Take us for a drive in your country

^ Will do! However I think I remember seeing something saying that mine should be able to hold that too. However there is a big difference between being able to support it and being able to support it solidly. Yours is a different design so maybe it will - also is that wire/cable a tensioning thing?

Took mine out again today and its still the same. There is a very loud rattle; it was louder when it was mounted in one position than another. No idea where its coming from either; must be the camera shaking and hitting the window/dash/bodywork. Then there is still a lot of shaking, however mostly only on potholes/bumps etc. Mostly though the camera does move about a bit, rather than Ice's GoPro's solid static position in relation to the car. There was also the issue that because today is a very sunny day, and the camera was adjusted to the interior, that all of the windows, and me to the most part, were completely white and overexposed.
 
The most important thing about the one I ordered, is the fact that the mounting plate for the camera can be turned 360?. That enables it to be mounted even at the most sloped of windscreens without the suction cup blocking the view and in a way that vibrations aren't magnified and transmitted to the camera due to a long leverage.

Leverage, produced by the vertical movements of the car (bumpy road), is the main source for vibrations, no matter if you mount the camera on a tripod (tripod = lever), use a suction cup mount with a 10 cm long plastic arm (arm = lever) or squeeeze it between backrest and headrest of a seat (seat = lever).

Killing off that leverage does the trick and I reckon' I can do that with this new Hama mount. I'll take a picture once I have mounted it the way I have in my mind, so you can see what I mean.

The rattling you hear, is probably produced by the camera itself. One of the reasons I bought a real HD video camera now is, that it doesn't produce any rattling noises, when you shake it. In addition to that, you should avoid fixing the camera with duct tape or velcro, because the shaking of the car will produce crackling noises then as well. And those microphone pick up noises in their direct vicinity very well.
 
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Had another go, with a small extension that allows for more articulation, but also makes the handle longer and seems to shake more. :( I'll probably just use the arm alone and pop it on the windshield only.

 
Alright, my new suction cup holder is here. Actually the word "holder" is a bit of an euphemism. It's more like a gun rack:

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I made a test video today and I'm currently editing it for upload.
 
I'm gonna put it in the middle of the windshield tomorrow and record in 720p 60fps, which has a 170? angle. :eek:
 
Alright, after careful consideration I decided to send the camcorder back to Amazon. Today is the last day of the 30-day return period and I am making use of it.

The reason is simple: The device is not suitable for the intended purpose.

I tried for weeks to get a decent, steady, sharp picture out of it but the results are overall unsatisfying. The flaws are as follows:

- Problems with focussing. You can forget the auto focus and the manual focus isn't too good either.

- Microphone is constantly in overdrive. For some reason it varies. Sometimes it's ok, sometimes even driving down a smooth road produces distortions. Also the microphone records much too much deep frequency.

- Jerky picture. The camera doesn't have an effective stabilizer. I hoped the new suction cup mount would make a difference but it doesn't. On the contrary: It makes things worse. Due to its rigidity, there is no way of counter-balancing movements (like it was the case with the tripod or the backrest of the passenger seat). I tried to make an Autobahn video with the new mount but it was a disaster. The cars were literally jumping around on the right lane. And I'm curently not out in my Golf but in a BMW 5-series.

Last point was the decisive factor, especially after I saw Icebone's videos. I will now think about getting such an action camera, too, since they seem to produce a very steady picture, even when they have their flaws, too.

Currently, however, I'm back to my old camera, which produces a rocksteady picture with the new suction cup mount. I will do an Autobahn video later today to see, how well this new mount actually works.

At the moment I'm still uploading a video I made with the camcorder. It's the best I was able to achieve but I threw away hours and hours of videos, that turned out badly.
 
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So what is wrong with your current camera if it produces a solid image? What camera is it, too? Shamme about the camcorder, but at least you were still in the cooling period. Just. :p
 
Well, my current camera isn't HD and it can only reford for 10 minutes, before it stops automatically.

Anyway, Here's the video I made with the camcorder. It's a drive to a fish restaurant I like, cut short a bit to make it fit into YouTube:


The strong tire noise comes with the fact, that the car was registred in the winter months and therefore still has snow tires mounted. It's a BMW 525d, btw. and I'm not sure, if I should write a full review about it. Maybe an update on my existing 5er review.
 
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The GoPro can record a max of 2.5 hours on a single charge (1080p or 720p 60fps, other modes get more) and up to 9 hours on a 32GB card (see before). The only downsides I can think of right now are the lack of lcd screen (can be added), and the lack of proper articulation with the base suctioncup mount and adding the articulation extenders makes it a lot less sturdy. :( The 170? angle at 720p is insane, though.
 
- Jerky picture. The camera doesn't have an effective stabilizer. I hoped the new suction cup mount would make a difference but it doesn't. On the contrary: It makes things worse. Due to its rigidity, there is no way of counter-balancing movements (like it was the case with the tripod or the backrest of the passenger seat). I tried to make an Autobahn video with the new mount but it was a disaster. The cars were literally jumping around on the right lane. And I'm curently not out in my Golf but in a BMW 5-series.

You can always wear a steady cam. :p It would make driving a bit more interesting/possibly illegal. :p
 
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WARNING! THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IS VERY BORING!

Went to the shop to buy an sd card for the gopro, since I've been leeching off of dad for the past few days.
Modified the mount a bit to try and reduce the shaking.
Didn't work.
Will go back to the old way and just suck up the bumpiness.
Forgot to bring the dictaphone.
RAGE AGAINST THE SLOW DRIVERS.
Need to clean my windshield next time.

 
Video 1: Middle-aged lady + Toyota Sienna = OMFG!

Now, to be fair, it's late afternoon and she was facing west (into the setting sun). Still, didn't notice how everyone else was STOPPED for a solid 5-10 seconds!?

Video 2: I guess if you gotta get off, you gotta get off....


Video 3: Washed the car and instead of hand-drying, I went for a run down the highway to "blow dry."

Took some heat for putting all-seasons on an M3 but I think these tires work good enough for me :)
 
Veritable: Where did you mount the camera? That angle looks perfect. I'm assuming you used the flexible helmet mount on the headrest and recorded in 720p.
 
He probably fixed it to the passenger seat's head rest.

I've been experimenting with the suction cup mount, too. Currently I'm working on perfecting this angle:

5646305274_af21f8ec71_o.jpg


You see the speedo, the rev counter, the sat nav and of course me actually driving. That and the data you can see makes the whole thing much more interesting. And if I figure out the right angle, I can also adjust the rear mirror in a way you can see what's going on behind me.

I'm planning to go out later, shortly before the sun sets, and do a stretch of Autobahn with that angle.
 
Tomorrow I think I'm going to be able to test out my camera for a bit in the new car. Lets see if a more comfy car makes a massive difference :p

And I remember Veritable saying before that its mounted to the sunroof with the suction mount. :) Something I can now do too! That angle really does look decent, Mac. A bit lower and it'd be great, but then I guess you'd need an extension for that -> more vibrations :(
 
I think it's okay. Here is a glimpse of the final result:

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I just went for a really nice drive on two short but sweet roads near me. I think I might record them - they're beautiful right now.
 
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