Update: My full in-depth review of the Fly12 is now posted! Swing over and check it out here.
Some of you might remember last year my post on the Fly6 rear-facing bike camera and light. This unit was a combination of a rear bike light along with a rear mounted camera. The camera wasn’t so much a GoPro competitor as it was a safety measure designed to capture potentially troublesome drivers. Since its initial release, it has captured a number of incidents as well as close calls.
Following their first version of the Fly6, the company introduced an updated version of it this past fall at Eurobike. The goal there being a slimmer design, along with a number of tweaks from increasing light brightness to higher camera resolution. Around the same time they renamed the company to ‘Cycliq’, to avoid the whole self-titled product name conundrum.
Now going into their second year they’re going to be launching a Kickstarter campaign next month with their third product – the Fly12. Except this time they’re no longer focused on the rear, but on looking forward.
Overview:
(Above, the new forward-facing Fly12 to the left, and the previous rear-facing Fly6 to the right)
The totally new unit is designed for the front of your bike with the same concept as the back. It features both a combination bike-light as well as a 1080p camera. The camera can rotate the image based on whether it’s mounted flat or vertically.
The USB chargeable light gets a battery charge ranging from 2 hours to 5 hours depending on usage. For example with the HD camera and full brightness turned on, it’s closer to 2 hours. Whereas with a blinking pattern and the camera enabled it’s just over 5 hours. Apparently the act of blinking the light saves a crapton of battery.
Meanwhile, if you turn off the front light (such as riding in the middle of a bright summer day), then the camera gets close to 10 hours of battery – pushing it about 3-4 times longer than most mainstream action cams out there. The camera uses a standard Micro-SD card and will support sizes upwards of 128GB (and can automatically overwrite older footage).
App Integration:
The Cycliq folks have a few cool tricks up their sleeve though software-wise. First up is that they’ll be enabling you to digitally superimpose ‘tram lines’ onto the video footage using their app. These tram lines are the standard 1-meter or 3-foot lines that many states/countries have passed laws around recently when it comes to automotive traffic and bikes.
The idea behind this is that using their app (which will now connect to the camera using both WiFi and Bluetooth) you can very quickly demonstrate to someone that a car buzzed you (be it a police officer or just the interwebs at large).
Further, they’re planning on using the Strava web development interfaces (API’s) to allow you to connect to your account and grab the Strava ride activity file directly and then overlay your metrics like speed onto the video footage. Pretty cool stuff (and, a prime example of why not charging $5,000 to access your platform builds and increases customers).
Like the previous Fly6 unit, the internals are completely waterproofed using nanotechnology. This means that you can fill up the insides with water and all will be well after it dries. To test this last spring I filled the original Fly6 camera completely with water (while it was powered on and recording) until it finally turned off, due to about a cup of water being inside it. After I let the water escape it was perfectly happy again. Pretty cool.
Of course, it’ll stay on just fine in regular rain/etc, it’s only if you somehow end up submerged underwater that it’ll lose power temporarily. I suppose in that scenario underwater illumination Seaquest-style is the least of your concerns.
Speaking of illumination, the Cycliq folks are currently aiming for a forward facing light of no less than 400 lumens. Right now the engineering team though has somewhat blown those specs out of the water, so it’s possible the final version will be higher (higher is better).
Still, it’s impressive that inside the vast (and already illuminated) convention center on a ceiling at least 2-3 stories above me, you can very easily see the brightness glowing like a spotlight (seen upper right).
The front light isn’t the only illuminating design aspect, the power button lights up when the unit is on. In the next prototype version they’re working to probably make the blue ring go all the way around the unit so that you can see it from any mounted angle.
Mounting wise they’re using the standard Garmin quarter-turn mount. Except not made out of plastic, but rather metal. They’re working with K-Edge to have slightly more beefy mount that’ll work for both your Garmin as well as the Fly12 – likely with the Garmin mounted up top, and the Fly12 mounted down below. Using the standard rubber band mounts would probably be fine on smooth roads, but questionable on bumpy surfaces, hence the desire for a more sturdy mounting platform.
Additionally, with the K-Edge mount they’d have the unit angled slightly downwards towards the road, rather than just being straight out into the darkness.
