Could Garmin's new front light with built-in 4k camera rival Cycliq? £459.99 Varia Vue with auto-incident detection launches

HLaB wrote:

I still can't see the benefit of them over firstly observation and more lately a radar.

That's apples and oranges isn't it? Agreed, I'd rather avoid an incident in the first place, but for me the cameras aren't there to replace observation, they're to provide evidence afterwards if necessary.  

I don't really trust the police to do anything with that evidence, given my experiences the few times I contacted them previously.  Its not worth festering over so I ditched the camera's myself.  I am playing about with a cheap one I got of Amazon but its more for enjoyment of scenes but I suspect it'll go the same way.

The subscription is at least optional.

Bigtwin wrote:

Meanwhile, over at Wahoo, the bang-for-the-buck guys and girls are acing it...

Have you read any reviews of the Elemnt Ace?

Mine didn't brick after rain, it was just an effective partial brick its entire life.  I had a 1st gen cycliq 12, it just never worked reliably, almost never got the Android app. to talk to it.  Forever deciding after an hour, a day, a week, that sd cards were "corrupt" regardless of type or rating.  Worst fault in a combined camera/headlight is that it would sometimes hang in a state that YOU CANNOT TURN THE HEADLIGHT ON until you can find the tiny hole and a tiny poky thing and reset it

Once it was a year old the warranty isn't valid and the company wanted me to buy the new model

The Android App seems pretty good these days - I sold my original Fly12 Mk1 to the guy who writes the app.
I'm now on my third Fly 12 (Mk1 developed a weird intermittent fault and was repalced under warranty with a 12ce, that developed a fault after I crashed my bike so I replaced it) and 2nd 6 (had the old 6v and upgraded to a 6ce).
I commute in Glasgow and haven't had an issue with water - the 6 is under my saddle and protected by a mudguard, and I fittted third party silicone cases to both after the accident that broke my 12ce.
The first batch of the 6 gen3 (the model that replaced my 6ce) had a terrible reputation in the forums but they seem to have gone quiet now so I assue the problem is resolved.

I had a 6 brick in the rain.
Although, it was a torrential down pour and I didn't have rear mud guards on, so the IP rating was probably exceeded.

I found that an under seat mount, and a rear mud guard has helped prevent further bricks.

I've never had a Fly 12 brick through poor weather though.
I have had the mounting tabs break on a Fly 12; I'd accidentally put my full 110kg weight on it to try to stop me from going over the bars.
This was soon sorted by an aftermarket Garmin 1/4 turn male stuck to the other side of the unit.

That was a real but overblown problem IMO, made worse by their shady returns behaviour.  I had a 2nd hand Fly 12 work perfectly for years til the batteries died.  Bough a new Fly 12 Sport and thats been solid.  Biggest complaint is that its too hard to open the super seally rubber battery cover!

Cycliq certainly seemed to let a lot of people down in the early days. I held off until the 12 Sport came out, but have been impressed.

The battery life began to fall, some time after warranty expiry, and Cycliq just shipped me a replacement unit.

Two submissions to TVP. One driver re-ed course, one court summons.

As linked by mark1a elsewhere in these comments, DC Rainmaker has a fairly detailed review out already. According to that review, it's absolutely fine to use without the subscription. In fact, any appeal of getting the subscription is significantly diminished by the fact that it will only sync videos that are explicitly flagged to be kept (either manually or automatically if triggered by the incident detection). Other footage won't be uploaded, and will (eventually) be written over.

TBF the easiest but not necessarily cheapest way to do that is just wire a cycliq or Garmin camera light up to a USB battery powered by a dynamo.

Both Cycliq's and the Garmin RCT715 can take permanent USB power whilst still running afaik.

If you get the older cycliqs (maybe bought super cheap with duff batteries) that still have Ant+ onboard you can run them all through the Ant+ lights functions on most GPS's include Edges, or get the Edge Remote.

No Pico needed.

The biggest/only problem is getting a waterproof USB connection - particularly on the Fly12 with its side mounted panel.

For us using ebikes, a live power feed shouldn't be too problematic

I did buy a Pi camera module with the IR filter removed to have a go at making a lashup ANPR evidence camera. It's still in a drawer. 🤣

Maybe I'll get round to it someday, but probably not!

Mine should arrive by the end of the week, so I'll find out. I've been looking for front facing camera (preferably with light) for ages. I've tried two models of GoPro, never been able to get much more than an hour, so this at 5-7 hours (a little less than RCT715 at the rear) looks like it's worth a try. I'm happy to take a punt on the price for the battery life, and remote control integration with Edge head unit.

There's a fairly in depth review over at DC Rainmaker, seems to be great hardware let down by the software again, as was with the RCT715, but I've lived with that for nearly 3 years so hopefully will be good enough to justify the price.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2025/04/garmin-varia-vue-light-camera-review...

Ah I see you have leaned your bike over more than 6 degrees. Has there been a crash my man?

Me.