Go Pro Chest or head mount pros and cons for both

[Cgolf]

I currently have the head mount and it works ok. Wondering how the chest mount would work for fishing. Interested to hear the pros and cons for both. 
 

As a secondary use for both we are doing a bucket list vacation with multiple zodiac rides and maybe some kayak trips. Also wondering which mount would be better for these two situations?

[MN Fisher]

I don't have a Go-Pro, but a 3rd party knock off.

 

I've tried the head-mount - didn't like it.

I also have a shoulder mount - worked fine enough, but my head/beard was always in view on the 'inboard' side.

I've played around with the chest mount and so far seems to be the best of both worlds.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I wear a hat fishing, and so only the clip on bill mount works......that's my favorite POV, but I simply can't deal with the weight of that thing at the end of the hat bill for very long at all.

 

I currently am using the chest rig.   Works perfectly fine, plenty comfy, but ultimately the POV is far from ideal.      

The best is to have it mounted on a pole or somewhere in the rear/front of boat that captures everything from a wider FOV, and then you can hold and pose fish to it.

 

Been working on just this specific deal for the last several weeks, I haven't found a way to mount it my body that works to my full liking.  

[Bankc]

13 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I wear a hat fishing, and so only the clip on bill mount works......that's my favorite POV, but I simply can't deal with the weight of that thing at the end of the hat bill for very long at all.

 

I currently am using the chest rig.   Works perfectly fine, plenty comfy, but ultimately the POV is far from ideal.      

The best is to have it mounted on a pole or somewhere in the rear/front of boat that captures everything from a wider FOV, and then you can hold and pose fish to it.

 

Been working on just this specific deal for the last several weeks, I haven't found a way to mount it my body that works to my full liking.  

Agreed.  

 

You can watch some YouTube videos of other anglers and see the advantages and disadvantages for yourself.  However, I've never seen a POV fishing camera that didn't annoy me.  Everything is always out of frame or in the way.  The view feels claustrophobic.  There's just no control.  It might be fine for things like mountain biking where you're trying to convey the thrill of speed or something, but for fishing, it just feels like amateur hour.  Get your camera up on a pole or something set a few feet back.  That way you'll be able to actually see what's going on.  And you can get your pretty little mug in the shot.  A POV view for fishing adds nothing other than distractions.  

[Bluebasser86]

I move my head around too much for the head mount, and so do most other people, really don't like the head mounted videos a majority of the time. The chest mount POV isn't very good either but it's what I'm currently using until I remember to buy something better. I have a lot of videos with my hands blocking the shot and noise from my hands and arms brushing against the camera. 

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I move my head around too much for the head mount, and so do most other people, really don't like the head mounted videos a majority of the time. The chest mount POV isn't very good either but it's what I'm currently using until I remember to buy something better. I have a lot of videos with my hands blocking the shot and noise from my hands and arms brushing against the camera. 

Highly recommend looking at some yolotek mounts . 

A-Jay 

[Cgolf]

10 minutes ago, Bankc said:

Agreed.  

 

You can watch some YouTube videos of other anglers and see the advantages and disadvantages for yourself.  However, I've never seen a POV fishing camera that didn't annoy me.  Everything is always out of frame or in the way.  The view feels claustrophobic.  There's just no control.  It might be fine for things like mountain biking where you're trying to convey the thrill of speed or something, but for fishing, it just feels like amateur hour.  Get your camera up on a pole or something set a few feet back.  That way you'll be able to actually see what's going on.  And you can get your pretty little mug in the shot.  A POV view for fishing adds nothing other than distractions.  

 

Cool thanks. So the chest mount is likely great for our vacation in the zodiac and hiking, Galapagos and trying to catch as much on film as possible, but may need to find something better for the boat. 

 

The head thing for fishing worked ok. I took a box divider and cut it at 45 degrees as a template to make sure the angle is correct. can see the lure and 1/2 the rod. So analyzing retrieves and what worked it is perfect for. Fishing wise is mostly for me to pickup on small things I am doing, I only will post it if I catch a trophy fish. Maybe I need a couple of go pros to get different views.

 

It has been eye opening watching myself fish and picking up on things I do without thinking.

