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TECH NEWS
Fly12 integrated camera and 400 lumen light now available for £250
The Cycliq Fly12, a 400-lumen front light with an integrated HD video camera, is now available to buy following a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year, the follow-up to the Australian company’s innovative rear-facing Fly6.
The combined light and video camera will appeal to commuting cyclists that want a sleek product that doesn't clutter up their handlebars, and provides enough brightness for seeing where you're going in the dark and can also film your journey.
The Fly12 costs £249 and is available from bike shops today, and one has just arrived in the office for us to review. Before we do that, here are some of the key details.
The Fly12 is designed to be easy to use. A companion app uses wifi and Bluetooth so you can take full control of the wifi and Bluetooth so you can take full control of the Fly12 and review and share video footage, as well as full integration with Strava, so you can overlay speed and location on top of the video footage during the editing stage. All Fly12 customers will automatically receive a three-month free Strava premium membership.
The camera shoots in 1080p HD resolution and records to a microSD card, with a 16GB card supplied in the box. A ‘set and forget’ mode records in a loop so there’s no worry about running out of memory card space, it just overwrites previously recorded video, ensuring it is ideal for cyclists who might be wanting to use a camera primarily to record incidents during a commute. The USB rechargeable battery lasts a claimed 10 hours.
Another useful feature is the Bike Alarm, which detects movement of the bike and sets off a loud alarm while also starting the camera recording and setting the light to flash mode. A message alert is also sent to the paired smartphone.
Jeroen van Zon, Marketing Manager of Cycliq said: “Fly12 is already in the hands of our Kickstarter backers after a second successful funding campaign, and we’re really excited now to be announcing worldwide stock availability this May.
"Fly12 not only helps us share the joy of cycling with our friends with dynamic Strava overlays but helps keep us as cyclists and our bikes safe. Our rear facing Fly6 camera has already been used successfully in a number of police and insurance cases involving cyclists and other road users.”
Here’s a video of Ted King take the Fly12 for a spin through the stunning Napa Valley. Jealous, us?
And here are the full Fly12 specifications:
- 1920x1080p HD video recording & audio
- WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity
- 400 lumen front light
- Looping recording for Set & Forget use
- Incident protection technology
- Alarm Function
- Up to 10 hours USB rechargeable battery
- Strava integration via smartphone app
- Nanotechnology for all-weather
More at https://cycliq.com/ and we'll try and get one if to review
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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20 comments
I've got a Fly6; good bit of kit and I can move it to whichever bike I'm using very easily. Not quite sure why they went for a GoPro mounting system when a decent strap system could have meant shifting it between bikes was a doddle. Perhaps it's prone to moving around on bumpy roads; hence the GoPro mount. Bar mounting a GoPro (or the Fly12) is easy on a road bike using one of the KEdge mounts; slightly more challenging on other bikes and you can end up with a 'messy' GoPro mount 'stack'. For commuting I'm using a Drift Stealth 2 which I can move between helmets using the supplied goggle strap mount which I've adapted to strap through the vents. Kind of like the fact that the footage is where I'm looking and not fixed ahead.
what does the app do? is it needed? is it on all platforms? they've lost sight of the original simple idea of the fly6.
apps add vulnerabilities, un-needed complexity and wtf strava has to do with a light or camera is anyone's guess.
I'll wait for garmin to add one to an edge.
BTW, for anyone that has one, any thoughts on how easy these are to service?
In the 18 months or so that I've had a Fly6 I've now replaced two batteries. Certainly not a task for the average buyer, but doable with a few tools and supplies. Anything that has internal batteries should be built with servicing in mind, or they just end up sat in a drawer two years later.
Somebody should make something with similar run time that is just a camera and a lot smaller, i'm sure there would be a market for it as there doesn't seem to be anything about at the moment that fits the bill. All the cameras I have seen either look daft, don't have decent run time or don't record on a loop.
Hmm. I've got a Fly6 and use it every day for commuting. The bike stays outside the office so the light is removed and replaced daily.
The great thing about the Fly6 is that it is simple - a decent light and a camera that runs in a loop and switches off after half an hour if it lies on its side, for around £100 .
As soon as you start to add in alarms, bluetooth, strava etc the price seems to rocket and you lose the basics that made the Fly6 a winner. And then you seemingly make the mount a PITA.
Shame - I was looking forward to this, but as soon as I found out they were loading all that stuff onto it I lost interest. I have zero interest in filming any of my rides per se, I just want a light and a camera that keeps an eye out for me.
Pretty much my thoughts on it, and why I didn't buy one. It's pitched at the high end, and will probably suit many readers of this site. But there's still a much bigger market for a basic device, and this costs considerably more than buying a separate camera and light.
Nor does it add much convenience. Go-pro mounts are a little fiddly to put on, but are designed to remove vibration which would make the camera useless. My front light on the other hand (a Cateye Volt) takes less than a second, and I don't need to use it for half the year anyway.
And I actually have a suspicion that for the readers of this site, it's going to be Garmin that win this market. An Edge model with camera makes a lot of sense for convenience, and would add very little to the price of their units.
Whilst the Strava integration and bike alarm are a bit interesting for a few minutes, the two things here are the integrated light (everyone needs a light) and the press-and-forget recording.
"helps keep us as cyclists and our bikes safe" - let's be clear here - a camera does not keep you 'safe'. It doesn't stop a collision happening. So you are not 'safe'.
Nor is it a vigilante police prosecution tool - we know from many, many bitter disappointments that most police forces in the UK have re-written their guidelines to make null and void footage - even HD, 45fps footage - of people driving carelessly or dangerously.
