 12 from moving around when hitting bumps.  This makes switching the Fly12 to another bike troublesome, as you cannot just unscrew with your fingers to move it.  The quick mount on the Fly12 CE version solves this problem.  

Bikebikebike wrote:

Now I realise that the gopros I have bought won’t loop and record over old videos, meaning I have to format the card via the app (can’t be done on the camera), I wish I had gone for these. 

Mine is set up to Protune off, 1080p 60fps, wide with a 64GB card. 

That's giving me 4 hours on an SD card. Two days of commuting. I'm not sure it's all that tricky to fire up the app, delete etc. Takes about a minute or so. Loop would be better, but it's not all that much of a ballache. Could even stick a 128 in there and record most of the week!

also, not sure which you have, I have a session 5. Formatting sd on camera is about 6 button presses

bendertherobot wrote:

Bikebikebike wrote:

Now I realise that the gopros I have bought won’t loop and record over old videos, meaning I have to format the card via the app (can’t be done on the camera), I wish I had gone for these. 

Mine is set up to Protune off, 1080p 60fps, wide with a 64GB card. 

That's giving me 4 hours on an SD card. Two days of commuting. I'm not sure it's all that tricky to fire up the app, delete etc. Takes about a minute or so. Loop would be better, but it's not all that much of a ballache. Could even stick a 128 in there and record most of the week!

also, not sure which you have, I have a session 5. Formatting sd on camera is about 6 button presses

I've got a session.  It is one more thing that needs to be done, and one more thing that can go wrong.  I've got one pointing back and one on my helmet, so that's twice it needs to be done.  

If for some reason you don't have your phone, then you can't do it either, as it has to be done through the app. 

There is enough complication in my life without another irritating task.  It's a pretty basic function that the camera should have.

Bikebikebike wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Bikebikebike wrote:

Now I realise that the gopros I have bought won’t loop and record over old videos, meaning I have to format the card via the app (can’t be done on the camera), I wish I had gone for these. 

Mine is set up to Protune off, 1080p 60fps, wide with a 64GB card. 

That's giving me 4 hours on an SD card. Two days of commuting. I'm not sure it's all that tricky to fire up the app, delete etc. Takes about a minute or so. Loop would be better, but it's not all that much of a ballache. Could even stick a 128 in there and record most of the week!

also, not sure which you have, I have a session 5. Formatting sd on camera is about 6 button presses

I've got a session.  It is one more thing that needs to be done, and one more thing that can go wrong.  I've got one pointing back and one on my helmet, so that's twice it needs to be done.  

If for some reason you don't have your phone, then you can't do it either, as it has to be done through the app. 

There is enough complication in my life without another irritating task.  It's a pretty basic function that the camera should have.

session should be same as session 5. Not the menu button, scroll through to delete files?

I have a Fly 6 and would replace it within days if it broke.  Some meathead in a big black Merc close passed me on Monday morning, then forced me off the road to lecture me about my cycling.  Fly  footage was spot on, so were the Met, amazingly they sent an NIP to the registered keeper within 24 hours of receiving the evidence. 

I'm also relatively happy with a GoPro Session on the front, but was amazed to find that GoPro don't really understand the concept of looping and the card keeps filling up.  Luckily I work on a PC, and can format the card while charging (need to press the little button to get the PC to 'see' the GoPro), so not as bad as having to use the app.

Vermilla2008 wrote:

I have a Fly 6 and would replace it within days if it broke.  Some meathead in a big black Merc close passed me on Monday morning, then forced me off the road to lecture me about my cycling.  Fly  footage was spot on, so were the Met, amazingly they sent an NIP to the registered keeper within 24 hours of receiving the evidence. 

I'm also relatively happy with a GoPro Session on the front, but was amazed to find that GoPro don't really understand the concept of looping and the card keeps filling up.  Luckily I work on a PC, and can format the card while charging (need to press the little button to get the PC to 'see' the GoPro), so not as bad as having to use the app.

as I said above, isn’t the session same as session 5? Press menu on back. Display on. Cycle through to format sd, press button on top. 

bendertherobot wrote:

Vermilla2008 wrote:

I have a Fly 6 and would replace it within days if it broke.  Some meathead in a big black Merc close passed me on Monday morning, then forced me off the road to lecture me about my cycling.  Fly  footage was spot on, so were the Met, amazingly they sent an NIP to the registered keeper within 24 hours of receiving the evidence. 

I'm also relatively happy with a GoPro Session on the front, but was amazed to find that GoPro don't really understand the concept of looping and the card keeps filling up.  Luckily I work on a PC, and can format the card while charging (need to press the little button to get the PC to 'see' the GoPro), so not as bad as having to use the app.

as I said above, isn’t the session same as session 5? Press menu on back. Display on. Cycle through to format sd, press button on top. 

I have a Hero 4 Session, and that would have been the sensible option, but unfortunately not, there' s no 'Format SD' option on the camera, need either the app or plug into a PC.

cdamian wrote:

I still think the Fly 12 is a bit expensive and I wish they would do one without light.

I was thinking the same but then how much weight does the light add, a bit more plastic casing and a lens and an LED, pretty negligible. Even if you don't intend to use it and keep all the battery for recording time (as I would) that light might come in handy as a backup should youtr main fail.

Notsofast wrote:

cdamian wrote:

I still think the Fly 12 is a bit expensive and I wish they would do one without light.

I was thinking the same but then how much weight does the light add, a bit more plastic casing and a lens and an LED, pretty negligible. Even if you don't intend to use it and keep all the battery for recording time (as I would) that light might come in handy as a backup should youtr main fail.

Actually, for me, there's a distinct advantage in it having a light. It saves on handlebar space.

cdamian wrote:

I still think the Fly 12 is a bit expensive and I wish they would do one without light.

Thing is, once you're cycling after dark, you really need a co-axial light for the camera to be any use at all. Without the light, you can't make out number plates, for example. The Cycliq is a really well-designed bit of kit.