(electronic music)
- This is the GoPro Jaws Flex Clamp Mount,
which you just snap your camera in.
And this has been my favorite GoPro mount
for a couple of years now
'cause it's super easy, you can just go around
and clamp it on everything.
The problem is that this $50
and it's broken twice in the two years that I've had it.
So, here's exactly what I'm talking about.
There's this connection point
where the flexy mount goes into the clampy part.
I've had this break two times
in the two years that I've had this.
Now, I haven't done anything extreme with this
the only time I really ever even take this off
is when I put it in the camera bag
because it doesn't fit fully extended.
And here's what breaks, it's this little part right here.
It's the little tooth that clamps in
and makes everything very secure in the Jaws mount.
So, when it's broken it doesn't clamp in securely
and it's also harder to actually mount
in the clamp to begin with,
whereas it's supposed to just be a nice firm click.
Now, I notice the bottom is just held on with a screw.
So, I figured this part could be replaced
but I had a really hard time finding the part.
So, I went on Amazon and found an imitation Jaws Flex Mount
that cost $11 and I figured I could just
take the part off of that,
put it on this one, and be good to go.
I haven't opened this yet, but what I noticed was
it feels real similar to the $50 actual GoPro one.
Which then made me wonder, is this $11 clamp,
just as good as the $50 official clamp?
So, right off the bat, the GoPro clamp
has a nice rubbery feel to it
and it does feel very, very sturdy.
The third party imitation one,
is much more plasticy but the tension and the strength
is exactly the same between them.
It looks like on the third party imitation one
the part I need is exactly the same.
So, I could just take this off
and put it on the actual GoPro clamp.
But this flexy part looks and feels
exactly the same as the original.
If you put these side by side,
I wouldn't be able to tell them apart at all.
So, the only real difference would be the clamp itself.
They're not really that different,
you can see inside they have the same basic design,
they're made out of basically the same materials.
I think the biggest difference is this one
doesn't have extra rubber grips like the GoPro one does.
So, even though my original goal
was to buy a new clamp to replace
the broken part on my old clamp,
I think since these two pieces are identical,
I'm sure they were made in the exact same factory,
I'm just going to take the bendy part
from the third party clamp and put it on the GoPro clamp
and then be good to go, good as new, again.
Ultimately though, this raises an interesting question,
because this clamp was $11,
whereas this clamp that has now broken twice, was $50.
Is there a difference in quality between these two?
Yes, there absolutely is.
You can feel it mainly in the actual clamp part.
Is it a $40 difference in quality?
No, absolutely not.
If I hadn't bought this one,
I would definitely just buy the $11 one
and this brings to light a bigger issue
that I have with GoPro and that GoPro is dealing with,
which is they've long been criticized
for just rebranding cheap parts
and selling them at a higher price.
I never wanted to believe that their stuff was cheap
but these mounts really aren't very high quality.
Now, the GoPro I use is the HERO5 Black,
which I genuinely love.
This is exactly what a GoPro should have been
from the very beginning where it's waterproof
without an additional case,
there's a screen on the back,
so you can control everything, and see everything.
It's a very good versatile camera,
the picture quality is great.
The accessories however, not so great,
and this is interesting because a couple of weeks ago,
Tony and Chelsea Northrup did a whole long video
on the history of GoPro as a company
and Nick Woodman, the CEO, and kind of his tendency
to sort of rebrand cheap parts,
and sell them at a higher price.
I didn't really know about any of this
and then I also didn't know that GoPro as a company
is struggling a lot right now.
And it begs the question of,
were they out to make good products
or are they out to just make a quick buck?
Seeing the development of the HERO series over the years
tells me that GoPro is out to make a good product,
and to refine it, and I love these cameras.
Seeing the way that they produce their mounts
and clamps, I do feel that most of these are just cheap
rebranded parts that could be sold for half the price.
So, I'll be interested to see what this does
in the coming weeks and how it performs,
but right now I would definitely recommend just buying
the $11 cheap mount over the $50 official mount.
Okay, now I need to go film a bunch of footage
of this thing just being clamped on totally random places.
(lively music)