Fly6 was created with the ambition of ensuring drivers know that they are being watched and recorded – in the hope that this would cause them to act responsibly. And of course, in the event they don’t, they are on camera.
The practice of riding with a camera on the helmet or handlebars has become pretty common, and we’ve seen plenty of examples of it resulting in police action and prosecution. However, until now, what’s going on behind the cyclist has been a black abyss for evidence. Not now.
The Fly6 is a rear light, with a high definition video and audio recorder built in. A quick download allows you to embed time and date in the right hand corner, making it a perfect tool should evidence ever be required.
Of course, the Fly6 can also double up as a fun toy for those who want to capture their rides from the front and back, in order to make short films to post on YouTube and share with their friends – and I can also see a rear camera being really fun for crit or road racers, who want to see what was happening in the pack (especially just before the final sprint to the line).
Launched via a Kickstarter project that eventually reached its target, Fly6 was backed by 1,780 people, and the first units have just been released. A unit will set you back $135, plus delivery, and they are expected to arrive in June or July.
Setting up the Fly6
The Fly6 arrived in a very stylish box, which included 2 plastic mounts, several rubber spacers, an aero spacer to make the light fit an aero seat post, rubber bands to attach the light, and a USB cord to wire it up to my computer.
Attaching the light is incredibly easy. The Fly6 slots onto a mount, and spacers are used to ensure it is sitting perpendicular to the ground. Rubber bands then fit onto each side of the mount.
The inclusion of a mount for an aero seat post impressed me – and I tested it riding my time trial bike, and it worked fantastically. Finding a light that sits straight on a TT bike is a bit of a challenge in itself, let alone one that also records the action.
It’s a good idea to programme the Fly6 with the correct date and time, and this was very easy. I simply plugged the Fly6 in, opened the ‘Fly6’ folder now under ‘My Computer’, selected ‘Date and Time Config’, which was a folder holding a Notepad document, edited the details , and then resaved the file on the Fly6 – job done. I’m not the most computer literate, so I was pleased the job was simple.
Charging the Fly6 is simple, it just plugs in via USB, and full juice gives you around 5 hours.
The Fly6 is waterproof, but of course if you ride through some really dirty conditions and the lens becomes covered, all you’ll see is mud splatters on screen until you wipe it.
The camera is a 720HD, and does work in low light conditions, but it won’t work in the dark. The lens has a 130 degree view, so you can see what’s going on either side of you, rather than just directly behind.
In terms of brightness, demo models have about 10 lumens, but the on-sale models (in their sixth-generation) should give out about 15. I checked the brightness out in the dark, and it seemed sufficient, but it’s worth nothing that illuminating you isn’t the Fly6’s primary job, really.
Fly6 in action
The mount is very stable, and I didn’t notice it wobbling around behind me.
I’ll admit when using it for a time trial, I was a bit worried that: 1) the mount might slip, smashing it into my rear wheel, and ending my race, 2) it might be actually quite heavy, thus making my other attempts to lessen the weight of my bike a waste.
Thankfully, everything stayed firmly in place, and the Fly6 weighs in at just over 100 grams.
With just two buttons, one for ‘on/off’ and one to take the light from bright, to dim, to totally off (recording only), operation was pretty simple.
Watching the footage
The footage is recorded in 15 minute intervals, and each of these is automatically saved in a file, named by the date and time. Each day’s recording is also automatically filtered into a new file, which was very neat and easy to access.
All footage was saved as AVI files, and I could view these straight away on my Windows laptop. I could also open the files with Windows Media Player and Movie Maker easily. The files were all about 800 MB in 15minute chunks, and still around 200 MB when I cropped them down to 4minute sections, so to save myself waiting 5 hours to upload to YouTube, I took screenshots.
Here’s the Fly6 on a sunny day, racing down a Time Trial dual carriageway:
Here’s someone overtaking me 🙁 :
And here’s the Fly6 on a slighly damp day – as you can see, the lens has some blur from moisture on it, but you can still see the numberplate of a car (this driver did nothing wrong at all, it’s purely an example):
The Fly6 also, as you can see, struggles a tiny bit when the sun is low and shining directly on it, but you still get a crisp picture:
The verdict
The Fly6 performed exactly as it should. It had everything needed to make it work included in the box, and nothing was complicated. If I were unfortunate enough to be caught up in an accident, I would be pleased to have it with me.
