Flashpoint High-Grade Alloy Bicycle Bracket for 31.8mm Handlebars, Allows the Mounting of Ballheads
Nice design but transfers too much shake
Pros: Lightweight
Best Uses: Casual riding
Describe Yourself: Photo Enthusiast
First and foremost, Adorama says you need a ball head to use this. You do NOT need a ball head. It can help and make the mount more flexible, but it is NOT necessary, as the mount comes with both a 1/4" and 3/8" thread. If you're just going to mount the camera pointed forward, you can save the money and skip the ball head.
I came across this camera mount on Adorama, and looked at it for a while before deciding to buy it. My plan was to use it to mount my Canon SD800 (small point-and-shoot) and shoot video. When I got it, I was impressed with the build quality, it does not look cheap at all, and the hardware is quality. Installation is very easy.
The problem, however, is the same with a ball head or without. At moderate speeds, the camera works very well, with only moderate shake, as can be seen in the following short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wHd3yhPFJU
However, on the mountain bike (with front suspension) or on the road bike (carbon fiber frame and fork) once you start reaching any type of "interesting" speeds, the vibration is such that my camera winds up shutting itself off, and even if the camera was recording at the time, the file that was recording is lost.
For example, I rode a course at casual speeds, and got 10 minutes of good quality footage. During a race on the same trails, however, I got nothing, because the higher speed and sharper bumps caused the camera to shut off. On the road bike, I could cruise around town, but when I headed for a high-speed downhill, it would shut off soon after I started.
It is possible that other cameras would have better results, if they are more resistant to vibration. Understand - I'm not talking about the shake reduction feature in the camera (the SD800 has this) - I'm talking about being bolted to your handlebars and shaken pretty hard.
For cruising around the beach, a casual bike trip, or really smooth roads, it'll probably work pretty well, but for anything more interesting, you'll have to look elsewhere.
For my use, though, I'm saving up for a proper sports camera.
Mounted on mountain bike.
: Picture of Product
Short test video using the mount
: Mountain, Handlebar, Using Product, Road, Doylestown, MTB, Flashpoint, Mount, Bike
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