The *only* long-term benefit of cameras like this and the Fly6 (cracking, I have one) is the chance to take a civil prosecution against a motorist's insurer for damages after a collision has occurred. You may be dead or paralysed. A camera like this will likely be the only thing likely to secure you or your family a payout.
Source? I doubt video evidence is 'null and void'!
I suspect this is a rumour started by motorists ...
Forces have thresholds of 'gravity factors', below which they take no action.
Existence of quality video footage will be better than 'Your word against theirs'.
They will also use your footage to examine your own riding, to evaluate if you committed 'contributory negligence', goading, risk-taking etc. Some object to 'primary position'.
There was a brief spat in 2012 between (ACPO Road Policing Lead) Suzette Davenport and an ex-police company called policewitness.com, but they seem to have continuing success.
Far from 'null and void'.
Of course, many police see it as their duty to the taxpayer to avoid doing any actual work, if they can find an excuse to possibly avoid it. And there are many legal technicalities that may mean that justice is not done, even if a case goes to court.
The best outcome is when the accused is shown the video and decides to plead guilty!
There are many actions police can take, short of the full-blown court process:
informal discussion; 'awareness courses'; Penalty Notice; formal caution - all should place a marker on record to detect repeat offences.
When we promote cycling safety, it is on the basis that when motorists know they are on camera, they are less likely to do things where there actions could be held against them (being made responsible). Similar to how most motorists react when they are being recorded in speed zones or camera enforced traffic lights. We all apply a little more caution when we know we are being recorded.
Of course, this becomes more effective the more times motorists become aware of them through some of the methods you have mentioned. Getting a warning from the police will hopefully make that motorist become aware that cyclists are getting around with cameras and perhaps next time, he will give cyclists more courtesy or space....this is what makes the premise a safety outcome. When videos of incidents get broadcast on the news then the viewer are being told that cameras are on bikes....again, raising the awareness levels for motorists that their actions can be recorded while in a vehicle.
This is a long game and while we are getting great results globally, a systemic behavioural change is some way off.
It is interesting to note that when we started, we had many, many instances of Police not accepting video footage to prosecute motorists and now, some 2 years later, we are finding more and more cases where they do use the footage. This proves the change is happening, we just need to keep at it and I'm sure the outcome is going to be a safer environment for cyclists on the roads...everywhere.
It is good to note that we are working on getting our Fly6 cameras onto cycling police as they see it as a great way to monitor what happens behind them.
I'm sure there will be plenty of comments about this and that's fine however I would like to close by saying that while our products might not suit everyone and might not instantly solve the safety issues people have or be like other products, we have had a go at what we feel was a good solution. We have made every effort to make it work for most people and include features that many of our customers were asking for. Fly12 still has all the safety DNA that Fly6 has and does not require the use of an app to use it for it's basic functions.
Of course, there will be things we can look to improve upon as all good manufacturers should do but for now, Fly12 is available and our customers are enjoying it already!
Ride safe!
Got mine too (pre-ordered). The footage is really good, but I'd like to find a good quick-release bracket for it. It's a pain to have to screw/unscrew it every time I take it off the bike for charging.
3D printing to the rescue! You might find some of the main mount companies do a similar thing...
http://www.shapeways.com/product/F6ZD5E6WL/gopro-garmin-quarter-turn-ada...
That GoPro-Garmin connector looks like a bracket that comes with the Fly12. I did wonder what it was designed to fit onto (I don't have any Garmin stuff). Maybe I just need to get a handlebar-Garmin mount.
I think the industry has realised that if you have a go-pro & garmin connector then you can connect anything to anywhere - which is refreshing for the consumer instead of being stuck on a bespoke route to woe!
when you say "it's a pain", what level of pain are we talking here? From what I can see, there's what looks like the back end of an arrow, how much time/effort does it take to to screw in and out? I've got a fly6, and the only complaint I have is that that plastic brackets are disentegrating, and so every so often the light falls out if the ground is a bit rough. I discovered the other day that the memory card is missing, so I'm assuming that happened the other day when I had to go back to get the fly6 off the ground
I've not used my fly6 for any prosecutions, and I singularly failed to convince this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br_aQUlLOmQ driver that he was a bit too close, but I've had loads of success with the local taxi licensing departments, delivery companies and general companies that have large vehicles with phone numbers on - just sending in the footage and saying "are you sure about this"?
I also filmed this last year with my son - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSTxbkWASXQ - and this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAlvzfxX0Nw
well worth the money, getting a Fly12 soon ...
Unscrewing it takes maybe 10 seconds or so. Screwing it in place takes probably around 20-30 seconds (guessing - I haven't timed it).
I've got a Fly6 (newer model) and had problems with both mounting brackets breaking within a week, but I was trying to leave the bracket on the bike rather than removing the bracket with the rubber straps. Cycliq support sent me some more brackets and they've been fine ever since.
I'm going to get a Garmin bracket and try out the FLy12 included bracket that I'm hoping will fit it. That should enable me to remove it with a quarter turn rather than the *sigh* pain of unscrewing one bolt. (Those extra seconds could be critical).
ah, OK, so you can:
1) squeeze replacement fly6 brackets out of cycliq (no way was I going to be paying $$$ for that pack with the bottle ...)
2) use a Garmin mount for the Fly12
enjoy those extra seconds, they all add up!
I haven't tried a Garmin mount yet, so I can't guarantee that.
Just received a Tuffluv Garmin mount and it fits beautifully. Now I can fit/remove my Fly12 in a second!
However, that seems a bit too flexy - the video footage is really shaky now. I'm going to try to find a smaller/sturdier mount. Maybe a top-cap stem mount or similar.
I got mine a couple of weeks ago. I've not used it in the dark yet, but I'm very impressed with the camera footage. I hope I never have to use it though.