suction cup mount strong enough to mount on a board?

[west carven]

howdy all

i'm thinking of getting a go pro video camera and was wondering what

kind of board mount to get. the surf mount seems like the way to go

but, once you put it on its there forever. my question is is the suction

cup mount strong enough to mount on a board?

thanks for any input...

[Corey]

Not GoPro mounts but I tried two different suction cup mounting methods and both came off within a minute of riding. Once they were off any little grain of snow prevented the cups from getting a seal again. This was on a pretty cold day though, maybe it'll work better on a slushy day.

This same mount will stick on a car fender all day long at 70 mph. Granted, there's a whole lot less vibration in a car!

[GeoffV]

The suction cup on the GoPro is strong enough to stay on. I had it on for a day or 2 at the ECES, but the problem is the arm isn't strong enough to hold the GoPro in place. I had it mounted right near the nose. Once the nose started oscillating the GoPro would flop back and forth. I've used it on my motorcycle and it does just fine for that.

You'll need to find something to mount to the binding.

[eajracing]

I find it specific to the surface finish of the board. The smoother/glossier - the better it sticks. On my matte finish prior - notta. Still - i'd reccomend tying it back to a binding or something fixed with a shoelace (at least thats how i did it) if you ever get into the deep stuff. That shoelace has saved mine on more than one occasion in flat light when a cat track appears out of nowhere. Even started using it on the helmet mount too.

[shawndoggy]

My experience was negative.... dry, it'll stick pretty good. but if there's any moisture on the board, the mount will start to "skate" on the surface of the board, eventually falling off. I could never get mine to stay on for longer than a couple minutes.

The semi-permanent surfboard mount is a way better choice imho.

[SunSurfer]

This model will soon be released due to overwhelming consumer demand. It features a 10 inch (25.5cm) long forward extension beyond the front binding inserts with a permanently attached Manfrotto ball head for maximum versatility in camera angles. The same qualities that give the rider a more stable ride translate into a better mounting point for the camera.

Sunsurfer ;)

[davekempmeister]

I have used the surfboard mount (w/3M 2-way adheive) succesfully but even that failed at brutally cold temps. Got brittle and chipped off landing on groom off a roller. I reused the same disc after cleaning it up, purchasing new sheets of 3M 2-way and cutting to size. Failed again in the brutal cold when the plastic mount portion of the disc got brittle (- temps) and the weight of the camera itself was too much to bear mid-turn. Had to take a hike to find it that time. Always interesting to watch the footage of such incidents. Never used suction cups on the snowboard because I have no confidence in it.

[shawndoggy]

I have used the surfboard mount (w/3M 2-way adheive) succesfully but even that failed at brutally cold temps. Got brittle and chipped off landing on groom off a roller. I reused the same disc after cleaning it up, purchasing new sheets of 3M 2-way and cutting to size. Failed again in the brutal cold when the plastic mount portion of the disc got brittle (- temps) and the weight of the camera itself was too much to bear mid-turn. Had to take a hike to find it that time. Always interesting to watch the footage of such incidents. Never used suction cups on the snowboard because I have no confidence in it.

Interesting, dave. Did you heat the 3M vhb before sticking it, and then let it cure for a while? I've had tons of success with that stuff, especially if I get it super-gooey with a blowdrier for a while first. Granted, I've not tried to use it in "brutally cold temps". My temp range is usually 20F+.

EDIT: my avatar is actually shot from one of the stick on helmet mounts (which I would not recommend trying at home) that I used the blow drier trick on.

[shawndoggy]

This model will soon be released due to overwhelming consumer demand. It features a 10 inch (25.5cm) long forward extension beyond the front binding inserts with a permanently attached Manfrotto ball head for maximum versatility in camera angles. The same qualities that give the rider a more stable ride translate into a better mounting point for the camera.

Sunsurfer ;)

I know that's supposed to be a joke, but IMHO it would still be undesireable because to get a good camera angle you want to get the camera as far to the front (or back) of the board as possible (gets more rider in the board). 10" from front binding would just get a whole lot a knee in the shot.

[davekempmeister]

Admittedly Shawndoggy, I was less tactful than you. Next mounting job will be to a higher standard.

[shawndoggy]

Admittedly Shawndoggy, I was less tactful than you. Next mounting job will be to a higher standard.

LOL, "tact"ful! :)

Really though if it doesn't work in the really cold temps that would be interesting to know. How cold was it?

[davekempmeister]

At Copper one morning up top it was way cold (5 degress or so) and after the lift ride I dismounted and just dropped the board from an upright position. When it landed on it's base with a big thump, the 2way adhesive fractured and the disc slid off the board like a hockey puck. It left about 1/3 of the adhesive on the board with the rest stillstuck to the disc.

When I cleaned the disc up and used sheets of 3M 2way that I purchased and cut (which seemed thicker and spongier than what was provided with the mount), I got several days use before it failed again. At Breckenridge on a typically cold December day ( - temps), I landed not so lightly on hardpack groom off a roller and the whole thing broke free. The last incident was when the plastic itself broke mid-turn in some rough crud. I almost got broken off the board so I wasn't surprised when the mount broke. Rough ride.

[eajracing]

Very much with Shawndoggy on this one. I had one experience in similarly cold weather i that I let the adhesive cure for a few hours on my helmet and a slight graze from the chair bar knocked it clean off. Repeated with the heat/let cure overnight routine, went back out the next morning in the same cold and had no problems the first run. Second run i opened it up, buried th nose in some soft stuff and it was still attached after however many cartwheels it took to come to a stop. The footage, going blue sky/white snow/blue sky/white snow and interspersed with flailing arms, albeit hilarious, generally leads to nausea.