ContourHD on a Vforce Grill Paintball Mask

I play for the scenario paintball team Pub Crawling http://www.pubcrawling.org .   We travel all over the United States to play paintball and have traveled to Scotland and England for events.  One thing that we like to do is take a lot of pictures and videos of our events.  We really enjoy looking back and reliving our glory days, plus it never gets old looking at a picture of myself.  In order to make better on field videos and give a real point of view perspective a goggle mounted camera can really bring the game to life.

The ContourHD (and the new GPS version) is probably one of the best all around helmet cameras available.  It is low profile, lightweight, simple to use and it has great image quality. 

The Vforce Grill is a lightweight, super comfortable paintball mask with a quick change lens system that makes swapping lenses a simple procedure.

The problem is that the ContourHD does not have mounts that will work with goggles that do not have straps the full length of the side of a mask.  This makes mounting the camera problematic on goggles such as the Vforce Grill.  Until now.

Tools:
Scissors

Parts:
Old Bicycle inner tube
Vforce Grill Mask
ContourHD Camera
Contour Goggle Strap Mount

Here you can see how the mount works on a a pair of ski goggles.  Notice the arrow pointing up and how the goggle strap goes through the mount horizontally.  If your goggles don't have straps that go around to the side this mount won't work for you without modification.

The second picture shows the Vforce Grill. You can see that the strap actually connects into the back of the lens clip. While this makes the lens very secure and easy to change it means that the normal horizontal mount will not work. 

In order to mount the camera to the side of the goggles you will first need to remove the lens retainer clip.  The third picture shows just the retainer clip off from the mask.  There are very good instructions on how to remove this piece in this Instructable here .

Using your scissors cut a section of inner tube as long as the goggle mount is high.  This in essence creates a very large and very strong rubber band.

Now you take your section of inner tube and slip it over the goggle mount.  Make sure it slides all the way in as if it were a goggle strap.

Now you take and insert the lens retainer clip on the back side of the goggle mount through the inner tube.

Now just reinstall the lens retainer clip on the mask.  Notice how the camera mount is now vertical on the paintball mask instead of horizontal on the ski mask.

All you need to do now is snap the ContourHD camera into place, attach the retention lanyards and you're ready to record your paintball action.

Here is the camera all set and ready to go.  I like to keep the camera pointed slightly up as I tend to dip my head down.  There is enough flexibility in the mount that positioning it where you want it to go is easy.  The ContourHD also has two built in lasers for aligning the camera with where you are looking.

Usage is simple:

1.  Turn camera on with button the back, laser will come on automatically.
2.  Align lasers with the direction you are looking in.
3.  Get ready to play paintball
4.  Push record switch.
5.  Mow muppets.
6.  Enjoy a tasty beverage while you watch the videos after the game.

You can find samples of our helmet camera footage here:  http://www.youtube.com/user/pubcrawlingpb

From your friends at Pub Crawling http://www.pubcrawling.org