When it comes to availability and pricing, their Kickstarter campaign is aiming for launch in February. The current plan is a retail price of $399US, though it remains to be seen if the Kickstarter prices are lower (often they are). Additionally, they aim to ship no later than the end of year holidays (2015), with a target weight of 200g (a GoPro is normally about 150g with the waterproofed case).
Now I will note that I’m not as much of a fan of established companies using Kickstarter for 2nd and 3rd generation products, especially ones that are fairly well through the engineering process with widespread distribution. I often feel like crowd funding sites really should be aimed more at getting start up companies exposure. Though my thoughts there don’t take away from the coolness of the product or what the company has delivered to date (all positive).
With that, if you’ve got any questions feel free to drop them below and I can try and get the answers rounded up.
Thanks for reading!
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Welcome to my CES 2015 coverage! While the show might be over, don’t forget to check out all my CES 2015 posts, as well as many products I saw that I only posted on Twitter. It was a pretty crazy busy week
Lunch in February sounds great, but man I will be ravenous by then…. 😛
Cool looking gadget, but that is a pretty chunky price!
Thanks Ray!. Ever since I heard about the Fly6, I was contemplating on getting one, but I wanted a forward facing camera more than a rear facing camera. I commute to work in downtown Toronto and so far the dangers have been mostly forward facing, cab drivers, flying open doors, pedestrians stepping off of the sidewalk, people turning . So, while I am exciting about this.. $399 for the forward and 279 for the rear camera, its a bit steep. Plus many of us already have a lot invested in lights, especially forward facing lights. What I would personally love to see is maybe a helmet mounted front and rear camera. I have the Light and Motion Vis 360 helmet mounted light system and that works amazing. When you’re finished your ride it comes with you, nothing to detach from the bike, and you can easily move to a different bike.
Very interesting product indeed! The biggest factor in my decision to buy would be mounting options. As far as I see it, the K Edge combo mount with the garmin on top and a gopro adapter on the bottom for the light is the no brainer option here. The products exist already, so all we need is a compatible gopro mount for this product.
Beam of light isn’t visible on site sent to mobile phones without clicking on the photo
Sounds like a good product. I would be interested to see a full review of this, & also of the rideye!
I purchased two Rideye cameras just about one year ago. The video quality is good, sound quality is fair, and the units are easy to operate.
However, this is overshadowed by a number of problems. At this point, the battery now last a few hours at most (not 10 hours, as Rideye’s marketing claims). Both the original and replacement “band and clip” bar/seatpost mounts that shipped with the units have stretched and broken — see this example from Rideye Facebook page:
link to drive.google.com
There’s a distinct lack of customer support/service when attempting to rectify these problems. When I sent my camera in for repair (with USPS tracking), I was told one week later (via email) by the company founder, Cedric Bosch, that it would be shipped back; however, I never received it, and repeated requests for information (via email and Facebook) have gone unanswered. I am apparently not the only person who’s had this problem, as these visitor postings to Rideye’s Facebook page show:
Example 1: link to drive.google.com
Example 2: link to drive.google.com
Example 3: link to drive.google.com
Example 4: link to drive.google.com
Example 5: link to drive.google.com
At this point I’m not sure the company is even still in business. I was told to ship my camera for warranty repair to an address in Campbell, CA — but neither “Rideye” nor “Rideye LLC” can be found as registered business entities with either the California Secretary of State (link to kepler.sos.ca.gov) or the Santa Clara County Clerk’s Office (link to sccgov.org).
Interesting product.
I didn’t read anything about stabilisation of the video footage (or I missed it). Will there be any to compensate for the bumps in the road or is all down to the way the camera is mounted? The price is too rich for me to consider it, and besides I live in one of the safest countries for biking but on the long run I will be looking to record some of my trips on the bike.
Can the light beam be deflected downwards with respect to camera to prevent dazzling oncoming riders/drivers. Similarly.. If sharing a mount with a garmin can camera be tilted without moving the garmin mount?
Good question.
I can’t stand what qualifies as ‘optics’ in most bicycle lights – they simply spray a circle of light in all directions (as this demo model does in the photo). It might be fine for a dark mountain bike ride in the wilderness but entirely inappropriate for urban riding and irritating for anyone coming the other way.
