Talk to me about bike cameras

[Happy_Days]

I want to get front and rear cameras for my road bike, but I don’t know where to start. What advice could you give me?

The reason for buying cameras is hindsight: I wish that I had cameras when a car hit me in a (too) close pass earlier this year.

 

[steverob]

I only have their front facing camera, but I really like the Cycliq Fly 12 Sport (the Fly 6 Pro is the rear equivalent) because it has a light as part of the design and the battery life is tremendous. You can get around 7-8 hours of recording without needing to charge again. Yes it's expensive at over £300, but I've been very happy with the quality of the footage I've got out of it.

Now I'll admit the reason I got it was to get footage of some of the prettier places on my rides (especially as I was going to be doing LEJOG) rather than safety considerations, but that was an added benefit as well.

 

[scotsbikester]

I have the Cycliq 12 Sport on the front, Fly 6 on the rear. I use them to report dangerous drivers, mainly close passes. The police usually take action on the evidence of the cameras. Quality is good, certainly there's never been a problem reading number plates, at least during the day. The battery life on the rear one is far less than the front, which is a nuisance, charging wise. Some of the mounting accessories are a bit cheaply made - the strap to fit the rear to the seat post broke, for instance. Didn't matter, my rear is attached to the rack that lives on my bike.

Footage is timestamped, though you have to connect using the iPhone app to keep the time in sync.

Get a pair, then report every close pass/left hook to your local police forces OpSnap. The more people who get letters in the post, FPNs and points the sooner drivers will start to show cyclists some basic consideration.

 

[Arjimlad]

For your purposes the ChilliTech offerings are adequate & reasonably priced. Their 4k bullet camera is in use by some friends who regularly report to Avon & Somerset police, and their latest RecordMax https://www.chilli-tech.com/shop/recordmax-camera-for-cyclists/ will provide good enough footage in most conditions.

I do like having front & rear cameras. Rear is very helpful with close passes and I doubt this incident would have had the right outcome without it.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1CdYBQiPXE


I have a Drift Ghost XL on the front and a Magicshine SeeMee DV light/camera combination on the rear.

The Drift Ghost had issues when I allowed it to complete firmware updates, so I was able to reinstall older firmware and touch wood it has worked well for me although with the lack of customer support others have reported I don't recommend it unless you are technically minded.

The Magicshine SeeMee DV is a good little unit with strong battery life (although no sound). https://www.tweekscycles.com/magicshine-seemee-dv-camera-tail-light-mgcsme-dv/

You can either use the app to download footage onto your phone, or take the card out of the camera. There's no option to connect the camera itself for file transfer, unlike most other cameras I have used.

 

[Arjimlad]

PS if you live in Scotland, it'll be hard work reporting anything as they don't run an online reporting service like Op Snap.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have a Cycliq Fly 12 Sport. (Front) Very happy with it. Main reason was for battery life. I don't ride much over 6-7hr these days and it's fine.

I don't have a rear cam.

See this (2 year old) thread for the discussions that led up to this purchase. https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/bike-camera-with-decent-battery-life.297856/

See also here for some footage, but note that the quality has been squished as part of uploading it to YouTube https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/fly-tipping-the-movie.309441/

 

[katiewlx]

Ive got the Chillitech bullet Mk2, I doubt mines 4k, as image quality isnt great, it copes best with daylight/sunny conditions, its a bit of waste of time at night.

its a decent enough camera for its price, really my biggest annoyances have been mounting it to handlebars, they dont really seem to have at the time a solid connector point, which maybe why the newer cameras have gone garmin mount compatible

battery life is ok, nothing special, and can be a bit hit and miss in terms of theres often very little indication on how much charge is in the battery, plus setting the time is a bit of a faff and the clock can drift

I use a Cycliq Fly 6 on the rear, doubles as a light, image quality is excellent, easy to use/setup, tells you how the battery is doing, its downsides are really its cost, and size means battery life is actually quite short, maybe 3hrs-4hrs max with the light. and alot of people had problems with them breaking due to water ingress I think. You can now buy little rubber covers for them, which seem to keep the worst of the weather off, but it blocks the speaker, so it sounds like its stuck in a bucket, but good mounting issues make it feel secure.

then finally on my n+1, Ive got a Cycliq fly 12, oddly image quality not as great as the Fly 6, but still streets ahead of the Chillitech, good battery life 6-7hrs though I dont use the light, and the original mounting wasnt strong enough, but they brought out a modified version which has been alot better.

again easy to use as the Fly 6, uses the same app on your phone to sync time. downsides again really are the cost.


