Chris In Marshfield wrote:Anyone have experience with those? Actually, their whole mount system looks pretty hell-for-stout. I like the tail handle mount. Pretty solid compared to maybe doing the same with the typical RAM setup. (Image sourced from the vendor, in case it disappears)

I do not have experience with them, and here's why. I've been burned a bunch by mounts that don't work well. I like the idea behind the engineering on this one, but after spending 30 minutes with them at Oshkosh couldn't extract a promise that they would accept a return if things didn't work out. 100% "we will work with you to make it work", 0% "if we can't, we'll happily take it back".

I sell airplane stuff, I get that it can be a difficult market, but when you've got a guy standing in front of you practically begging to give you $200 and all you have to do is say "sure, we'll take a return and refund if it doesn't work as advertised", but don't, then I have concerns.

We have a VibeX for our antique Drift Ghost (or is it Ghost Drift?). The setup is much more capable than the Luddite operator.

http://www.peovi.com/

I know the fellow who invented these, and the engineering and craftsmanship is superior to anything else out there. They're really marketed towards the professional market, but they're affordable for a serious amateur who's currently a little manic.

The same designers and manufactures that make these units make several dozen different vehicle/aircraft camera mounts that cost as much as the airplanes we fly, or more, so all that technical expertise and engineering gets passed along. From that perspective they're fantastically inexpensive.

rw2 wrote:

Chris In Marshfield wrote:Anyone have experience with those? Actually, their whole mount system looks pretty hell-for-stout. I like the tail handle mount. Pretty solid compared to maybe doing the same with the typical RAM setup. (Image sourced from the vendor, in case it disappears)

I do not have experience with them, and here's why. I've been burned a bunch by mounts that don't work well. I like the idea behind the engineering on this one, but after spending 30 minutes with them at Oshkosh couldn't extract a promise that they would accept a return if things didn't work out. 100% "we will work with you to make it work", 0% "if we can't, we'll happily take it back".

I sell airplane stuff, I get that it can be a difficult market, but when you've got a guy standing in front of you practically begging to give you $200 and all you have to do is say "sure, we'll take a return and refund if it doesn't work as advertised", but don't, then I have concerns.

100% agree and good to know, I would sure expect a return if it didn't do its job.

gbflyer wrote:We have a VibeX for our antique Drift Ghost (or is it Ghost Drift?). The setup is much more capable than the Luddite operator.

You don't have any footage with and without the VibeX to do a comparison do you so we could see how effective it is?

Probably but our Internet upload speed is about what the lower 48 had with dial - up 10 years ago. I don't go there.

Haha, fair enough.

rw2 wrote:I do not have experience with them, and here's why. I've been burned a bunch by mounts that don't work well. I like the idea behind the engineering on this one, but after spending 30 minutes with them at Oshkosh couldn't extract a promise that they would accept a return if things didn't work out. 100% "we will work with you to make it work", 0% "if we can't, we'll happily take it back".

I sell airplane stuff, I get that it can be a difficult market, but when you've got a guy standing in front of you practically begging to give you $200 and all you have to do is say "sure, we'll take a return and refund if it doesn't work as advertised", but don't, then I have concerns.

The return policy on their website says it has to be unopened. So once you try it, you own it.

I've seen external reviews on the VibeX mount including one with two cameras on the plane, one with the mount and one without. It definitely cleaned up the vibration. I don't like their unsupportive guarantee wording, but it does seem to be a viable product. I may get one soon and decide if I want to invest in them any more from there.

colopilot wrote:

rw2 wrote:I do not have experience with them, and here's why. I've been burned a bunch by mounts that don't work well. I like the idea behind the engineering on this one, but after spending 30 minutes with them at Oshkosh couldn't extract a promise that they would accept a return if things didn't work out. 100% "we will work with you to make it work", 0% "if we can't, we'll happily take it back".

The return policy on their website says it has to be unopened. So once you try it, you own it.

Yup, that's what they said in the booth at Oshkosh also. If their product works, this policy makes no sense. I mean, come on, if you aren't happy with our cleaning products we'll take the remainder back and refund you money - and those are consumables!

rw2 wrote:Yup, that's what they said in the booth at Oshkosh also. If their product works, this policy makes no sense. I mean, come on, if you aren't happy with our cleaning products we'll take the remainder back and refund you money - and those are consumables!

FWIW a quick search turned up another reseller for the VibeX mount, Fallon Aviation. They have a 30 day undamaged/original packaging return policy so you may just need to shop around a little. I haven't used Fallon for anything but maybe that works. FA also sells the mounts on eBay for the same price, so maybe buy it there and get covered by eBay's policies as well. (Disclaimer, I am affiliated with eBay - but same price with more benefit is never a bad thing! And FA's feedback rating on there is great.)

Total threadjack but I love your products as well. Great stuff! They'll keep the airplane looking nice and shiny on whatever camera mount someone uses.

colopilot wrote:FWIW a quick search turned up another reseller for the VibeX mount, Fallon Aviation. They have a 30 day undamaged/original packaging return policy so you may just need to shop around a little. I haven't used Fallon for anything but maybe that works. FA also sells the mounts on eBay for the same price, so maybe buy it there and get covered by eBay's policies as well. (Disclaimer, I am affiliated with eBay - but same price with more benefit is never a bad thing! And FA's feedback rating on there is great.)