Busch & Müller and Philips know a thing or two about decent optics – bright, uniform illumination with a sharp upper beam cutoff.
In this case, they’re working with K-Edge to have the mount angle slightly downwards on the bottom portion. A valid point I neglected to mention in the post.
If it doesn’t come with a shaped beam it’s a pointless product and only relevant to off road cycling.
An angled mount defeats the purpose of designing a proper light to start with.
Here’s hoping they think it through properly.
A GoPro type mount seems appropriate for this application. The user sets the exact angle of light they want and K-Edge has already made a great ($60!) mount with a Garmin style top and GoPro style bottom.
Nope, the beam pattern will still be inappropriate for use one the road. It needs a shaped beam pattern so that it doesn’t blind oncoming road users (think car headlight instead of torch). As it’s designed to be used on either side the beam is obviously just going to be like a torch. You’re basically wasting a lot of light and blinding others.
^^^ Exactly this.
Just pointing a light down is not the same a proper optics. I’ve fed this back to Cycliq,but I’m not sure they get it yet. So much wasted energy lighting the sky, or dazzling on-coming drivers.
You just can’t make up for this by blasting out more lumens; not only is it a false economy, it may actually make the device less safe for the user.
In fact, I don’t think they’ll even be allow to sell this as a road legal light in Germany or other parts of Europe unless it has proper optics.
I’m sure there would be an OEM reflector/lens part they could incorporate if they wanted too.
They answered and noted this below in the comments already:
“The pics Ray took are of our prototype which is not the final model but more of a working model. The optics, WiFi, Bluetooth, mounting system and many more aspects are not fully developed yet. In relation to optics, we are working on a refined (shaped) beam spread that is similar or compatible with the German standards for lighting on vehicles. The prototype optics are evenly spread and why the beam on the roof is round.”
I completely agree with this comment. This was a bad decision in my opinion.
This unit promises efficient use of limited bar space by combining a camera and light.
This is important not only for general aesthetics but also practically for those with aero bars.
Using a GoPro style mount would permit all 3 gadgets (Light, Cam, computer) to hang off one mount.
Using a garmin mount means the cam should be used above the rather than below the bars like many cyclists do.
They went with a GoPro mount. See my more recent posts on it, as it’s developed.
Thanks Ray. I thought I’d read all the comments before replying.
Must have missed this one.
Streamlined Integration – Head unit, GPS, Camera, Sensor Recording, Networked, Light and central control.
Know it is too much to ask of anyone company at this point, yet it would sure be sweet to reduce the clutter of devices into a single battery driven device hung by a single mount point. You can only put so many K-edge mounts on the handle bar.
That would be the holy grail man…
Are this camera have microphone? It would be fun to record sound.
And little dreaming about garmin virb protocol support here.
I recently purchased a Rideye (now http://www.rideye.com although it started as a kickstarter).
I haven’t had enough time with it to recommend it yet, however the reasons I bought it are:
– 15 hour battery life
– 1080p footage with audio
– no-fuss usage, if it’s on it’s recording, if it’s off it’s not
– looping of storage so it can stay attached to the bike
– auto-protection of incident/flagged footage
– no screen or separate water proof housing
It might be a niche market, but it’s the only option I’ve seen that ticks every box for my commuting usage.
I have tested 2 of them – Battery life at 1080p between 6:45 and 7:15 hours. 15 hour claim is apparently at 720p, tested this, and 7:35 and 9:15 hours (yes one camera’s battery is nowhere as good as the seconds.
Moisture entered the forward facing camera on a wet road ride (no rain but 60km of wet road – camera offset from spray line). USB port was closed properly which I checked prior to heading out knowing it was wet outside.
Requested warranty replacement for the one which suffered moisture ingress (same camera that has short battery life). Only option offerred (after nagging) is a refund. No replacement offered, yes I did ask.
Standard rubber band mount has free movement in the rotating assembly, was un-useable, I mounted with GoPro bits.
Recommended product, not in my opinion, hopefully the Fly12 is as good as it sounds.
Thanks Ray, excellent review as normal!
This does seem like a pretty cool product. Some integration with the rear camera as well might be cool so that on the app you can have picture in picture for example.