I suspect when Im in the market again for another camera it will be a cycliq

 

[Bristolian]

For your purposes the ChilliTech offerings are adequate & reasonably priced. Their 4k bullet camera is in use by some friends who regularly report to Avon & Somerset police, and their latest RecordMax https://www.chilli-tech.com/shop/recordmax-camera-for-cyclists/ will provide good enough footage in most conditions.

I do like having front & rear cameras. Rear is very helpful with close passes and I doubt this incident would have had the right outcome without it.

Ha! I know that bit of road very well - grew up less than a mile away

I stopped riding it in that direction about a year ago when I got fed up of close passes and drivers who would force themselves past me and then turn left into the petrol station The section from the (now closed) Swan Inn to Court Road, past the school sports field, before they made it 30mph, was also a bit like Russian roulette especially with trucks.

Stay safe mate

 

[Drago]

For your purposes the ChilliTech offerings are adequate & reasonably priced. Their 4k bullet camera is in use by some friends who regularly report to Avon & Somerset police, and their latest RecordMax https://www.chilli-tech.com/shop/recordmax-camera-for-cyclists/ will provide good enough footage in most conditions.

I do like having front & rear cameras. Rear is very helpful with close passes and I doubt this incident would have had the right outcome without it.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1CdYBQiPXE


I have a Drift Ghost XL on the front and a Magicshine SeeMee DV light/camera combination on the rear.

The Drift Ghost had issues when I allowed it to complete firmware updates, so I was able to reinstall older firmware and touch wood it has worked well for me although with the lack of customer support others have reported I don't recommend it unless you are technically minded.

The Magicshine SeeMee DV is a good little unit with strong battery life (although no sound). https://www.tweekscycles.com/magicshine-seemee-dv-camera-tail-light-mgcsme-dv/

You can either use the app to download footage onto your phone, or take the card out of the camera. There's no option to connect the camera itself for file transfer, unlike most other cameras I have used.

Id have said, "do you know who I am?"

Theyd have replied "No"

And id have kicked his mirror off and made good my escape.

 

[scotsbikester]

As I said, I have Fly 12 Sport on the front, Fly 6 gen 3 on the back. Going on from what steverob says, it looks like the Fly 6 Pro has replaced the one I have, in Cycliq's line-up. Which I would say is a good thing. The battery life on the Fly 6 (rear) is way less than the Fly 12 S (front). So I often get home to find the front is still recording, with plenty of battery life left, but the rear has run out of juice and turned off. It would be better if they had similar battery lives.

The other thing which is a bit of a pain with the Fly 6 Gen 3 is that the silicone cover hides the charging port, so you have to take it off to charge, whereas the charging port on the Fly 12 S is accessible (though with a peel-backable protective cover).

Yes, they both have lights, and they're useful, though the front one, for me, is more a "be seen" light rather than a "see where I'm going" light. If I'm going somewhere dark, I'll put my "proper" Lezyne STZVO light on the bars.

Your decision will depend on usage, obviously. But if you bike lives somewhere safe (mine's the dining room), it's handy if you can just leave them on the bike. I've got one of those battery packs, and enough USB leads to charge them at the same time.

Fly 12 Sport with Fly 6 Pro would be a very good combo. But non-cheap. I bought mine when they had a "bundle" deal going on. I think I paid £379 for both, along with various covers. Looking at the Cycliq site now - https://cycliq.co.uk/collections/bundles - it looks like I got a bargain. The way I figured it, if I was in a serious collision, maybe killed, or put in a wheel chair, having the proof of liability would be well worth the spend.

 

[Arjimlad]

Id have said, "do you know who I am?"

Theyd have replied "No"

And id have kicked his mirror off and made good my escape.

I think that would've been less satisiying that seeing him get his 8r5e kicked in court, and probably more hazardous for me. Not being Jack Reacher-ish, myself!!