So disappointed by Cycliq
 

I bought a Fly6 CE from Cycliq a while back. Seems like a cool idea and I wanted a rear cam after getting hit and run. My first Fly6 didn't work. It would record a few minutes and turn off mid ride without explanation, usually after 2 or 3 five-minute segments. I tried everything I could using their support website, and then eventually it bricked itself. Great. I contacted their support and was able to get them to send me a replacement after about two weeks of back and forth (time zone issues as their support is in W. Australia vice me in the US).

I got my replacement recently and today I took it on my commute. On my way into work, it seemed like it worked as expected. It stayed on the whole ride and seemed like it worked fine. I turned it on when I left work, and when I got home... it's off. :bang: I hook it up to my PC, and the SD card is corrupted. None of the data can be read at all. It makes me do a full reset and format of the device and SD card, respectively.

At this point, I'm just OVER it. All in, this is a $200 device, I'm on my second one, and it's never worked right. I can't understand how they were able to bring something so flaky and unreliable to market. I reached out to their support to ask for return shipping information and a refund because I'm tired of being out $200 for something that doesn't work. :crash:

Has anyone else had a similar experience with their Cycliq gizmos?

Are you using your card or theirs? Mine did not come with a card, and I found out that if you don't use one of the "high speed" type mini SD cards, you can have problems. I used the card out of my phone and had problems until I replaced it.

Could be your card is not high speed, or not compatible, or damaged.

I had one that didn't hold a charge... but it was going on 4 years old.. so not totally surprised.. I picked up the current one and it's been fine.

I found out on mine (Fly 12) I can run a 64 gb card fine, even though the instructions say you can only use a 32.

I bought a new one from their recommended list (not their branded one), and their support guy said it's fine. It's brand new so I'd be surprised if it was damaged, and I can read it fine in the PC directly with an adapter (i.e. not in the cam). :(

I try not to pull out the card on mine unless absolutely necessary, the connections are kinda finicky, and the cards delicate. I would try another card.

I quadruple checked the settings and the card compatibility last night. I set it to beep for status every 5 minutes. It switched off every 17 minutes or so. The first couple of times, I was able to page into the app and reactivate it. The last time, it froze and wouldn't turn back on. Last reported battery was 77% so it's not dead.

The recordings from when it was on are there today, que milagro. It recorded 2x 5 minute segments each time. I was tracking the beeps and was definitely getting a third one before the light shut off, but that would be 15+ minutes and there's no footage to reflect that.

I'm going to try a different SD card this weekend but I'm not optimistic given the circumstances.

You're using the software, right? There's a little Cycliq program that's used to adjust resolution, beeps, etc. If none of that works, I would guess you have a bad unit.

https://cycliq.com/software/

Hi OhLylo,

I am a representative from Cycliq and I am so sorry to hear you have experienced these troubles. Without your name I'm unable to look up your support ticket, may I have this please?

In the mean time, I would definitely try another SD card. It could be the SD card itself - might just be dodgy, even if it is on our approved list. I would also ensure that you have the most up to date version of firmware. You can learn how to update your device at cycliq.com/software. This will fix any known bug we have had reported to us.

I apologise for making you take the above steps. If they don't work, definitely get back in touch with our support team at cycliq.com/support. I can also have them reach out to you if you provide me with either your email address, full name or last ticket number.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation, I assure you will make sure you have a working device as soon as possible.

Claire - Cycliq marketing assistant

Where did you purchase your SD card?

Never purchase any SD card (name brand or not) online from China via E-Bay (and probably not ali-express, Amazon, etc).

Try reformatting the card in the camera a few times. Seriously, some action cams can be very picky about media cards, regardless of brand and class.

Over the past couple of years I've gone from 8 GB to 16 to 32 GB cards, some SanDisk, some no-names, with my Ion Speed Pro. Each time the cards had to be used, reused, and reformatted a few times to clean up any glitches. Otherwise the camera would record only a few minutes and quit. But after a few uses all of them were reliable.

Before your next ride, try just running the Cycliq around the house until it's full. Check the files, then delete, recharge and run again (or run continuously from an external battery if you have one). Try that a few times and see if it clears up the glitches. That's what I do anytime I use a new card.

Yeah, those mini SD cards can be really finicky. Once I have one in the camera and working properly, I don't like to take it out unless absolutely necessary. When you think about how much bulk data they can hold, and how small they are, it's pretty amazing they work at all.