I wonder why more companies aren’t using the Ant+ remote camera profile. That’s the best thing about my 3 Virb cameras, they start and stop when my Garmin does. Unless any other camera starts to support that I think I’ll be sticking with Virb.
Looks like a good product. However my but with all these cameras is what am I to do with all the footage?! As far as I see there are 2 reasons:
1. To record incidents – but even then I am not exactly sure the point. I cycle 25 miles a day across central London. Cars turning and cutting you up with no indication is standard! I’m not sure what you’d do with the footage? If you got knocked off and seriously hurt would you be able to sue the driver for compensation? (I am not sure).
2. To record some of those picturesque rides. But no ones going to watch 2 hours of footage back. Somewhere Ray showed software that would do the speeding up as he did for his Alpe D’Huez cycle. This was pretty cool but again I can’t see my self storing rides like this and ever watching them back. (Personal view maybe).
I can see the video being useful to create your own indoor rides in a trainer. And watching Tour de France bike camera action is impressive. But I’m still not sure what people do with all the hours of footage or what I’d do with it.
The ‘follow me’ drones look great too. But with 15 mins flight time you could descend a decent mountain in that time but then you’d need a car to take the drone to the start and a car to put it in at the end. You need to be specifically organised to film with one.
I’m not knocking the device but interested in why people use cameras more than anything and whether I’m missing anything. I want to find an excuse to buy these gadgets!
Yah. It really feels like tech looking for a market.
I think GoPro did a really good job of putting into the minds of (relatively mass-market) consumers – “video is super easy, cheap and excitement is happening all around you, so DONT MISS IT!!!” – which was a tremendous marketing win. Kudos to them.
But the reality is… meh. I might have one interesting trip every year or two with an opportunity to record a couple hours of exciting footage. Then you’ve got the burden of post-production – at a minimum clipping the video and uploading it. And we’re just soooo busy now, like… where is the time for this?
It would be really interesting to take the number of hours of (non dorky) GoPro videos posted and divide by the total number sold. I’d wager it’s some infinitesimal number with a lot of zeroes in front of it.
Maybe a nice add-on to a vacation bike rental, if the tour operator mixed it down and posted it for you.
399 is a lot to ask. Particularly if the rear model is 279.
But here’s the deal, if you have an accident and your camera caught a driver breaking the law..then your camera has become an invaluable support….
Hi Rainmaker, kinda disappointed with this! I have the original fly 6 and think it’s great, in day light. At night, it’s pretty much useless with glare from other lights etc. I actually take out the card and just use it as a light at night. What I did like with the fly6 was the light and the camera emanating from the one source, i.e the camera lens is at the centre of the light. They seem to have lost this here with the 2 side by side and hence looks bulky. I had been looking at the rideye but was waiting for this, but on seeing it I think i’ll go for the rideye. TBh, at night, using a camera isn’t really gonna capture much unless in a built up area that’s lit so while the rear light and camera combo was a good idea, I don’t think this one will wash. And where are they going with the $400 price tag???? Are they crazy?!!! What they needed to do here was to build a forward facing camera with the battery life of the fly6 ie 5-6 hrs and forget about the light. The big problem with the Garmin Virb, the GoPro, the contour 2 etc is the battery! No one on a ride wants to be carrying spare batteries and changing every 2 hours! And they don’t really wanna look at the footage til something happens hence looping. Image stabilization is needed too with 1080p footage with audio, end of! Also, good point about Kickstarter, what do they need to go back there for if they already have a unit, can’t they just get a business loan and mass produce it?!!
RE: Kickstarter
Most companies do it for the press. For whatever reason ‘mainstream’ press likes to cover Kickstarter projects more than just general product launches (from small companies).
I agree. I already invested ($450) in excellent forward and rear lights, as have most safety conscious riders. It kind of pisses me off that I waited for Fly cameras and now they’re jerking around with unnecessary lights and high price. I read somewhere that they were supposed to be available for around $120 each. All I want is forward and rear cameras with high quality 5+ hour battery life video loop for safety/insurance purposes. Anyone now of any other companies have such a bike camera?
I think you’re mixing up stuff.
Their first version launched on Kickstarter for $119 for early bird backers, but that’s common on Kickstarter project and is virtually never the retail price.
