Cycliq Fly6 CE Camera and Rear Light

The Cycliq Fly6 CE updates what was arguably the best all-round rear bike light/camera combo. The redesigned mount and upgraded camera spec are welcome, but there are other issues that really shouldn't be happening on a £170 light.

• Pros: Better camera, better mount, larger battery, USB-C charging, auto date/time setting
• Cons: Poor placement of the charging socket, buttons harder to use, app can be a faff, possible water ingress issues, won't work as a light without Micro SD card

It's fair to credit Cycliq with if not inventing, at least making the rear camera/light combination into a real-world usable package on a daily basis. Back in 2014 George gave the Mk2 version of the original Fly6 four stars, high praise for a £175 device that only put out 30 lumens – a laughably meek offering by 2019 standards, where 100+ is the order of the day. Anyway, I purchased the Mk2 Fly6 soon after and have used it many hundreds of times since, with only the one disaster where the bracket snapped off and I returned from a ride apparently £175 poorer. To its credit Cycliq did replace the light; this was a known issue and a major improvement for the Fly6 CE is a total redesign of the fixing.

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Image quality

First and foremost, you're purchasing a Fly6 to record evidence of dangerous driving, in the hope that it might lead to a police prosecution or a speedily decided insurance claim in your favour in the event of an actual collision. I dislike these cameras being called 'safety' devices, as they do not keep you safe. Separate infrastructure and firmly enforced, visible policing backed up by a robust judicial process and sentencing helps to keep you 'safe'. What this camera does is make it more likely you'll get money – or justice – out of whoever hit you.

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The CE's upgrade to video quality of 1080p at 30 or 60fps is the headline improvement, along with the jump to 100 lumens of red LED light from 30. The image quality is certainly improved, but I found over a number of cases where I wanted to pass footage to police, that the CE still suffers from shortcomings in overcast, shadowed or fast-moving environments. There wasn't consistency in what did or didn't work – generally the rule of thumb was that if it was a brighter day, and the vehicle you were filming was going slower, the more likely you'd get a clear still of a number plate – but no guarantees. Certainly don't expect to get crystal-clear frame-by-frame footage all the time.

The latest firmware update purports to improve image quality in dark environments, which is a plus of the user-updatable system where functionality, performance and options can be improved over time, helping keep your investment valid. Recent updates improved battery life and changed how various algorithms such as the auto-camera-off 'Safe Home' feature worked, to keep a possibly legally-required rear light working by stopping video when the battery is flagging.

App faff

In his review of the Fly12 CE front-facing light/camera, Dave found the app to be somewhat of a faff – and it's the same app with the same issues for the Fly6 CE. You need the app to properly configure the CE, and both Android and iOS are supported. You can change the name of the Fly6 in the new app, but not that of a Fly12 if you happen to own one.

Once the app scans and finds the light, it shows battery level and the percentage of free space on the memory card – you can also access the video/sound settings, and you can remove certain lighting options if you don't want to have to cycle through them using the buttons on the light. Finally, you can quickly turn on the theft alarm.

The theft alarm feature isn't a bad idea but the execution is poor. When the light (ie your bike) is moved, the LEDs start flashing, it starts beeping constantly (not that loud, mind), and most importantly, if your phone is within Bluetooth range the app will alert you with a klaxon sound and vibration. Note that if you have Do Not Disturb set on your phone, or your phone is locked, or the sound is muted, the app won't override this – you have to have the app open, on the screen with your phone unlocked, in order to receive theft notifications. So during that 30-minute cafe stop your phone needs to be awake the whole time. Not great.

Also annoyingly, you can't be connected to two lights at the same time – so if like me you also have the Fly12CE to wrangle at the start of a ride, you need to connect to one light, set it, disconnect, connect to the next light, and so on. Of course you can just press the power buttons, if you are certain of battery level and what options you want.

Hardware

So the software and features are a bit of a mixed bag. The hardware is the same mixed bag – the improved mount being better, but the two buttons are now completely flush and hard to actuate with thick gloves on. The old buttons on the Fly6 were quite raised, and you definitely knew you were pressing them.

A major gripe of mine is with the little rubber flap covering the charging and Micro SD card ports on the top of the light. This cover is very easy to knock open with your hand when wiping the lens, which you'll likely be doing often if it's a damp day. This means that the USB-C and SD ports can get clogged with muck, and more than once I had to get busy with a toothpick to de-clog things. The fit of the rubber is snug, so until you've removed all trace of mud it's not going to close either – doing this road or trailside is not an exercise in happiness reflecting £170 well-spent.

As the rubber cover sits on top of the SD card, it is also rather disconcertingly easy to press the top of the SD card through the rubber, making it click out, and likely fall out completely. This is bad for two reasons: firstly no recording, and secondly no light – if the SD card falls out the light function won't work, potentially leaving you light-less until you purchase another card.

There have been reports of water ingress problems on many internet forums, but I found my one to be sound. Best keep your proof of purchase handy.

The new quarter-turn mount system is a great improvement on the old version, the small bracket fixing to your seatpost with a rubberised Velcro strap. You also get adapters and a longer strap for use on aero seatposts. The light clicks into place firmly and there's nary a hint of movement, and over some very long, rocky gravel road and track descents it stayed put.

Unlike the original Fly6, you don't get a Micro SD card included – so you'll need to factor that into the purchase. A 32GB card is good for about two hours' recording before it gets overwritten, but any files of incidents that you've tagged by pressing the 'Q' button or that have been locked by the 'falling over for a bit' sensor will be protected.

If you own a newer ANT+-enabled bike computer such as a Garmin 520, you can add the Fly6 CE as a light, and operate controls from the computer. This is likely to be preferable to faffing with the app for basic on-off settings. Check Garmin's or the ANT+ website for compatibility with your Garmin/ANT+ device first though.

Battery life

Over a typical four-hour ride with the light set to its brightest flash, the battery was sufficient – you get audible battery level warnings at startup and shutdown, and you can set regular reminder beeps that it's still recording. If you need to capture a poor driving incident, a quick press of the 'Q' button gives three chirps to let you know that section of footage has been protected and won't be overwritten. If you have an ANT+-compatible model, your head unit will show battery level too.

Once back home and wanting to review footage, you'll likely have to pop the SD card in your PC. You can access it via the USB-C port, but if the light needs charging you'll likely get an error warning that it's wanting too much current. With the light charged, accessing the card via USB-C is fine.

One major bonus of the new CE firmware is, unlike the earlier versions of the Fly6, you don't need to manually set the footage date/time by saving a config file – it all happens automagically as the light talks to the app on the phone.

Conclusion

So overall a very mixed bag, for your £169.99 RRP or more likely around £140 at time of review. It's good to see Cycliq investing in the app and new firmware to improve the user experience and battery/camera performance, but you can't help feeling this is stuff it should have got right at the launch of the updated CE models. The hardware foibles of rubber cover, button feel/position, and reported water ingress will hopefully be sorted in the Fly6 Mk 4. Until that comes out, the Fly6 CE is still – warts and all – the best all-in-one rear camera/light package out there.

Verdict

As an all-in-one camera-light package it's good, with a few notable issues to be aware of