[Vercors]

Hi, I should be grateful for recommendations for a camera, to be attached to bike or helmet, for submitting footage to the police. (I have been thinking about it for a while, but on Friday I was struck by an object deliberately thrown at me entirely unprovoked from an oncoming vehicle, so now is the time. I reported that to the police but I’m dependent on whether they can find CCTV footage of the incident.) I have in mind to record close passes and other bad driving to submit to the police. Presumably front and rear cameras would be advisible, fairly light if possible as I want to use it primarily on leisure cycling and be able to swap it between bikes reasonably easily. Thanks in advance.

Topic

[andystow]

Gimpl wrote:

Just in case anyone is interested – I have just purchased a Cycliq bundle as part of their Black Friday deal. Front and rear (12 & 6) for £405. 

The US deal for the same was $455 (about £340.)

Oops, forgot yours includes VAT, so that’s actually a very similar price. I had a love-hate relationship with my second generation Fly6, but it got stolen this year and I decided I’d take another chance on them and ordered its replacement on the Black Friday deal, $219 including shipping.

[Hirsute]

You could get a reasonable

You could get a reasonable bike for that !

[Gimpl]

Just in case anyone is

Just in case anyone is interested – I have just purchased a Cycliq bundle as part of their Black Friday deal. Front and rear (12 & 6) for £405. 

[quiff]

I’ve been using the following

I’ve been using the following since 2018, primarily for commutes of c.50 mins each way:

Rear: Cycliq Fly6CE. Good – looping recording, decent quality, convenient mounting, decent battery life (would get most of a week’s commuting out of it). Bad: difficulty connecting to Cycliq’s own software to change settings like timestamp.   

Front: entry level Go Pro Hero. No looping and poor battery (maybe 3 legs of my commute) meant it was inconvenient and I stopped using it. Mount is also more involved. 

 

[lonpfrb]

Cycliq Fly 6CE on the back
Cycliq Fly 6CE on the back works well. No issues with water ingress given a little care on replacing the rubber cover. Winter ride with mudguards also avoids that.

Did have an issue with not recording but a format SD card solved that. Like all cameras the SD card write speed is key so cards for high definition recording only.

If I have to find a fault it is the tools for processing the video. The long press on a button will lock the clip so is important, however hard to reach meaning a stop to do that.

So better button options are required for a continuous ride. Shimano DI2 provides that but the integration with Cycliq isn’t available. The Shimano wireless for DI2 provides button configuration but Garmin Edge won’t tell Cycliq Light anything but the light settings!

Having got home and connected to a computer the locked clips are easy to find. However video editing software is required to cut out the specific section. That’s not possible with the Cycliq software sadly. Many editors will recompress the chosen section which is bad because it is no longer the original record. Of course the original can be supplied if a court requires it but it’s more faff.

Otherwise battery life is good for many hours, and image quality sufficient.

[HoarseMann]

For short commutes you could

For short commutes you could probably make the insta work ok (battery life is only an hour and file sizes are huge). It will be a bit more faff than a Cycliq (no loop record, so having to open app, wipe, start recording prior to each ride).

But for longer rides (or less faff regular commuting) you can’t really beat the convenience of the Cycliq. It’s a simple as adding lights to your bike.

To get longer from the 360 you’d need an external battery pack, or stop to swap batteries every hour, not to mention a large SD card and regular manual wiping of footage.

[Awavey]

Not directly as nearly
Not directly as nearly 400quid on a camera is more than I’m willing to spend, but every review I’ve seen criticises its battery life, it’s no more than 1hr in normal operation, which probably means in practice you get less.

It’s basically designed as an action camera from which you can post brief snippets of ‘cool’ footage to Instagram as a social media influencer, its not designed to be a camera cyclists use to capture the 5% of their journey they need to submit stuff to the police with.

though it captures video and so inevitably people use it this way

[Hirsute]

You can’t have all of those

You can’t have all of those though ! Which is why I ended up with the XL like you.

[Bungle_52]

I started off with a cheap

I started off with a cheap apeman but now have a Drift Ghost XL helemt mounted. 8 hours battery life so ideal for longer rides but low light performance leaves a lot to be desired. Haven’t tested it in heavy rain yet but its survived light showers.

Which go pro do you use? I’m looking for a camera which will get number plates in low light for commuting where battery life isn’t so much of an issue. Don’t want to spend too much though.

[Vercors]

Thanks very much everyone.
Thanks very much everyone. Does anyone have any experience of the Insta360 One X2 which Jeremy Vine has shown footage of?

Cycling home today and I have a chance to see whether a 360-degree camera really allows you to see something you weren't looking at when it happened. Watch the guy on the right. pic.twitter.com/uX5V4UHbI0

— Jeremy Vine | Here, on Tiktok, Insta & Facebook (@theJeremyVine) April 8, 2021

[Awavey]

Cycliq Fly 12CE despite the
Cycliq Fly 12CE despite the well documented issues with it,it still seems to offer the best choice in terms of usable footage captured. I’m just surprised there is still no real comparable competition for it on the market.

[Secret_squirrel]

Mungecrundle wrote:

Mungecrundle wrote:

My Cycliq Fly 6 and Fly 12 have paid for themselves and made recovery of damages against 2 drivers very straight forward. Including this one: https://youtu.be/cLF93a5w7ko

Derail but bloody hell – that was assault with a deadly weapon

[OnYerBike]

I have a GoPro on the front

I have a GoPro on the front and it’s great while it lasts – excellent image stabilisation, good quality video, even in poor light (although has limits in very poor light). The only real downside is the battery life – I only get ~1.5 hours (which may or may not be enough for you).

I used to have a Cycliq Fly6 (Gen 3) on the rear too, but it randomly stopped working (the Cycliq team immediately blamed water ingress, which was very telling but also entirely unfounded). They did send out a replacement… but a couple of months later than also stopped working (again, no actual explanation). So in the end I sent the replacement back too and got a refund. While it worked, the video quality was OK – noticeably worse than the GoPro but adequate for most purposes. Overall, a nice idea and much more elegant solution than most of the competition, but the reliability and quality control is not just there.

When I get round to getting a replacement for the Cycliq, I’m planning on giving a Ghost Drift a go – seems to tick the same box in terms of battery life but hopefully will actually work…

[Oldfatgit]

Cycliq all the way.
Cycliq all the way.
I’ve an older model Fly 12CE on the front and a Fly 6 2nd Gen on the back.

I have no issues with image clarity, although it will struggle in low to zero light – as will all cameras on moving vehicles.
The image stabilization on the 12CE is first rate; I even record gravel rides and the cameras cope well with majority terrain.
I’ll also always read it the number plate of the offending vehicle, just to reduce ambiguity.

I’ve never had any problems with water ingress on either camera, and they have both been out on storm conditions as well as the all persuasive drizzle that southern Scotland wears like a jumper.

The ability to record segment lengths and loop recording is a must; segment lengths make it so much easier than one continuous recording.

If you want to see video from multiple times of day and weather conditions, I record and upload all my rides to YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCsfBOmOh2FrA5Jm7__8yAxA

[tugglesthegreat]

I’m using a Cycliq rear cam

I’m using a Cycliq rear cam but most of my reporting comes from my Drift Ghost XL. Battery life is great ~8hrs and it is a resonable price at £150. I have had a few issue but the tech support seems ok at fixing those. Quality is ok but not fantastic but you would be paying more for better. I’m using VideoPad free editor for spliting them down to size.  

[Author]

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