Thursday, September 17, 2015

Hunting for GoPro/Virb mounts? Don't go to Low Yat Plaza!

Last week on Tuesday, I became the proud owner of a second hand Garmin Virb Elite. I was advised by the previous owner to go for GoPro mounts for mounting on my bike. He told me to specifically to look for K-Edge bike mount and showed me a sample.
Original K-Edge Go Big bike mount, about RM150.
Virb as my car dashcam.
In the meantime, I was using the Virb as my car dashboard camera. With a 64GB class 10 microSD card inside it, it could record 15 hours of my driving. I set it to record whenever the car is moving.

To fulfil my "mounting" needs, I went to Low Yat Yat Plaza. Initially I went to the Garmin outlets at 1-TC002 & 1-TC003. They do have the bike large tube mount for road bike but they wanted RM250 for it. 
Road bike mount.
They also have the auto dash suction mount and they wanted RM300++ for it. The prices were too high! So I opted to go for the GoPro mounts instead and started searching for outlets selling such mounts.
Auto windscreen mount.
First I went to an outlet at UG-013 to check out the GoPro accessories there. They have a large collection on display there. The first item I saw was this weird device which the nice Malay salesman claim was for mounting GoPro on a road bike. He was selling it for RM93.
GoPro-Handlebar-Seatpost-Mount, about RM85 online..
But he claimed that it won't work on the Virb due to the Virb's single mount. GoPro has a double mount. So the 3 rings on the mount will only work with the GoPro double mount. I was still blur about the Virb's GoPro adapter then. The nice Malay salesman advised me to buy the proper Virb's mount instead.  
The triple rings of the mount.
On my way out, I stopped by at UG-42. This outlet was selling the same GoPro-Handlebar-Seatpost-Mount at RM160!!!!I was shocked! But he does have the imitation K-Edge mount though. Initially he wanted RM80 for it but he agreed to RM60 for it. Looking at the itsy bitsy device, I believe it should be much cheaper. Way cheaper!   
The imitation K-Edge bike mount.
The triple rings of the imitation K-Edge mount.
Turns out my Virb came with a single GoPro adapter, which I could use to mount my Virb on any GoPro mounts. 
Virb's GoPro adapter.
But when I asked the official Garmin supplier in Malaysia, AECO, about the adapter, the guy behind the counter insisted that there is no such thing!
How the GoPro adapter is attached to the imitation K-Edge mount.
The Virb atop my bike handlebar using the imitation K-Edge mount and GoPro adapter.
When I visited AECO office in Cheras, I found out that the mounts are much cheaper over there compared to the outlets at Low Yat Plaza.
RM140 at AECO compared to RM250 at LYP. Currently no stock available at AECO.

At AECO, the dive case was only RM220 (RM290 at LYP) and cradle only RM100 at AECO (RM190 at LYP). 
Virb in the dive case and attached wrist mount.
Wrist mount going for RM140 at AECO.
Me trying out the wrist mount and ended up looking like Buzz Lightyear.
Virb's shoulder harness going for RM220 at AECO.
Also available at AECO.
Also available at AECO.
Also available at AECO.
As for GoPro mounts, yesterday I discovered that the prices were very much cheaper at the Harvey Norman outlet in Nu Sentral. Cheaper than the online prices!
GoPro mounts galore at Harvey Norman.
The GoPro-Handlebar-Seatpost-Mount were going for only RM63 at HN, compared to the RM160 & RM93 at LYP (RM85 at Amazon). The GoPro shoulder harness/body mount was only RM159 and the GoPro windscreen mount going for only RM73.

If you have the Virb and were thinking of buying GoPro mounts and then buying the Virb's GoPro adaptor to cut cost, forget it. The Virb's GoPro adapter comes in a kit that will set you back for RM110 each. So it is better to buy Virb's own mounting, much cheaper that way.

Conclusion

Avoid Low Yat Plaza if you are hunting for GoPro/Virb's mountings. Instead drop by AECO in Cheras for Virb's accessories and drop by Harvey Norman's for GoPro's accessories.

Disclaimer - the above posting is based on my own personal experience, therefore your own experience may differ.