8" floppies, 5 1/4" floppies... or those tiny 3 1/2" floppies that the Macintoshes used (with a huge 1.44 MB capacity)?

One other point about the microSD cards is that there apparently was a change at 32 GB.

I think the first generation Cycliq Fly devices only go up to 32GB.

I'm not sure about the 2nd generation Fly CE devices.

Today's update: I did the firmware upgrade last night. That worked fine. I fired it up this morning for my commute, and it shut itself off before the 15 minute mark. :crash: Thankfully, I remembered to attach my other rear light so I wasn't invisible on the road.

Did you get in touch with the Cycliq person how reached out to you above? Get a different unit.

Your Fly6 is mounted vertically, right?

I didn't, but only because I filed a PayPal claim for a refund. This is my second one - what are the odds that I got not one, but two factory defective units? I had a support ticket with them already and requested a refund after my second unit didn't work, and they wanted me to ship it to Western Australia from the US, which is ~$85...

Yep! Vertical mount on my rear pannier rack with their optional rack mounting thingy.

The odds on that are extremely low. I know you don't want to hear this, but I'd bet it is something you're doing. With outgoing quality levels on electronics being what they are, that's is the more likely outcome.

I just received a Fly6ce and installed a 64GB Samsung Evo 32GB UHS-1 card and it worked perfectly.

J.

I tend to agree, but I'm not sure what else to do given that I've worked through two devices and every troubleshooting step they've offered. I'm not a luddite, I work in IT and I like to think I'm pretty competent when it comes to fiddling with tech. At this point, it's just more of a hassle than it's worth.

I'd bet it's the SD card speed. There's a lot of BS going on between manufacturers on speed. Samung tends to lead the industry by a fair amount in process technology in FLASH. I've had zero problems with the Samsung high speed cards I mentioned. Might be worth a try. I don't think I'd take Cycliq's word for it - small company and I doubt they have any real resources to test card speed. I'm betting their "test" probably was putting a card in and trying it and then calling it good.

J.

What resolutions does the camera support?

Is there a way to drop the resolution down a bit? 720p, 1080p? Perhaps a slower frame rate.

If it bonks on high resolution, but not low resolution, then either speed, or perhaps a faulty card would be an issue.

I have a first gen Fly 6. It did OK for a while. The straps were a problem, and I broke a few of them.

I think over time the battery started getting weak, and would tend to konk out earlier than expected. The, the USB port eventually stopped charging, and the device became a paperweight.

I asked about orientation because there is a 15 minute auto-off feature related to wrecks and crashes. That shouldn't be an issue if kept mostly vertical from the time it is turned on through the ride. Mine worked just fine upside-down too. But, it will stop if the thing is tilted sideways for a period.

Now, it is possible that the orientation sensor is damaged???

Or perhaps a faulty battery????

I think the new Fly6CE has a few different modes including camera only (no light), and perhaps light only (no camera). You could try to replicate the issue with the camera only mode, or light only mode.

But, for new devices, I would hope a faulty battery isn't the issue, especially since they are supposed to be a pain to replace.

Yeah, it supports 1080/60, 1080/30, and I think 720/60 as well. I've been disabling the idle mode and incident mode settings to rule them out, but I thought the incident mode was supposed to just prevent the footage from being overwritten if you crash or whatever? That should rule out the orientation sensor, at any rate. The battery seems fine, it's not running out of charge when it shuts off. When I check it after, it's always been at 80% or higher.

Paypal awarded me a refund yesterday, so I can safely let it sit on my desk and be useless now. Shame, though. It's a cool device, but it shouldn't require this level of tinkering to work consistently, especially when the main selling point is as a safety enhancement device.

Now I'm having problems with mine (and it's brand new). I'm wondering if there aren't a bad batch of these out there. I have one I just got off of Amazon and it won't record, runs 5 mins and shuts off. I can power it on but I can't power it off. And it doesn't matter whether there's a card in there or not. I've reformatted the card in the unit (supposedly), I've reformatted it on my mac to MS-DOS format, etc... It's nonfunctional at the most basic level (ie. power off button).

I'm thinking they might have a problem. The probability that we both are having trouble is not a good sign.

J.

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that. That sounds like the exact same flaky stuff mine was doing. I don't see an obvious indicator for build date or batch on either of mine, although one has a 4xxxxxxx serial number and one has a 5xxxxxxx serial number. Not sure if that means one is a later build or what.