Yeah, I haven’t found anything. I was hoping someone found a gem somewhere. Time to disassemble the one I have and see if I can find a replacement battery. And naturally, the Fly6 I have is getting temperamental as well.
We need one of the good light makers to add a camera, or GoPro to decide bike-specific cameras is a worthwhile market.
-Tim
I just came across this one:
https://magicshine.com/products/seemee-dv-camera-taillight
It looks like it might be a worthy competitor to the FLy6, though it’s only got a 30 lumen light, not the Fly’s 100.
I have a Magicshine Monteer 8000 light and it’s fantastic, so it gives me hope this doesn’t suck.
When my Fly6 dies, this one will be on the short list for sure, assuming we don’t discover it sucks before then.
The Fly12 replacement hunt continues …
-Tim
I have their rear camera. Utter garbage. When their app is called “Car DVR” you know how much work they put into the product and user experience.
I’ll add that my local law enforcement will not pursue anything unless the video identifies/shows the drivers face. There are obvious challenges to this: direction of your lens, reflection of the glass, etc.
That said, if you have ridden long enough, you have had a motorist exit their vehicle in order to confront you or your group. You have also experienced an exchange with law enforcement in which they were misinformed about the content of the motor vehicle code. In those cases, the video is helpful.
Dammit!!! Why?! Why must all these companies do everything half-assed?!
I must admit, that after a bit more reading of the product page, and a look at the price, I had my suspicions.
So @GPLama and @dcrainmaker : anything out there that is actually worth buying? Not looking for GoPro features, just video that’ll stand up in court, with integrated lights, and a decent run time (4+ hrs).
-Tim
So my Cycliq experience has been decent. 2 years in, I use the front camera/light on nearly all my outdoor rides (4-5/week so maybe ~500 total rides) and had no issues. Battery life isn’t fantastic in the cold, has run out on a few >4 hour rides but I don’t do that many really long rides in the cold anyway! Video is good enough quality to identify number plates and be used for submissible evidence. I own the rear light as well but haven’t used it so much as decided that I didn’t want two gadgets on the rear of the bike and given the choice I prefer having the Varia (non camera) as radar helps me reduce the chances of an incident whereas camera just records the incident if it does happen.
YMMV. Maybe the quality of the gadget has improved or maybe I just got lucky.
Once I got units that worked, they have been fine. It took 2 Fly 12’s and 3 Fly 6’s before that happened (in 2022, after a year of returns), and even then the mic on the 12 is was dead on arrival the level is so low.
I really don’t want to go through that again, especially since it seems their customer service has gone massively downhill since then. They didn’t put up much resistance to my returns, but that seems not to be the case anymore.
-Tim
I’m running a fly6 pro and is much better than the fly6 battery lasts a good 6-7 hours and the light is really good on it. Camera quality is very good too so no complaints on this one. I know there’s been a few issues with the standard 6 so hopefully they’ve improved on this
I’m running on my commute
AKASO V50 X Action Camera with 64GB microSDXC Memory Card - Native 4K Wifi Underwater 40M EIS Anti-Shake Cam with Touch Screen, Remote Control, Waterproof Case and Mounting Accessories Kit: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo
The quality seems good but I haven’t had it long enough to need to pull out number plates.
That’s encouraging, and on paper both the Fly6 & Fly12 look good. It’s really a question of build quantity and customer service.
Judging by the general lack of alternatives, I’ll likely be going back to Cycliq, with my fingers crossed. And there will definitely be a rain test with the hose on day one.
-Tim