Helmet cams

I think Cycliq's Fly6 and Fly12 are still the best designed cams for cycling. The front is too heavy for a helmet cam, so it's generally mounted on the bike.

As a contrast to OnYerBike's disappointing experience with the Fly6, I'm still running an original Fly12 (from their KickStarter campaign) that keeps on working despite being dropped enough times that the case is coming apart and there's a rattle inside. I've had one Fly6 (old model) break after a couple of years - seemed to be water ingress. A replacement Fly6CE also died just within warranty and got replaced and that one has been working for a couple of years. I think you have to be really careful with the little rubber flap on the top of it to ensure that it's seated flush and thus protects against water.

OK here goes. I have apeman A66 cameras front and rear on my local shopping bike. Battery life is around 90 mins (less in cold weather). Video quality is good enough in good lighting but suffers quickly as the light fades. That's why I now have front and rear, two chances of getting the reg. Cheap enough to leave on the bike when it's parked up. Batteries are cheap so charge spares off the bike and change them when they get low.

My other camera is a helmet mounted Drift Ghost XL. Supposedly waterproof, and so far it has been, but many reports online of rain causing problems. I am careful not to open the door till it's dried out. Also reports of charging issues but I charge it after nearly every ride and never let the battery run out completely and so far so good. Again video is fine in good light but not so good as the light fades. Why do I use it? Relatively aerodynamic and inconspicuous, battery life 8 hours and, as it's helemt mounted, it's always ready no matter whch bike I use.

Depends what you prioritise. At the moment, I use a GoPro - excellent video quality but expensive (I bought mine second hand on eBay and it was still not cheap) and relatively short battery life (circa 1.5 hours depending on settings).

I did have a Cycliq Fly6 for a while. It was good while it lasted - video not quite as good as the GoPro but decent enough and the battery life was much better. The integrated light obviously an added bonus. However, it bricked itself after ~3 months. Cycliq did send a replacement, but that lasted even less time. So I must say I can't recommend them.

If you like Jeremy Vine's cycling videos I believe they are shot on an Insta360 ONE X2 - the videos look pretty good to me, although I don't know how much of a faff it is to edit 360 degree video.

I'm struggling to find a sensible replacement for the Fly6 - there's not much that ticks the boxes of long battery life, easy and relatively discrete attachment to a bike, and vaguely decent video. The brand "TOOO Cycling" have a light/camera combo that looks like a direct competitor to the Fly6, but they seem very new to the market and I'm not sure how easy it is to obtain in the UK. Ghost Drift cameras seem like another viable option, although judging by reviews reliability is an issue there. Battery life seems to be the most common dealbreaker, with few options exceeding 2 hours. If that's not an issue for you, there are probably a few more options.

Don't forget the rather better option of letting Google do a better job more quickly than the official site search:

google road.cc: <whatever text you're looking for> those brackets not necessary

Search highlighted in yellow

Or in this forum simply scroll through the thread titles - one will come up in the few first pages.

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