Realistically they wouldn’t be able to make that camera+light in their volumes for $120 and still turn a profit.
As noted the Rideye is an option at around $200, but lacks the lights. I guess in my mind it’d be cheaper to pickup the VIRB at $99 + an extra battery which will get you close to 5hrs. But then you lack a lot of other stuff.
Yeah, I’ve got the original kickstarter Fly6. I really like it because it’s an (expensive) decent rear light, and I have some hope of catching action behind me if I ever need it on a commute.
For the front…. the draw/sell is that it’s a light and camera together, so you get only one thing to mess with/charge. Plus, during the day, you get to leverage the large light battery, so that’s pretty cool. The problem is that, as you note, I already have a front light, and it’s over 800 lumens. No way I’m going backwards. If the offered a camera and a Y connector that allowed me to use my current headlight battery I might be more interested.
That said, the company’s solid. I’ve had some emails with them, and I’d say their stuff is expensive, but you get what you pay for. If you own a $2k+ road bike, don’t complain about a $200+ light if it’s quality and works for you. So I’ll keep my tail light, but pass on the front because the light is too anemic.
Perhaps a good idea would of been to take the fly 6, change the outer red plastic case for clear and change the red light to white (if it’s not already!) and sell that as a wrap around the head tube facing forwards, job done!!
Apart from gigantic size , sharing same battery for camera and front light ?
You’re introducing a single point of failure!
when the battery dead , you’re left with nothing.
Not for me.
It’s just a matter of time someone kickstart the miniature safety cam for the bike with very reasonable price tag.
I’d point out the obvious: No matter the device, if you don’t charge you’re battery you’re still left with nothing.
Also, you can already (for now) buy a Virb for $99 (though it seems harder to get at this price in Europe, £135 is the best I can find at home), which is pretty reasonable, or any first or second edition go-pro on eBay, though perhaps all of those are bulkier than you have in mind.
I’ve been thinking about the established company using crowd-funding thing lately and think that it makes sense still if you take the perspective that they’re almost using it to pre-assess market demand. From that point of view, it’s a really great tool.
And I like this new development by these guys. Good stuff.
I was interested until I saw the price. Why don’t they provide a ‘no frills’ version that’s cheaper?
For what i want from it – the defensive side of providing footage in case something happens – I don’t need 1080p resolution, high quality audio and probably not even image stabilization.
Strip it down and make it sub $200 and you’ve got some customers.
Paul, I was under the impression that 1080p resolution and image stabilization was to ensure capture of license plates and details if you’re hit by a car. Have you heard otherwise?
The Rideye is pretty much what you’re describing, though still a bit expensive at $200.
Also, the 1080p (or at least high quality video) is quite useful when you’re trying to pick out a license plate, for example.
Hey Dolan, I’m going to go with Rideye. They sell the front and back combo for $360. I can still use my Light & Motion front and tail lights (love them, amazing lights) with Rideye. Haven’t found any negative reviews of Rideye; saw their 1080p videos from customers on YouTube. 😀
Very nice review. I was just involved in a hit and run with a car two days ago and am definitely going to get a bike camera as soon as I heal. The accident was actually caught on police CCTV footage, but the car’s license plate isn’t visible. Something like this would have certainly caught the plate number in my situation. If the driver was located, having them pay for the damage to my bike would have paid for several of these units. Is there any reason why this could not be used in different countries (Australia on the left side of the road and the US on the right)? I can’t imagine that they would point the light in different directions for different countries, but thought I would ask. Will they be sending units to Australia right away?
Hi everyone – Andrew Hagen, CEO of Cycliq here. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Always great to hear them.
Firstly I’d like to say that we are cyclists and when we design the products, we consider what we feel is important to have for most people in most situations. We understand that we can never get it right for everyone and don’t aim to do that. We feel (rightly or wrongly) that combining the two technologies reduces clutter on your handle bars, eliminates the need to buy, ship and charge two devices. It’s not the best light or the best camera but it’s great at both, providing solid mounting solutions, delivers stable footage, simple to use (with or without the smartphone app) and amongst class leading battery life. Fly12 will be a robust, weather proof workhorse that will capture incidents if they happen or record memorable rides. There have been many successful prosecutions of motorists based on the footage from Fly6 and we see no reason why Fly12 won’t be there for you when you need it.
