Cycliq Fly12 Bike Light & Camera

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Cycliq Fly12 Bike Light/Camera
DC RAINMAKER
Overall the Fly12 works pretty well. The hardware is definitely rather robust, despite my repeated attempts to kill it. And the recorded image is good enough, even in night, to make out license plate numbers on passing cars. The addition of WiFi & Bluetooth make the unit quite a bit quicker and simpler to use than the Fly6.

On the flipside, the app is still a bit rough around the edges. There are occasional connectivity issues with the Strava metric overlay, which can significantly slow down getting clips out. Still, I’m reasonably optimistic those will be addressed soon, based on my discussions on the challenges they faced until recently with their (now previous) software development firm. Plus, the upcoming new app design looks fantastic by comparison to what you see today.

Now the $349USD unit is expensive. Though, about the same price as buying a good set of lights and an action camera capable of shooting well in the dark. But that would still ignore the bike-specific pieces that simply aren’t found on any action cams on the market today (tram lines, accident mode, Strava integration etc…).

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If you approach the Fly12 from the perspective of being an all-around GoPro replacement, you’ll be disappointed. Instead, I’d focus it on being a solid front bike light, with a pretty solid camera and bike-specific platform integrated into it. Further, in many ways the camera ...


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Ready to roll: capture your bike action in HD

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Cycling home last month I hit a pedestrian. She darted out from behind a parked lorry and into the cycling lane. I only had a second to hammer on the brakes, but it wasn’t enough and the two of us went sprawling. I did the full 180 over the handlebars and ended up on the road like a starfish, while she was knocked sideways. Fortunately, other than some bruises and twisted handlebars, both of us were fine. But it all happened so quickly I kept wishing I had had a chance to film it so I could watch it over. If only I’d had one of these new cameras attached to my bike.

It’s the latest gadget from Cycliq, maker of innovative cycling accessories. The Fly12 is a neat combination of a full HD camera and front light. It has a remarkably wide-angle lens and the sound recording is crystal clear. You charge the unit up by connecting it to your computer, if you use it in camera-only mode it will record for up to 10 hours on to a 16GB micro SD card. The Fly12 saves the action in a continuous series of loops so you never need worry about running out of memory. If there is an accident, the device will automatically save the footage. It’s also weatherproof and boasts a bike alarm. If your bike is moved without your knowledge the unit starts beeping and sends a message to your smartphone.

It’s all very clever, but where it really gets special is when used in tandem with the free CycliqPlus companion app. Using WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, your video can be viewed, edited and shared instantly on your phone. You can even integrate it with Strava so that all your ride details, such as speed, power, heart rate and map location are …

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