New Prostar GoPro Pylon Mount

SkiJay · November 1, 2014

MasterCraft offers a GoPro pylon mount for the Prostar, and it's a worthwhile option. I have a Trakker 4, a couple of Wakeyes, and all three of the SkiDoc camera mounts, and I have to say, the Prostar piece is as good as they come.

It takes yet another approach to getting a camera to track the skier without imposing on friends to do the camera work. It's easily the least obtrusive of the bunch when it comes to rope shortening. The top of the pylon is totally accessible, and it uses an easily opened clasp at the end of its tracking arm to grab onto the rope. The spring-loaded clasp can even be easily opened with gloves on, and the arm can be shortened or extended so the clasp can be positioned where it won't end up on any rope loop knots.

Rope%20clasp.jpg

The top of the mount is machined to accept the GoPro mount directly, minimizing any flex or vibration between the case and the mount. It's a nice looking and sturdy mount from end to end.

The quality of construction is top drawer, and tracking performance is as good as any pylon mount which is interesting because there is no damping. It simply clasps snugly to the rope and rotates as freely as the nylon bushing it replaces atop the pylon, so rope oscillation affects the picture during handle grabs, but not really any worse than the others. It's not as versatile as a Wakeye because it will only work on a Prostar, where the Wakeye can travel with you to any boat you want to ski behind. But if you have a ProStar, it's worthy of consideration.

Here's an example of it's tracking performance. My skiing was nothing special during this one-off chance to try the Prostar camera mount, but it was enough to get an idea of how the mount tracked. (Feel free to share your thoughts on my skiing. The best tip I got last year was from a skier struggling with 28 mph.)

http://youtu.be/m4ohaucra2Y

oldjeep · November 1, 2014

Pretty cool, and an idea that could easily be adapted to a Malibu pylon.

MattP · November 1, 2014

I did not even know that this was an option for the MC. Very cool.

SkiJay · November 1, 2014

It was Palm Bay with Breanne and Ryan Dodd @scotchipman‌.

SkiJay · November 2, 2014

. . . and congratulations to Ryan Dodd on a dominant performance in crap conditions at the Mapple Challenge Cup last night!

Razorskier1 · November 2, 2014

My 2015 has that mount. Plan to use it next season.

GOODESkier · November 3, 2014

My only complaint comes from the go pro side of things. I mostly feel that without a zoom option it is a better device for POV picture and video taking. That would be my only complaint and that isn't associated with the mount, but more with the fact that other mounts offer the use of better cameras for this sort of analysis.

drewski32 · November 3, 2014

@GOODESkier I'm sure there is a way to mount a different camera using the gopro mount. Also, there are options on the gopro for the lens angle. Using a narrow lense would probably fix the problem

GOODESkier · November 3, 2014

@drewski32‌ I have tried different wide/narrow settings on the gopro. In my opinion it is something I want to wear and capture back country skiing/snowmobiling. It doesn't present the right material for ski technique analysis in my opinion. I have a nautique with a ski-doc mount. Not my favorite either.

drewski32 · November 4, 2014

@GOODEskier I''m not a big fan of the skidoc either. It's too unstable

SkiJay · November 4, 2014

GoPros aren't perfect, but I think they present the least of all evils. I've been using GoPros in narrow mode for technique building and ski tuning daily for the past two years; and I find them pretty well suited to these tasks.

Before that, I went through all kinds of movie cameras (too finicky with too many features that screw up new operators), smart phones (picture too wavy, too expensive to break, not enough memory, and not waterproof), and pocket cameras in video mode (shut themselves off, have to train the driver, finicky zooms, sloppy mounts, etc.).

GoPros have a great HD picture with all the detail I need, can take hard handle pops, getting whacked by skis, and dropped. Anyone in the boat can turn one on and leave it on, there's no zoom to overdo or forget to do, and they never miss a pass. You can toss it into your wet gear bag, keep skiing in the rain, get a clear video right until dark, and drop it in the deepest part of the lake. They do excellent slow motion, and even take 11 MP stills of gators or whatever. Mastercraft even makes a camera mount that doubles as an awesome ski boat for them!