[Bluebasser86]

14 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Highly recommend looking at some yolotek mounts . 

A-Jay 

I had one and liked it, but a tree ate it ?

[immortl]

I like the POV from the head mount.  Watching others' videos, I was not a fan of the POV from the chest mount.  I agree that on the bill of the hat was aggravating, particularly since I added a fan to the back of the camera for cooling, increasing the weight. I ended up purchasing a hat from Amazon where the mount is built into the face of the hat, where a logo would normally be. Still a little front heavy, but much more bearable than out on the bill.  I have found this works quite well for me. 

[immortl]

Do we ever get to edit our posts once we hit a certain count? 

 

Little more info as I've thought about it.  With the chest view, one's hands/arms tend to block most of the view when reeling in, that's why I prefer the head POV.  I try to be conscious about slowly moving my head when recording as well as holding things out in front of me if I want to capture what I'm doing with my hands in the video. 

 

I mostly record stream trout fishing and struggle a little with capturing up high enough and down low enough.  I've tried the max lens mod, but prefer to not have the fisheye effect, prefer 4k (max lens limits to 2.7k), and like the polarizing filter (doesn't fit with max lense mod).  I do make use of a remote on my wrist to trigger recording and use the GoPro labs firmware where I have customized the hindsight setting to remain active for 24hrs (by default it shuts off after 15 minutes of not interacting with the camera).  This way hindsight is always recording in a 30s loop, so whenever I hit the record button on the remote, the video contains footage from 30s prior to me hitting the record button up through whenever I stop the recording.  This lets me capture the cast and drift as well as the retrieve and release.  It's been working well for me.

 

My thoughts for a boat/kayak are to pick up another GoPro and have one mounted on a mount/mast somewhere in front of me and then learn about video editing to mush the 2 video streams together into something coherent.   Need to get that kayak first, getting close to pulling the trigger.

 

I record and post to youtube and my internal plex server for family and friends.  You'll never hear anything about liking or subscribing in them.  My parents in particular like to see the fishing videos as my dad doesn't get out any longer.   I try to make them look decent for them and for my future reminiscing.  That said I need to start editing them some.

[MN Fisher]

47 minutes ago, immortl said:

Do we ever get to edit our posts once we hit a certain count? 

Yep

 

47 minutes ago, immortl said:

then learn about video editing to mush the 2 video streams together into something coherent.

The Editor I use is NCH VideoPad - it's pretty intuitive and easy to merge/align clips from different cameras. It also lets you adjust volume on the sound track(s).

[WRB]

I am old school and prefer to stay under the radar ie; video.

Tom

[Standard]

I rarely use my GoPro while fishing, but when I do I prefer the head mount.  I find the chest mount just gets dominated by a view of the reel and it's tough to see what's actually going on.

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I had one and liked it, but a tree ate it ?

Ha! Kayak? Man have I seen a lot of things sawed in half or dumped into the water from kayaks 

[Bluebasser86]

54 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Ha! Kayak? Man have I seen a lot of things sawed in half or dumped into the water from kayaks 

Boat actually, got a limb that I thought I was going to clear and it folded it over pretty good.

[TnRiver46]

Ouch. You probably found 3 whopper plopper and a crankbait in the tree you drove thru though 

[Cgolf]

8 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Highly recommend looking at some yolotek mounts . 

A-Jay 

Wow those are pricey. If I start posting more on you tube I may look into that, but for me just using it to better my fishing not sure it’s ideal. I still use a hero 3+ that was gifted to me. I have also put it on the main floor of my v bottom boat while I am on the front deck, but I don’t see the lake that way, just blue sky and me casting away sometimes boating a fish. This does work for grabbing promo screen shots though without dragging out a camera. 

[Darth-Baiter]

it is shocking to me how often i take my ball cap off and on during a fishing trip.  it's like the exclamation mark for a lot of my activities.  if i miss a strike i take my cap off and have been known to spike it into the floor of my kayak.  stuff like that.

 

the head mount would be a disaster.    i run the chest mount.  the cons are easy.  it is anybody's guess which way it is aiming at any given moment.  and when i strip off jacket layers, there is yet another layer to contend with. 

[Woody B]

I like my yolotek mount.   So far I've kept it and the trees from having an altercation.