Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Sorry it took so long to get these. We did mount the camera but the vibrations produced some pretty poor quality video. So rather than waste time with uploading inviewable videos we decided to post some pics of it mounted on the snowblower. It was a temporary mount.

Better luck next time I guess.

Looks cool Steve but didn't the quick chute joystick get in the way when it was positioned to the operators right?

Paul7 wrote:

Thanks, yes it did to a point. If I could use a different mount I would put it forward on the panel and then it would fully clear the joystick. I had to test it because I didn't want to keep the camera if it wouldn't work.

I think it needs a good vibration dampening mount. If I buy one of those it's going to be for a proper camcorder. We will be buying a proper HD camcorder in March when the new models are released.

My wife felt the money was better spent on a high end camera rather than the GoPro. We might still have snow coming down in March.

Steve,  Maybe you would be better mounting the camera on a helmet. The standard tripod mounting hole is usually threaded for a 1/4-20. A couple of large washers with a bolt & nut passed though the cooling hole of a bike helmet would work.

GtWtNorth wrote:
I can envision Steve_Cebu sitting in a psychiatrist's office wearing a straight jacket explaining his behavior after they throw the net on him and take him away. "See Doc, I belong to this OPE forum where everybody is really into snowblowers and I video myself using my snowblower".  The Doc says, "It's OK Steve, I like snowblowers too...".

GtWtNorth wrote:

Actually the kit I bought was the  Helmet Hero and is designed to mount on helmets.  However I don't have a helmet to mount it to nor would I want to be using my snowblower with a helmet. That's too much even for me.

"Yah might be a redneck if yah mount yer GoPro to a helmet to use yer snowblower." LOL

That said the kit did come with a strap that went around your head which we did try. But it doesn't fit very well even when really tight on my head and slides off my hat and I tried several hats. My wife is too small to use it as it won't adjust small enough for her.

I think what we will do is try and mount the new HD camera to it with a vibration reducing mount and noooooo we aren't buying that mount for the snowblower but for the car. My wife wants to do some AutoX and RallyX and that mount should eliminate most vibrations. If it fits on the Toro great if not then we'll have still have some HD footage as before but in 1080p60p!

FrankMA wrote:

Actually the nice men in the white coats were very polite and understanding.

Besides the vibration, are you seeing anyway electronic noise in the video?

Steve_Cebu wrote:

Not just the men in white, everybody is nice. Keep the sedatives coming.

Steve:

Have you thought of using an industrial hard hat?  You can get an inexpensive hard hat with a winter linger that wouldn't look strange but with a liner, will provide warmth and a stable platform for the camera. 

aa335 wrote:

No I didn't There was no jello effect like on older GoPro models, so I must have been far enough away from the engine or something.

borat wrote:

Yes, I did think of that and it would go over my hat as well. The thing that I found out is that you turn your head a LOT when snowblowing. You don't realize it but you look up and down and side to side a lot relative to looking straight ahead. In real life this isn't an issue and probably smart when snowblowing but it makes for truly awful, nausea inducing videos.  GoPro does make a chest mount and that should eliminate many problems, but for $40 I'll pass for now.

The best thing is a vibration dampening mount IF you can find a place to mount it. I only have one small area where a GoPro could mount. I had it back pretty far. Ideally it should be more forward but then you get the chute too close. When the snow blows it will cover the snowblowers dash area. So a taller mount would be best. This is just for fun after all. Several enginners at work are having fun with this too and have come up with some amazing ideas, expensive, or bulky but they'd probably work.

FrankMA wrote:
My brother was over the other day and poked his head over my monitor  to see what I was  doing  on the computer.  After seeing i was once more looking at a Craigslisting  with used snowblowers and some Youtube videos of some single stage machines he just turned around and said something to the effect of "oh, sorry i'll let you get back to your snowblower porn."