It would be better if they had a mode one step narrower than they do, but they zoom close enough, and the rest of their benefits make them my pylon camera of choice. Nothing beats a good handheld video cam, but nobody wants to be your cameraman every single day. The next best thing has to be dead simple and totally reliable, that's GoPro in HD narrow mode for me.

jhughes · November 4, 2014

I've found nothing works better than first gen Flip Mino HD cameras. 4GB memory, 720PHD. The zoom level is perfect, the image quality is outstanding, and they are abundant and cheap second hand. Absolutely incredible little cameras seemingly designed exactly for this task. All of my ski vids from the pylon are this camera rig on a nearly-zero-cost PVC rope mount and they are terrific videos. Other than the skier. IMHO, YMMV, etc.

Razorskier1 · November 5, 2014

When you don't have a spotter and want an easy way to shoot video I think this will work. If I have someone in the boat I'll use my iPhone.

disland · November 5, 2014

I am very happy with the Wakeye app. Total no brainer. Decent picture, Ok not water proof but unless your skiing in a rain storm not a problem. I am using an old iPhone 4S that i basically only use for this purpose now

Eljaybee · March 17, 2018

Where do you buy the mount?

epnault · March 19, 2018

I have this mount on my boat and love it. What I did is bought a conversion mount so I can mount my Iphone to it so I can get closer videos.

ScottScott · March 19, 2018

The ski doc orbit mount is great, and cost effective. It came with a cell phone adapter, but I use with GoPro and tripod adapter. I record all my sets, very helpful. Would be nice if there were an optical zoom on the GoPro, especially as far from the boat as I am, but its still a great tool, great quality, and easy to use.

epnault · March 19, 2018

@Eljaybee

You can't get them from a dealer. The cost is much higher but it is MC built if you know what mean. Durable, functional, and beautiful.

swc5150 · March 19, 2018

My Prostar came with one. I didn't realize it was optional. It's integrated very nicely into the pylon.

Eljaybee · March 20, 2018

Thanks for the feedback. Just ordered a Skidoc and am watching 3 GoPro Hero Session 5s on eBay. Can’t wait for ski season here in PA!

BraceMaker · March 20, 2018

@swc5150 - its part of the same package as the ski racks so most of the boats should have one.

wski1831 · March 27, 2018

@epnault I have a 17 Mastercraft with the video mount. Where did you get the conversion mount for the iPhone from?

aupatking · March 27, 2018

Can it be added on an older Prostar? The top of the pylon just screws on. Longer threaded section?

escmanaze · March 28, 2018

My buddy at work that I snowmobile with sometimes bought one of these cameras this year.

https://shop.rylo.com/

If you are serious about getting yourself recorded with smooth recording that doesn't have the jerk associated with attaching a mechanical piece to the rope, then you MUST check this thing out.

Using this unit, you would no longer need to do any type of tracking using the rope. It would record a full 360, and then you would just tell it in the software to follow the skier when converting the 360 video to regular 3d video and it would do it with amazing smoothness. I'll try to see this summer if he will let me borrow it for a day so that I can show you guys just how incredible this camera is. Until then, you can check out some of his snowmobiling videos from this season and compare them to his past videos to see how incredibly smooth it is. Give this camera a try, you won't be disappointed.

No more attaching anything to a rope!!!! :) :) :)

I was thinking seriously last fall about buying a wakeye or something like it. Now after seeing what this camera can do this winter, I'll never even entertain the thought of a wakeye ever again. If I'm going to buy anything for skiing, it's going to be this.

UWSkier · March 28, 2018

@escmanaze looks cool. Wonder if it can be zoomed in enough for skiing applications and if the resolution is high enough to do so.

escmanaze · March 28, 2018

@UWSkier Well it says it is shooting it in 4k so it should stand to reason that it could be zoomed quite a bit with reasonable success. On Youtube, that video can be turned up to 1080P, but I think his raw footage looks a good bit clearer than even the 1080P on Youtube.

Zoom? Just shorten the rope!! :) :smile: :smiley: :wink:

OscawanaSkier · March 31, 2018

Regarding the Rylo, based on this post I went ahead and ordered one to test

The short answer is sadly - NO. The Rylo doesn't work well for in-boat filming of waterskiing.

I started a different discussion (here) with the details and photos, as well as an idea about using the Rylo as a handle mounted camera.

escmanaze · April 1, 2018

Well, crap. I feel awful. It does say 30 day risk free returns. Have you checked out that option?

OscawanaSkier · April 1, 2018

Not to worry @escmanaze! Did a lot of research after your post and I had my fingers crossed. Hope is not lost, I think this tech could be a ground-breaking tool in ski-training. I’m a big believer in video as a training tool, and exciting tech like Rylo is what we need to be trying.