Total threadjack but I love your products as well. Great stuff! They'll keep the airplane looking nice and shiny on whatever camera mount someone uses.

Good find on Fallon. Maybe I'll try one this summer!

And thanks for the compliment on Plane Perfect. We're rolling out upgrades on two of our formulas this year. It's been a fun ride!

rw2 wrote:

colopilot wrote:FWIW a quick search turned up another reseller for the VibeX mount, Fallon Aviation. They have a 30 day undamaged/original packaging return policy so you may just need to shop around a little. I haven't used Fallon for anything but maybe that works. FA also sells the mounts on eBay for the same price, so maybe buy it there and get covered by eBay's policies as well. (Disclaimer, I am affiliated with eBay - but same price with more benefit is never a bad thing! And FA's feedback rating on there is great.)

Total threadjack but I love your products as well. Great stuff! They'll keep the airplane looking nice and shiny on whatever camera mount someone uses.

Good find on Fallon. Maybe I'll try one this summer!

And thanks for the compliment on Plane Perfect. We're rolling out upgrades on two of our formulas this year. It's been a fun ride!

Yeah great call, I just looked and aircraft spruce sell them as well, always had good dealings returning stuff to them and I order monthly at the moment. Thanks!

Rogue wrote:

Chris In Marshfield wrote:I was thinking about that, too. I was looking through Sporty's yesterday afternoon, and I ran across the Rock Steady VibeX mounts:

https://flightflix.net/product/rock-ste ... -w-h-base/

Anyone have experience with those? Actually, their whole mount system looks pretty hell-for-stout. I like the tail handle mount. Pretty solid compared to maybe doing the same with the typical RAM setup. (Image sourced from the vendor, in case it disappears)

Yeah I did wonder about these as well, they have a bunch of different set ups. Agreed very expensive for a mount but looks like super quality as well. I think for me if they did the trick I'd spend the money, on one at least, save all the messing around with foam and moving them all over the place. If they were a bit cheaper I wouldn't be as hesitant though. The testimony videos are all that wavy prop wash vibration, no real shaky, fuzzy stuff that sells me on it really doing the job 100% and laying down the dough.

I have one of the earlier mounts where you can replace pretty much any #8 or #10 fairing screw and get a nice solid mount. Done deal, super happy. I have been intrigued by their Vibe-X mount for isolating the vibration and wavy stuff but the price point of a mount with the Vibe-X portion is just out of lunch money (burnable cash) range.

I improvised a tie down ring mount on my Citabria and attempted to fake some rubber isolation with a hand full of neoprene fender washers with mixed results.

Hey RW2,

I downloaded the app you referred to earlier, movie pro, and have some operator trouble setting it up. Since you have some experience with it I thought I'd ask you first hand.

~ If I go to the exposure button to adjust the shutter speed, it defaults to zero so everything is washed out in total whiteness. So I scroll the speed across but can't seem to get enough shutter speed to darken it while shooting through the windshield?
~ Second question is there any way to lock the shutter speed once you set it? I was playing with it looking at the ceiling fan in the living room, and I can get the fan to blur nicely, but if you touch any of the other exposure units it seems to change, or if you back out of the app and come back to it then it defaults to the factory settings again it seems.

Thanks,
Peter

Farmboy wrote:Hey RW2,

I downloaded the app you referred to earlier, movie pro, and have some operator trouble setting it up. Since you have some experience with it I thought I'd ask you first hand.

~ If I go to the exposure button to adjust the shutter speed, it defaults to zero so everything is washed out in total whiteness. So I scroll the speed across but can't seem to get enough shutter speed to darken it while shooting through the windshield?

Maybe your ISO is set wrong? In manual mode you will have to set both the ISO (which serves as a "sort of" F-stop adjustment without the benefits/issues of having a real aperture) and the shutter. I'm sitting at a beach right now in the bright sun with ISO 20 (the least sensitive setting possible) I still had to set the shutter for 1/280th.

Farmboy wrote:~ Second question is there any way to lock the shutter speed once you set it? I was playing with it looking at the ceiling fan in the living room, and I can get the fan to blur nicely, but if you touch any of the other exposure units it seems to change, or if you back out of the app and come back to it then it defaults to the factory settings again it seems.

Does this describe your scenario:

1) Set manual
2) Go back to auto to grab a shot
3) Go back to manual and find yourself having to reset the settings again

If so, then yeah, I don't like that either and I don't have a workaround.

Since you mention blurring. You will still need to use an ND filter to reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor.

I just got this one: https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Clip-Cell ... +nd+filter

So far I'm happy enough with it. Nothing has made it into a final cut to be able to show you though.

Here is one of mine using a EVO gimbal and a Hero 3+. https://youtu.be/VaZ7aNwFGTQ

And this one has some in it also https://youtu.be/XusoehXLNJQ

Sorry I tried to embed it but couldn’t get it to work. For those interested in using the gimbal to reduce vibration, it doesn’t work well for that. In fact, the vibration on take off causes the gimbal to glitch real bad. I have been trying different ideas for the vibration and have yet to come up with an effective solution.