How do all these gopros get lost?

[Doby45]

@Dan_T it always makes me nervous when I see divers put their masks on their forehead. I have caught a couple masks while on safety stop from divers who put them on their foreheads and lost them while getting back on boat.

I must look like a loser to you then, as I do not remove mask or reg until I am firmly on the boat/sitting at my station on the boat.

 

[Shotmaster]

In the military it is standard procedure to secure all gear with a "Dummy" cord. The lack of sleep makes people do stupid things.

 

[Storker]

Are the mounts breaking, are the mount screws falling out, are people just forgetting they have them in their hands and letting go?

I can only talk for myself, but it's quite easy to lose a small item like a Gopro. Even if you generally are careful.

I usually dive with my Gopro mounted on top of my still camera rig, and I've never lost the camera rig. The rig is firmly attached to one of my D-rings with a solid lanyard, and I also have a boltsnap tied directly to the tray so I can clip the rig close to my body if I need my hands for other things. However, when we go scalloping, a big rig is in the way, so I bring just the Gopro on a short handle. That handle has a wrist lanyard and a boltsnap to clip it to a D-ring. On one recent dive, I plainly forgot to clip the Gopro to a D-ring on the surface (yes, I know. Stupid. But stuff happens and most of us have a stupid moment once in a while), and when I doffed my rig on the surface, the Gopro snagged and the lanyard broke. Without my weight belt, I couldn't duck dive down to grab it, so it disappeared in the depth. D'oh!

Fortunately, it was only 15m to the bottom where I lost it and we didn't drift too far off before I had donned my gear again, so I was able to recover it with a quick bounce dive

 

[Neilwood]

I've found a bunch of dive dive knives over the years, so the idea of losing cameras is not surprising. I had one of the original Heros, before they got rid of the domed lenses. The lanyard broke midway through an amazing solo dive. It was replaced with a 3+. That one flooded during its second dive season. I've switched to the chinese SJCams. If your aren't willing to lose it in the water leave it home.

Inexperience probably accounts fo most of the losses. Not realizing you need a lanyard even if camera is on mount is an easy to miss thing, until you have to replace a $400 piece of gear....

I went straight to the SJCAM - don't want to risk hundreds of pounds of gear for doing video that is just for my own personal pleasure (the SJCAMs aren't quite as good but work well enough for me). I have it on ashort handle with a lanyard in use so if I need to "drop" it to adjust my mask etc, it is still connected to me. It is also on a bolt snap so as soon as I am finished it gets clipped to a Dring.

Wish I could find some of the lost ones...

 

[Kharon]

I must look like a loser to you then, as I do not remove mask or reg until I am firmly on the boat/sitting at my station on the boat.

I am lucky re. MOF. I recently got a new mask (same model that I've used forever) and had perscription lenses put in. Now I take my glasses off and put my mask on. I don't take the mask off till I am ready to put my glasses back on. I want to see clearly. Also, I was taught (drilled) that you never remove your reg or mask till you are on the boat or on land (shore dive). Not at the ladder, not in the shallows. Loser - don't think so. Smart, sensible, safe - that's the ticket. And anyway, I'm going on 70. The babes on the boat ain't going to take even the first look, let alone a second - lol.

 

[Storker]

you never remove your reg or mask till you are on the boat or on land

Makes doffing the rig in the water to avoid climbing a steep, narrow boat ladder a bit... difficult. My long hose is only 150cm (5' for you metric-challenged), and that's really not long enough to keep my reg in my mouth all the way up the ladder.

 

[Kharon]

Makes doffing the rig in the water to avoid climbing a steep, narrow boat ladder a bit... difficult. My long hose is only 150cm (5' for you metric-challenged), and that's really not long enough to keep my reg in my mouth all the way up the ladder.

ROFLMAO - yep. Still no need to take my mask off. Also, I don't like handing my bc/rig off as I have to first unhook my pony and too many people bang the H2Odyssey valve/reg or hold it in a way that could damage it. Don't like anyone touching/handling my equipment. I also need to unclip other equipment before I can doff the BC. Easier to make the narrow climb with my equipment. I've done it at a negative 30° angle onto a pontoon boat when the ladder swung under the boat. That sucked - but I made it up. Not sure I would want to do that again.

 

[LoudounFisher]

On the SD cards I use in my Contour cameras, I save a text file named IF_FOUND_PLEASE_CONTACT with my contact info in it.

I take it GoPros are negatively buoyant. My Contour in the dive housing is just slightly positive.

 

[Nemrod]

My GoPro rides atop my camera. I just turn it on and let it roll. I have not used it much on a stick. Proably a good thing.

This thing about not removing the regulator and mask until back on the boat, please, stop. So, like on the surface, you need assistance from your buddy, maybe to hold your GoPro while you deal with an issue, or just to communicate something of importance (or not) and I have waited a looooooooonnnnnggggggggg time often for a pick up. You guys are just going to sit there with your snorkels dutifully attached to your masks, masks full down and regs in your mouth and do what, sign language? Well, I could not sign because my hands are usually full. I think I will take my reg out of my mouth and talk to my buddy. Like, hey, do you see that tiger shark 15 feet down there under our flippers, looking at you? I sure wish the boat would hurry along. Hey, can you hold the sausage a moment, I need to clip my camera off a little better and so on.

And if I lose my dang mask, which has never happened in 40 plus years of diving, I generally have another on the boat. And one thing about us Baby Boomers, we actually work, somebody has to pay taxes to keep this showboat afloat, so I can afford a dozen new masks if I keep losing them. I do not care if I lose my mask.

N

 

[Z Gear]

My GoPro rides atop my camera. I just turn it on and let it roll. I have not used it much on a stick. Proably a good thing.

This thing about not removing the regulator and mask until back on the boat, please, stop. So, like on the surface, you need assistance from your buddy, maybe to hold your GoPro while you deal with an issue, or just to communicate something of importance (or not) and I have waited a looooooooonnnnnggggggggg time often for a pick up. You guys are just going to sit there with your snorkels dutifully attached to your masks, masks full down and regs in your mouth and do what, sign language? Well, I could not sign because my hands are usually full. I think I will take my reg out of my mouth and talk to my buddy. Like, hey, do you see that tiger shark 15 feet down there under our flippers, looking at you? I sure wish the boat would hurry along. Hey, can you hold the sausage a moment, I need to clip my camera off a little better and so on.

And if I lose my dang mask, which has never happened in 40 plus years of diving, I generally have another on the boat. And one thing about us Baby Boomers, we actually work, somebody has to pay taxes to keep this showboat afloat, so I can afford a dozen new masks if I keep losing them. I do not care if I lose my mask.

N

That's funny I got sick to my stomach when I lost my Mask . That"s why I created the mask leash!

Frank G
www.zgearinc.com