We are launching on Kickstarter again because making a new device is a very capital hungry exercise and we really need the funds to help bring it to life. Sure we have a business that is making Fly6 already but all the money we make is poured back into the business and the product development of Fly6. Unfortunately, banks won’t lend us money for this business unless we put our family homes on the line (which are already mortgaged to get to where we are now) so this is not an option for us. Sure there are marketing advantages in being there but our primary goal for Kickstarter is to get it funded so we can start tooling for the parts we need to make Fly12.
Some of the suggestions above talked about changing the design or make a different version with less (or more) functions/features. Please understand that the development of a single product from idea to prototype can take years to get right and is very capital intensive. For a very small company (of three FT employees) like ours, the effort it takes to develop one product is intense so it is not all that easy to just whip up new models.
The pics Ray took are of our prototype which is not the final model but more of a working model. The optics, WiFi, Bluetooth, mounting system and many more aspects are not fully developed yet. In relation to optics, we are working on a refined (shaped) beam spread that is similar or compatible with the German standards for lighting on vehicles. The prototype optics are evenly spread and why the beam on the roof is round. Fly12 comes with a microphone as well.
Pricing for products for mass, international retail offering is not easy. Gamin Virb was mentioned a few times above and we understand they are already discontinuing their action as they just did not get it right. The result – the Virb will be a thing of the past. We have consulted with a number of people to establish a price point for this device and to be honest, all indications were pointing closer to $500 however we have agreed at this stage to keep it at $399 and we think we can make it work at that level. We do consider what the alternative would be if you were to buy a 1080 camera that could last for up to 6 hours and a 400 lumen flashing light that could last along side it, comparing the weight, weather proofing with nano-technology, handlebar and Garmin mounting options, Strava integration, tram lines for measuring safety law distances, reviewing footage on the app, looping record modes, incident protection for when you really need it – we just can’t find any alternative solutions in a single easy to use device and when you apply it to multiple devices, it exceeds $600. Fly12 will be an inexpensive and compact option compared to solving the issues with multiple devices.
Hope that addresses all the questions above. We will have more information available in our Kickstarter campaign we hope to launch next month (Feb 2015) which you can register for the official updates from our website http://www.cycliq.com
Andrew, is there any chance you guys might come out with a small device that is ONLY a looped video camera with a 5+ hour battery life, at a lower price (~$120)?
It’s a shame that it’s not helmet mounted, with both front and rear cameras combined with a light into a single package, with the footage on a loop. Weight and bulk would be a serious engineering challenge, but for every day commuters such a device would be just about ideal. As the video tech keeps plunging in price perhaps we’ll see something like this same time next year.
Andrew,
Thanks for taking the time to respond to every and Ray thanks for writing the article. One quick question, will the unit be able to read-in ANT data from your Garmin and overlay it as part of your edited video (ala Garmin Virb) I have to say that is one of the coolest features about the Virb.
Hi Mike – Fly12 won’t have Ant+ connectivity however you will be able to use the Fly12 footage and overlay your Gamin ride metrics using the Virb software. Fly6 users already employ it on some of their videos. We are also in discussions with Strava to integrate the ride metrics captured via the Strava app and overlay them onto the Fly12 footage via our companion app…even at the cafe for your mid ride coffee, you will be able to review the footage, grab a snippet, overlay your ride metrics and post to social media….pretty cool stuff!!
Hi Andrew,
Is the Stray integration meant as an alternative to using the Virb software? Aligning the GPS overlay with the video using Virb Edit is a total pain in the arse. Why Garmin can’t add the ability to move the GPS alignment forward/back by X.X seconds rather than trying to match to the map again, I don’t know, but it is a very unsatisfactory solution.
I have a fly 6 and use it every time i am on the bike which is everyday. Last oct i was involved in an accident where a car took right away off me . Even though it unfolded in front of me and the fly 12 would of been great.The fly 6 recorded everything that happen and was able to give to the police. with the information from starve and the fly6 the police got the whole story. When you go down the fly 6 keep recording for another 20minutes. You heard the drivers abusing me and everything while i lay on the ground bleeding and unable to move. Best money ever spent. don’t quite get 5hrs out of the fly 6 but its quite close. I look forward to the fly12 it will be on my bike for sure.