In terms of enjoyment of the footage, I can’t say I captured anything inspiring, and to make an engaging video, I think you would need to combine it with footage of what’s going on ahead.
Used as a toy, the Fly6 is quite an expensive one that doesn’t provide that much excitement, but if you are unlucky enough to need it to fight your corner, it will certainly provide the evidence required.
To find out more about the Fly6 visit their website.
You said you can turn the light off and gave recording only, does this include the “Halo”?
Hi Bart – You can’t turn off the rotating ‘bezel’ lights, which show the camera is recording, but you can turn off the tail lights. The bezel lights are not that bright. Hope that answers your question!
I thought that was the case. was more to do with battery life, I’ll just have to ride faster. looking forward to mine arriving! thanks Michelle
Not sure about breaking the footage into 15-minute intervals.
I was told by police to always state the time and date (and pref location/journey plan) into the camera at the start of the trip, as this provides more solid evidence than the on-screen date stamp.
Having separate video sections would nullify that.
Great article and review,wish i had one yesterday when cycling through richmond,i was in the cycle lane when a silly women forced me into the curb almost knocking me off,would u believe she had no hands on the wheel,looking at and working her i phone,when i challenged her about it she says it was a sat nav oh yah,i thought all i phones today where sat nav capable,anyway whats that got to do with no hands.thanks
Did I miss ‘how long does it run for until the battery is flat’?
For about £26 a wide angle D type lens, 808 camera can be purchased from ebay, Eletoponline365, it has a 720P resolution and runs for about 30 min’s but a USB charge booster battery can be plugged into it for longer run times.
The Mobius camera has a lens view of about 110 degrees, is 1080P and runs for about 80 minutes without an external USB battery. Great pictures. That is about £55, same company.
These cameras are reviewed on Techmoan.com.
I’ve put a similar small camera into a little box at the end of my rear rack.
Seems like a good idea if it will stand up in court as evidence. I wish I had one 3 years ago when I was hit by a car from behind totally smashing wrist on landing. Although I received a small compensation payout a few weeks ago the driver was found not guilty in the criminal court due to insufficient evidence
If riding at night, how well does the camera pick up detail? Low light is a problem for my Dog Bullet Camera.
Battery life on production model a lot less than quoted,
4 hrs 13 min with camera only,
3 hrs 40min with camera & lights.
Beaver2000, i was thinking that too Beaver2000, i also noticed that i turned it off last night with the two beep indicator, 50% charge left, turned back on and lasted 15 minutes. i will test mine and let you know.
Hi Beaver & Bart – we have found that in some units, the microSD card shipped with ‘bad sectors’ that can be resolved by doing a ‘full reformat’ (not a ‘quick’ one) using Windows or by downloading SD Formatter for Mac and doing an ‘overwrite’ format. It sorts out issues caused by the bad sectors – including battery life. Give that a go and feel free to contact us at info@fly-lites.com with the results. You should get 5 hours with the lights on!
Is there a link to a site that will have the download for “A quick download allows you to embed time and date in the right hand corner”, please?.
Embedding the time date stamp in explained on the FAQ section of the Fly6 website;
http://fly6.com/support/faqs/
Process is a little fiddly. You need to text edit the a file on the memory card and reboot the Fly6 to install.
Sorry for slow reply.
Well, it looks like my enquiry is not required to be answered. I did a test video of myself (haha) and upon replay, date and time is showing on video, so nvm everyone. thank u. 🙂
To their credit, the Fly6 guys claim the camera/light has+5 hrs and will replace units that come in under that. I have a replacement Fly6 in the post apparently.
Have to say Andrew has been great, mine was only recording 2.5 hours and have received a replacement today. Testing now to establish record time on this unit
Very pleased with the Fly6 v2. The update takes up less space than the original, and there has been an improvement in the camera lens uses
some people say that its bulky – it is, but thats because we’re use to iPhones which have much more compact processing power and 6x the price! Today this is one of the smaller cameras on the market – AND INCLUDES A LIGHT!! The size is not an issue!
The mount however is ridiculously tight. Clicliq supplies two mounts in the box so you’ll be able to move between bikes. In reality they are so tight, its likely you’ll break one, trying to get the light off the mount.
Great battery life and performance.
I’ve put a more thorough review, including pictures of the problem mount on http://www.titaniumgeek.com