Aldi rear light/camera

The only cycling tech I've bought from Aldi in the past was their heart rate monitor and it was horrific. It constantly failed to register a pulse (no i didn't die) for extended periods of time and was incompatible with any standard fitness apps or head units other than  their own smartphone app. Don't get me wrong recording the HR on its own via the app is fine but obviously you want to see this data in comparison to other metrics so it was a bit obsolete. Then again what do you expect for £15 or thereabouts, so I didn't even bother returning it.

If you want a unit that works flawlessly save up a bit more and buy the fly6/fly6CE. Aldi is fantastic for their tools, maintenance stuff and very basic apparel. However I would avoid any of their tech (unless its the Garmin head units they offer) or items such as waterproofs as I found their performance to be quite poor. gloves, socks etc. are well worth the money you pay though.

Found one in the glass box of opportunity last week for £20, purchased. Surprised by the size and haven't hooked it up yet - tonight's job...

There is a firmware update aviable to fix the shutting down by itself issue.

http://quesh.co.uk/products/?product_id=461

I would suggest you all ditch the cheap shit and just get a Fly6.  A camera isn't any good if you can't rely on it, and this, it seems, can't be relied on.

I've had my issues with Cycliq over one or two small things, but generally I can say I'm pretty happy with the price for the Fly6 (and the Fly12, though thats maybe a little bit less of a bargain, more of an 'about right' price).

Not sure how everyone else gets on with this unit but the one I purchased has been returned to store and refund accepted.

The picture quality is good, the light is good however having accepted the weight penalty of the unit I couldn't get on with the fact the weight / road conditions meant the unit kept moving finally dropping so it was catching on th eback of my leg. Poor engineering of a product that would be acceptable at the price point of it has a worthy bracket / fixture. Velcro strap may work for under saddle pouches but not for a camera light unit.

Sorry Aldi but this one is another fail.

I'm having the same problem as Bob, but I'm not worried about the light because I've painted over the light and using it as a front camera, attached to the handlebars.

It does loop record. I've had mine running this morning to test. Yey.

It does loop record. Mine was fine for 4 hours of riding and it had about the last hour on the card. I've got a bigger SD card now - I think 32gb is the biggest it can take.

There's a thread on CycleChat with more info: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/aldi-rear-camera.224217/. See page 10 for the new firmware details which might help. Seems looping is supported.

I have one but haven't got round to trying it yet. Thought I'd wait and see if the problems were resolved first before giving it a go!

How long is 'long'?

The longest ride I've done so far is 2.5 hours with no problems.

I don't think that the capacity of the sd card is relevant, if it's full it records over what was recorded previously.

This was posted in the original thread (http://road.cc/content/tech-news/229329-grab-aldi-specialbuys-cycling-ba...) on this camera/light

"aegisdesign" wrote:

I was riding late last night and at one point there's a 25 minute rural climb. It was pitch black behind me with no cars passing and no street lights and the camera beeped three times as I reached the summit. I thought it was just hitting the 50% charge mark which is also 3 beeps. I got home 30 minutes later and found it had switched off, INCLUDING THE LIGHTS.

Somewhat dissapointed that it might be broken and that I'd been riding with the main rear light off, I read the manual. No clues.

Then I read the Fly 6 manual. The Fly 6 switches off after 15 minutes of inactivity. I tested this on the Aldi light. It does this also. I guessed that 15 minutes of pitch black is "inactivity".