xcmountain80
Expedition Leader
After the last trip offroad to Tellico (Murphy, NC), I found a need for recording video. I had a point and shoot digital camera but it didn’t seem to capture the angles, terrain, etc. I knew a video camera would have the same problem unless mounted to the vehicle somehow. I recently purchased a GPS mount as a gift for my father for Christmas. It might be a name you know (RAM), apparently RAM manufactures mounts for just about everything. I knew the suction cups they use have so much suction you could probably set glass with them. I wanted to be able to mount the camcorder to my windshield and other parts of the vehicle w/o having to make individual mounts for each. So I thought about buying a bunch of pieces and sending back the ones I didn’t need. I opted to go to my local Bass Pro Shop aka World Wide Sportsman, and purchase them mounts that suited my needs. I bought the basic suction mount with swivel piece and an additional swivel piece with small platform. While the platform piece it comes with could easily be modified and I did try, I found it easier to modify the existing Garmin pieces that were left over from my 276C install. I measured cut and drilled the platform (Garmin) then mounted the Sony Camcorder to it. My initial thoughts were to use both 3” pieces from the ram system I went ahead and was able to utilize just the one with my super cool Garmin modified mount. I set the camcorder up for a test fit and it looked good. I tested it out on the way up 555 miles, and decided it would need some preload. So I removed it from the window and set the suction cup slightly more inward so that the camera touches the windshield. This solved the vibration while in motion problem. After an hour or so of filming in the desired location I decided to move the camera to the rear of the vehicle to capture more action. Then to the nose of the truck, though I was leery about this location because I might accidentally run over the camcorder. Luckily that did not happen , but it did lose suction because of the dust that had accumulated prior to the mounting of the camera (I should have wiped it off). All in all I was impressed and satisfied with the performance of the RAM products I purchased.
Aaron
Aaron