Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

AUbicycles wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 9:29 pm

That's good to hear on the update.

On replaceable batteries - I understand this though with our consumerism I feel a lot of people focus on shorter cycles of 1 - 2 years so a tech company would fairly ask whether they go into the extra work of making a replaceable battery when the product is just getting superseded and out-of-warranty products that are no longer performing are just defined as obsolete. It is unfortunately more expensive to build for sustainability and longevity... plus many companies build in the natural expiration to help trigger future sales... and it will be difficult for many businesses to move beyond this.

The battery in the Fly6CE is a standard cyclindrical battery with a molex type plug, so it's definitely replaceable. Doesn't help me with mine. I have to log a call to get it repaired because it won't turn on. I actually suspect it's the battery that has died. It wasn't that long ago that my device cam eback after having the plastic tabs on the back replaced. Turns out this part is actually just screwed onto the back of the unit from inside the back cover, I guess because it's the most likely part to get destroyed on a regular basis.

Once I get mine sent away for assessment I'll decide whether to simply ditch the rear camera and go for the Varia instead, or persist with the Fly6CE. If I have to spend the money, I am thinking the Varia is a better choice for my Audax riding because the Fly6CE never lasts more than half the ride anyway.

queequeg wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:20 pm

Once I get mine sent away for assessment I'll decide whether to simply ditch the rear camera and go for the Varia instead, or persist with the Fly6CE. If I have to spend the money, I am thinking the Varia is a better choice for my Audax riding because the Fly6CE never lasts more than half the ride anyway.

Don't know if it helps that one may warn you of danger approaching whilst the other doesn't?
It may identify who was responsible for what happened to you after the event though.

warthog1 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:06 pm

queequeg wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:20 pm

Once I get mine sent away for assessment I'll decide whether to simply ditch the rear camera and go for the Varia instead, or persist with the Fly6CE. If I have to spend the money, I am thinking the Varia is a better choice for my Audax riding because the Fly6CE never lasts more than half the ride anyway.

Don't know if it helps that one may warn you of danger approaching whilst the other doesn't?
It may identify who was responsible for what happened to you after the event though.

Give me an all in one unit that does both thanks

Yeah I'd like that too!

warthog1 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:06 pm

queequeg wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:20 pm

Once I get mine sent away for assessment I'll decide whether to simply ditch the rear camera and go for the Varia instead, or persist with the Fly6CE. If I have to spend the money, I am thinking the Varia is a better choice for my Audax riding because the Fly6CE never lasts more than half the ride anyway.

Don't know if it helps that one may warn you of danger approaching whilst the other doesn't?
It may identify who was responsible for what happened to you after the event though.

Well, that is exactly the point. A device that warns of approaching traffic on country roads and lasts the entire 12+ hour ride, or a device that doesn't warn of approaching danger and only records incidents if it happens during the first 5 hours and is then useless for the remainder of the ride.

queequeg wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:31 pm

Well, that is exactly the point. A device that warns of approaching traffic on country roads and lasts the entire 12+ hour ride, or a device that doesn't warn of approaching danger and only records incidents if it happens during the first 5 hours and is then useless for the remainder of the ride.

Yeah sounds like your choice is made.

As Jason says, it'd be great to have a product that did both.

sobmal wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:34 pm

jasonc wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:14 pm

My fly 6 ce power button failed this morning. Thought maybe I wasn't hitting it at the right angle. Used a longer finger nail. Went straight through the rubber. No button there at all

Just had the same with my gen 2 fly6 (2017 I think?), both buttons (rubber) have perished and broken. It still works fine (tape over the buttons to keep them in place) but I won't be using it out in the rain anytime soon.

Mine is failing too. I've thought about gluing a bit of inner tube over it as a precautionary measure. I might make it a lockdown project.

The cycliq cameras do have the option to click the button and save a segment (so it is not lost) however that won't help with the runtime.

The problem with this saving /locking of an activity is that you have to find the button and with a front and rear cycliq camera and different buttons ... it has not been designed so that it is easy to know what to click. So room for improvement.

One thing to argue is that with the super long distance audax rides, this is impressive but also an exception still where most riders still have shorter rides so get the run-time.

A while back for the earlier models I asked about putting in external chargers to increase the lifespan and it was not recommended - but I feel can still be an option. The challenge will be the micro SD card capacity which will do the looped recording so for really long rides you would probably overwrite the earlier parts of the ride. That said - for the technically mind, exploring the options with an additional power source and sharing recommendations would be of interest.

Just wanted to say this discussion is very useful - I was looking at a fly12CE camera, but this has deterred me away from it.

Maybe the Garmin option - I’m not sure.

I don’t do massive long audax rides, but I do some 5-6 hour rides sometimes.

AUbicycles wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 09, 2021 4:28 am

The challenge will be the micro SD card capacity which will do the looped recording so for really long rides you would probably overwrite the earlier parts of the ride.

I disagree with this. They have munted their devices so they don't like larger capacity cards. They only support 32 or 64gb. You can buy 400gb cards. 128 and 256 are cheap.
I don't know if we are getting off topic. But for me the perfect device is a varia with a camera that records when it detects a vehicle. That would give you decent battery life and decent memory capacity. Of course the decent memory capacity is simple to fix

queequeg wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:20 pm

Once I get mine sent away for assessment I'll decide whether to simply ditch the rear camera and go for the Varia instead, or persist with the Fly6CE. If I have to spend the money, I am thinking the Varia is a better choice for my Audax riding because the Fly6CE never lasts more than half the ride anyway.

I was hoping such a device as a radar and camera all in one would exist. No it unfortunately doesn't:

https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitnes ... 93#1103793

Garmin has a patent apparently.