If you got the police (and a court and two insurance companies) to accept your camera footage, that’s awesome. Here in Seattle, the police have basically set precedent that action camera footage is hearsay… Even if it identifies a driver in a hot and run (this being based on two separate friends in two incidents where the footage was disregarded). Same thing with smartphone footage. As much as I love the Fly6, my local police are deterring me from finally buying one.
I own a Fly6 ver. 1, and love it. Tried unsuccessfully to encourage Andrew to come out with a Bluetooth screen connected to the F6, so that a rider wouldn’t have to loose track of what was in front of him/her due to turning around to look back when changing lanes or avoiding a pot hole. NO SALE F6’s part, silly reasons of course. Maybe some one could come up with such an animal.
I’d agree with Andrew in that there’s just no market for it (commercially). He noted two companies that tried, and both have flopped. Having tested both products the fundamental problem is that you can’t look at everything at once (down at your handlebars and up front).
Where I think there’s potential though is with future integration with heads up displays, as they mature. They aren’t yet there from a maturity standpoint in sports yet – but within 1-2 years we might get there.
Hi Mike Kelly – I recall your request and from memory the answer to a screen at the front of the device was along the lines of:
– Bluetooth would not have the bandwidth to stream the HD data
– If you did it with WiFi it would drain the battery to near GoPro levels
– Someone else has tried it (Owl360 & Cerevellum) both of which were commercial failures
– we believe that looking at a screen while you are cycling similar to watching a DVD while driving…not very safe in our opinion
Maybe in the future when technology develops, there might be ways of having that feature in a way that does not compromise safety however we don’t have this feature on our product radar at the moment. With all that said, we do get plenty of requests for a “electronic rear view mirror”!
Don’t let that stop feature requests…we are always keen to hear them. Whether we can implement them or not is another thing entirely!
Hi I’m an older road cyclist who rides 200 to 300km per week with around 200 of it in peak traffic from home to work. I own your original fly6 as well as your Mk2 version. I use the Mk2 version all the time now even on my group rides in the weekends. I was knocked off my bike less than a year ago by a car making a left turn and spent 3 months on sicks with a fractured pelvus. I’m looking forward to your new fly12 as I think the forward facing camea would catch more of the incidents. I use a LIpo 1500 lum light with battery mounted on my hat this is where I would prefer to mount the Fly12 as where I look is where the light goes. ( I presume you are going to supply a hat mount ) I already use a garmin edge 800 on my handle bar. I like the fact your light will have a flashing mode as this separates you from the other lights. Personally as a cyclist I don’t think it maters if you wear high vis or flashing lights the driver just don’t look in there side mirrors before making stupid turns. I think the only way us cyclist are going to get an improvement in safety is to supply the appropriate authorities with footage they can prosecute the drives with. I like your lane lines on the image but not sure how this would work on hat mount. Date and time is great, the ability to link your garmin data in relation to speed would be a bonus. The ability to synchronize Fly6 and fly 12 camera footage would be big feature. keep up the good work.
I supported rear light/camera via kickstarter and eventually received a Fly 6 (Mk1) – & thought then that an equivalent front facing unit would be a good addition. BUT – I also want a VIRB type camera (& already have good flasher lights) – so I’m in a bit of a bit of a quandry… Add to that, that the original rear light combo got improved+shrunk very soon afterwards, I find myself leaning towards waiting a year to see what happens with the Mk1 front unit – and just might buy a VIRB instead (for additional metrics) beforehand – so then might not want a Fly12. >:[
Obvious software-only feature to add — live broadcasting from a bike. The Fly12 could have a complete ecosystem — upload a pic every X seconds along with “other info” (GPS, power, HR, whatever is paired with the phone), then let users “share” this feed on FB or other social media. The minimal IaaS costs could be offset by advertising, if only for Cycliq itself.
Random questions for Andrew:
1. Is there a plan to change the Fly6 so that it also records in MP4? The current WMV stuff is a PITA for us mac types — and the slightly different frame rate makes PnP editing a little “approximate” (in FCPX). (Or am I doing it wrong?)
