Sunday 21 March 2010

Adjustable GoPro Mounts?

In an earlier post I discussed the difficulties of mounting a GoPro camera to the handlebars of a motorbike using the standard GoPro mounts. The difficulty is caused because the GoPro mounts are not adjustable – they only work at 90 degrees to the handlebars. This is fine if your bars are straight and not swept back at all.



What is needed is something like this – a mount that is fully adjustable. In my earlier post I said I would raise this with GoPro and keep you updated. It’s now time for an update.

I have been corresponding with GoPro about this issue and the current need to buy 3rd party vendors mounts to overcome the problem. After some difficulty in getting them to understand the problem, they then said their developers are considering a balljoint type accessory for their products. If they do this and create such a mount, this will be good news for future buyers of the cameras. I imagine this might take some time to design, test, manufacture and bring to market, so in the meantime it looks like RAM mounts are the answer.

4 comments:

Chuck Pefley said...

Gary, thanks for doing the leg work on this. After all you folks get all the kinks worked out of this camera system it will be time for me to buy one -:)

Thanks, too, for your information on Altus unas ... think I got that right ... interesting stuff. How did you happen to have that info in the palm of your hand?

Unknown said...

Gary:

I also have a problem with their Suction mount for adhering to the car windshield. Firstly the mount is offset 90 degrees to the camera mount which means you have to use half of that adapter, and also the knob with the screw is not long enough to fasten the camera. If you look at the bayonet mount with screw knob it is longer than the 90degree adapter knobs. There is not enough clearance between the waterproof case to be able to turn the knob to fasten. I don't know why they just didn't supply all screw knobs the same length.
Also regarding pivoting of the long arm, you cannot take it apart and reverse the arm as there are no logitudinal splines on the other side, as when you mount the GoProHD upside down you need to shorten the length of the whole suction unit and you can't because of that pushbutton suction thing with lifting arm as it cannot be positioned 180 degrees the other way.
I have some other ideas which should be changed for more convenient motorcycle use which I don't wish to make public, at the moment.
I think someone should make a Rear View Mirror mount for the GoProHD so as not to impede forward vision whilst driving. Perhaps a strong rubber bungy cord around the mirror stem

bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin

Chris said...

I don't like any of the GoPro mounts. I've quit using them because they don't move in the right way -- just as you described. The panavise mount I have is just like the RAM mounts with a swivel ball. MUCH easier to get the correct angle. I also bought the same RAM mount that you and Bob have for the handlebars. It works well, but I not easy to change bikes without a wrench.

Gary France said...

I wonder if it is because the GoPro cameras are relatively new that their mounts don’t seem to work very well and the company haven’t had time to solve all the little problems yet. OK, for simple straight forward fixings to bicycles or crash helmets, I think they have got it right, but for any situation that needs any degree of adjustment, they don’t seem to work very well. If fact, they dont work at all. A good example is given by Bob when he says the screw knobs are not the same length and the shorter ones are not long enough in some situations – I had exactly the same experience. I was able to get over that problem as I had by chance purchased some other GoPro mounts that did include the longer threads, so I was able to cannibalise that, but I too would have been left without a solution if I had just purchased the standard mounts.

It seems that Bob , Chris and myself have all had to use other manufacturers mounts (maily RAM) to arrive at solutions that actually work on motorcycles, which is a shame because the cameras themselves produce fantastic results. The quality of the GoPro mounts is very good and I have no complaints there as the materials are excellent. It’s just that they don’t adjust to the angle that exist in the real world and this is the main reason we have all had to dump the GoPro mounts and go for something else.

I absolutely agree with Chris about the RAM solutions give the right results, but it is a pain to have to use a wrench to fit / remove the mounts. I love the screw knob idea that GoPro have for their mounts – if it only adjusted properly they would be excellent.

Bob has obviously got some good ideas about a better way to solve some of the problems. I don’t know how or even if you intend to raise these with GoPro, but I am planning on calling in to see them in October during my tour to give them some feedback on how I got on during a 15,000 mile motorcycle trip using their camera and how / why I didn’t use their mounts.