@jasonc, we may have been indicating the same issue, from two different angles.

In any case, when you are doing long rides you will be limited by the card capacity and for looped recordings, your own active action to save/lock segments that should not be overwritten.

I never understood the max limits to the cards.

The varia camera (from a very old test of first edition) had better quality but a shorter battery life and there was a focus on action cam (e.g.GoPro) rather than dashcam style always-on.

It could be time for some more tests. There is a new UK camera (prototyping phase) but I don’t know details of capacity, runtime, quality.

Chris - agree with your comments

So my usb port flap on my fly6CE broke off a few months back. I logged a fault, they sent me a baggie full of port covers to tide me over temporarily til they could arrange a replacement. A few weeks later I got a pack in the mail that was half a fly6CE casing (the half with the usb port flap). I had to get my screwdrivers out, dismantle my light and then re-assemble it with the new casing (required taking the whole thing apart basically). Put it back together and all is well.

RE radar VS camera, I think radar in the country and camera in the city makes more sense. I spent last week riding country roads around Bathurst and the radar would have been great for those quiet, shoulder-less but high speed roads to give a little piece of mind. The camera is less relevant out there - there are so few cars that you're far less likely to get intentionally shaved, but if you get hit at those speeds you're done for.

In the city and commuting I imagine the radar would be draining and distracting. Close shaves will happen and at lower speed so I think it's good to get them on camera. If you start relying on the radar all the time in the city I think that's probably going rob you of some general awareness.

Keen to add a varia to the mix this year

march83 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:57 am

In the city and commuting I imagine the radar would be draining and distracting.

when previously trying a radar it drove me nuts. my commute is beside a freeway. i was alerted to EVERY vehicle going past. even though it was on the other side of the barrier. i worked out how to disconnect and reconnect the radar quickly

jasonc wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:20 am

march83 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:57 am

In the city and commuting I imagine the radar would be draining and distracting.

when previously trying a radar it drove me nuts. my commute is beside a freeway. i was alerted to EVERY vehicle going past. even though it was on the other side of the barrier. i worked out how to disconnect and reconnect the radar quickly

That's the only annoying thing. What's the quick way?

Comedian wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:57 am

jasonc wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:20 am

march83 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:57 am

In the city and commuting I imagine the radar would be draining and distracting.

when previously trying a radar it drove me nuts. my commute is beside a freeway. i was alerted to EVERY vehicle going past. even though it was on the other side of the barrier. i worked out how to disconnect and reconnect the radar quickly

That's the only annoying thing. What's the quick way?

click on sensors and turn the damn thing off

So on a completely different topic.. I've been trying to get a "light network" setup with my garmin and a fly12 and fly6. It seems to be working well. The only thing is when I turn off my garmin it turns off the fly6 and 12 lights but leaves them running. It doesn't actually turn the units off. Which of course would turn themselves off in 15 minutes.

Has anyone managed to work out a way of turning the actual device off?

jasonc wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:20 am

march83 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:57 am

In the city and commuting I imagine the radar would be draining and distracting.

when previously trying a radar it drove me nuts. my commute is beside a freeway. i was alerted to EVERY vehicle going past. even though it was on the other side of the barrier. i worked out how to disconnect and reconnect the radar quickly

I ran my Varia for the first time over the last week. The constant beeping drive me nuts, but I found you can turn off the beeps and just get the visual display. I used it during 3 peaks and it was brilliant. Even picked up when other riders weee trying to suck my wheel!

So, for my riding I think the Varia will get more use, and the Fly6/Fly12CE for commutes only. The Varia was still running after being on for 11 hours. My cameras would have died before lunch.

So I've finally got my new fly12CE. But the thing is - I think the picture is actually worse than my generation one. To the point where it's hard to read number plates unless they are right in front. I've turned off eis and running 30 FPS /1080. Do I need to go up to 60? Might try that tomorrow.

I have basically stopped using the Fly6CE now. I use the Garmin Varia and find that the visual warning of approaching vehicles is extremly useful, and the radar is extrmely accurate. It will even show multiple vehicles in a line and so far it has rarely been wrong.

queequeg wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:28 pm

I have basically stopped using the Fly6CE now. I use the Garmin Varia and find that the visual warning of approaching vehicles is extremly useful, and the radar is extrmely accurate. It will even show multiple vehicles in a line and so far it has rarely been wrong.

I have both the varia and the fly6/fly12. I too have found it a game changer.

queequeg wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:28 pm

I have basically stopped using the Fly6CE now. I use the Garmin Varia and find that the visual warning of approaching vehicles is extremly useful, and the radar is extrmely accurate. It will even show multiple vehicles in a line and so far it has rarely been wrong.

On my old my bike I didn't have room for both fly 6 and varia. This made me change back to the fly 6:

jasonc wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:44 pm

queequeg wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:28 pm

I have basically stopped using the Fly6CE now. I use the Garmin Varia and find that the visual warning of approaching vehicles is extremly useful, and the radar is extrmely accurate. It will even show multiple vehicles in a line and so far it has rarely been wrong.

On my old my bike I didn't have room for both fly 6 and varia. This made me change back to the fly 6:

I don’t have room for both, so the Fly6 is on the commuter bike and the Varia on the road bike. The. Fly6 never lasted more half my ride anyway, and the Varia is a game changer for long distance rural riding

Whats the runtime on the varia?


On the settings of the cycliq fly caneras, yes stabilisation off, HDR can be on.

For numberplates, it is unusual that they got worse... guessing that a hardware change could impact that as they would not otherwise want to degrade it.

But with cycliq footage, you may still have to resort to scrubbing or other video adjustment settings.