2. The KS video shows VERY wide-angle video, as in I’m looking at your bar ends. Is it wider than the GoPro on wide mode? Or did you just not have the camera mounted on the center, and slightly in front a la the K-Edge combo mount?
3. One of the annoyances with the Fly6 is the static text on the screen. Will it be possible to configure this (and, ahem, set the time without finding a plain text editor!) using the phone app?
4. Does it have the same “tilt” sensor to stop recording after a crash?
5. Can you please ship my Fly12 soon!
Anyway, no criticism here — I’m a happy current and future customer. Just some ideas to make a great product better…
Ashley – we are not recommending helmet mounted position. We understand attaching devices to helmets could compromise the integrity of the helmet. Synchronizing footage from front and back is quite a task that we are not yet able to do (others have tried and failed link to kickstarter.com). It might be that as technology improves it can become workable.
Richard – thanks for your comments. Live broadcast is not simply a software feature! It is a complex and challenging issue that some of the big players in the space are yet to solve. Can’t wait till they do tho!
Responses to your questions:
1. Fly6 delivers AVI file types which is not ideal for Mac users (of which I am one) but if you use our recommended software, our AVI files work a treat on a Mac. The limitation on providing MP4 with Fly6 is due to the microprocessor which we hope to upgrade for the next model we hope to bring out next year sometime
2. Fly12 has a much wider angle than Fly6 however using what is in the footage to gauge the angle is perhaps not the ideal way given there are so many different places you can mount it. The footage you referred to might have had an offset mounting position. The field of view for Fly12 is 130 degrees
3. in the Kickstarter campaign we explain that Fly12 has WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and can pair with your smartphone. This will enable you to sync the time and date with your phone.
4. Fly12 does not have a tilt sensor. It has a multi-axis accelerometer which can perform the same task (and much more) allowing us to include ‘incident protection’ in Fly12
5. working on it!!
PSA: Price drop announced today for the Fly6 to US$169.
Looks like a camera. Can’t wait to try it out.
Love the FLY 6! Thanks for making it so easy to catch an incident, or a cool ride!
Cool camera**
the fly12 is a nice cam and the light is a plus compared to other cams, i just checked their site and the price is 329 euros?
Waaaayyy to expensive, in these days and age a cam should be way cheaper.
Where are you getting the pricing from? According to their website, it is $279 for the front and $179 for the rear.
Sorry, just realized how old this post was! Disregard my comment. 🙂
Hi Pidgey – Fly12 is on pre-order at the moment in Europe for 249 Euros, in the UK for £185 and in the US for $279.
I am a little confused about the current mounting plan. The June Fly12 kickstarter update shows a single mount with the Garmin on top and Fly12 underneath using a “K-Edge Extra Large mount”. The current Cycliq product page shows the following in the box:
GoPro handlebar mount (on top or below)
Garmin & 1/4inch tripod adaptor
Does the Garmin adaptor turn the supplied GoPro mount into a dual Garmin/Fly12 mount?
Hi Cindy – Ray has done an in-depth review of Fly6 and a quick look at the latest for Fly12 (link to dcrainmaker.com). If you look closely in the photos you can see the mounting system of the unit is compatible with GoPro mounts (see image of Fly12 on the scales). We include a 1/4 inch/Garmin mount (see image of the back of the Fly12 unit…mounted on this adaptor) so that you can use Fly12 in a standard Garmin mounting system.
The images in this post are of our earliest prototype and we have since made significant changes since then. I would rely on our website for the latest info (but this website for the best images!).
Hope that answers your query.
Regards
Andrew
Th latest word to those that are Kickstarter backers or pre-order holders is that the best estimate of ship date is mid-April 2016. I am not sure what this means for those looking to buy the Fly12 at their local bike shop.
Just completed my review of the Fly12 – which includes sample footage of the device in action is anyone is interested
link to titaniumgeek.com
Shocking customer service. Dumped a faulty unit on me and having to go to court for a refund ????
Care to elaborate? Fly6 or Fly12?
The new Fly 12. Bought on recommendation from a Fly 6 user. This product has overrun by 5 months on delivery and Cycliq are pushing untested/faulty units out to appease customers
Yup, delays happen. It sucks.
But, can you clarify specifically what problems your currently having? And have you reached out to Cycliq support? If so, what did they say?