Sticky Pod Customers

"I used your Sticky Pod system on an Indy car on the St. Petersburg GP road course. Most of the INDY officials were skeptical that your system would stay on an INDY car @ speed. I knew It would do fine. I stuck it on the car and the footage turned out great, and most importantly it held our $35,000 camera on and kept it from damaging a $600,000 race car."

To see the video, just go to: Sticky Pod Indy Car

Matt Barker
Director of Photography
Army National Guard

Here's some more cool ideas Matt has in store for the Sticky Pod:

I just finished shooting a video of a beautiful Lamborghini Gallardo, which included footage from the sticky pod. Attached are some behind the scenes photos of the shoot from KWIKFILMS.COM.

You sell a great product, keep up the good work.
Frank Castillo
(619) 871-7747
KWIKFILMS.COM

If you're in the San Diego area, you should look Frank up. When he's trusted with mounting a camera on a Lambo, his clientele has great confidence in him.  Great job Frank!

Tom,

I thought you might like to see some pics and footage from my first shoot with the Stickypod. We were in Houghton, MI where the snow fall this year is around 180 inches. The temperatures while we were there were between 10 and 20 degrees. The shoot was for a tire manufacturer and we were looking for hi-def shots of the tires moving through snow in slow motion. I used the Red One and the Stickypod Director. I needed a little extra support so I added a maffer clamp and c-arm to the rig. I have since purchased more parts so I won't need to use the c-arm in the future.
We also rigged a miniDV camera in the cab for 2 other angles. Everyone on the shoot was impressed with the ease and stability of the rig so we will be using it again in South Carolina for more tire testing on wet pavement. Wish us luck!

Rick Amundson
Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
515.225.7800 (w)
515.238.7344 (c)
http://www.screenscapestudios.com

Thanks for a great product!!! - That's all the email said, but then I looked at the attached images and WOW!

When I replied Jack said; I ordered a bunch of SP options, but cup n knuckle does the job for what I'm doing (just using individual frames from hd video coming off the Pentax Optio W60 - that is what lets me get 15 fps without touching the shutter). The video itself is way too bouncy to use. Next I'll try it with the three cups and base to steady things up a bit - but that's a lot of real estate on the nose of a board.
The single cup holds well, but you will notice I "gooped" a safety loop to my board that I run the camera's wrist strap through - just in case.

BTW: Panasonic just announced a new waterproof camera with I think will be great.

All the best - and thanks again!
Jack Davis
http://www.adventuresinphotoshop.com/

Please click on a pic to enlarge

I purchased your “Director’s Kit” a month or so ago for work on a documentary film project called “Gridlock” – as in traffic problems.  I fully intend to give you a write-up about using your products and – I hope – a little footage to go with it.  But I just had to tell you now what an absolutely fantastic product you have there. 

Everyone was “wowed” by the product – and the resulting footage.  And the crew I’m working with are not young kids who impress easily!  We each have, on average, about 30 years experience.

In fact, one guy in London (England) was so impressed with the unit, that I believe he will be ordering one from you very soon.

At over 100KM per hour, in rain, on trucks, vans and cars, inside and outside, this unit is by far the best vehicle platform I have ever used – and I’ve used a lot! Anyway, I’ll endeavor to pen something useable in the coming weeks.

Thanks again, Tom!

Sincerely,
Michael S.
Strange Communications Limited

Thanks for your product. We bought "The Director" and used it for the first time on our 4 minute short titled "Trading Faces." Go to maxcast/onewayproductions and click on Trading Faces. I have attached 3 jpegs for your viewing and use. We are using it again in a couple of weeks on another short. We produce sermon illustrations that sell all over the world on sermonspice.com. Your StickyPod added professionalism to our project, so again thank you. Also thank you for making your product of high quality so affordable for independent production companies. ** Click any pic to enlarge **

George Buttle
One Way Productions
Radiance Creative Communications
Sacramento, CA
(916) 681-1114

Hi Tom,
I have received the order, and love the product. Attached is a flash format video of my sticky pod in action attached to my kayak going under water and rolling back up!! I have already referred a person to your product, Steve W. in Tacoma WA I believe has placed an order, or will shortly! Do I get a referral fee? Love your product, next i'll be testing it in the ocean surf!!! Jason P.S. we will be using your sticky pod to add to our collection of videos, and photo slide shows on WWW.XEXPLORE.COM, check us out! In a couple of days I'll have a blog write up on your product, viewed by many kayaks in the Pacific Northwest.

Thanks,
Jason

Take a look at Jason's instructional video on rolling, click an icon below.
     

Jason has a very cool website and a host of very cool pictures and videos. Please click on the pic above to see a very cool photo of Jason, the Sticky Pod and one of the Pacific Northwest lighthouses.

Hi there! First off, I have attached a few photos from last week when we took our new diesel road-racing truck to the track. I mounted a camera with your Stickypod inside the cab as well as on the roof. Everyone on the crew was certain the suction cups would not hold, but they did. The truck did not hit its top speed, but it did go about 135 mph. I will send you some video footage from the track as well as soon as I can. I also have footage from when I mounted a camera on one of our trucks on a drag strip. I put the tailgate down, and mounted the camera upside down on the bottom side. Your Stickypod held on just fine.

Hello, I can attest that StickyPod is great as  a mic mount! I very successfully used it in last week's HD video shoot in New York City's Central Park. The mic was on shockmount, which I screwed on to the StickyPod through the small adapter. This is because I needed the mic to point up to the actors while they were sitting an a low bench. So the mic stand was inconvenient. Instead, StickyPod was sitting on the ground, holding the mic. I was able to position the mic very precisely because of the StickyPod - thanks guys!

Alex Raskin
Prime HD

I would just like to thank you guys for creating just a quality product. I received my Sticky Pod today and have already put it to good use. I would also like to thank you guys for your fast shipping. As a fellow business owner I know how hectic things can get and how sometimes time constraints are overlooked. Thanks again and I will be recommending your products to customers and friends alike.

Cameras are not the only thing that can be used with  StickyPods. We mounted a rack of Time Domain Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radios total weight, just over 10 pounds. Then we got a little creative and mounted individual suction cups to our antenna boxes. Extra thanks for letting us purchase those. This was used for our Urban Tracking and Dismount demo. The StickyPods worked extremely well, better than magnets. Everything stayed in place all day without problems. Look for a second order for a couple of StickyPods just for me. This time I’m claiming those. 

Daryl Berryhill
Sr Engineering Technician
Time Domain Corp.
www.TimeDomain.com

I've been using the Stickypod in probably the way most people use them - stuck on the front and rear roof of my van, on the lower sides, even on the bonnet (sorry, hood - for you on the other side of the pond), looking back at the driver. I use a bog standard small JVC min-dv camcorder and the results have been really great. Most of my video work is kind of unconventional, so I recently took a job that involved shooting a kind of car journey through busy city streets - the result would be projected on a huge screen in a theatre, with a mock car, full of actors in front of it. So I did a few test shots. As usual, the Stickypod worked great - until I discovered that I can't use my van for the shot. One location has a barrier at two inches less than the van height.

Ok - plan B. Use my Suzuki Jimmi soft top 4WD. Remove Stickypod and remount onto the Suzuki. The first test footage showed the Suzuki has a major drawback - the first is that the suspension is incredibly hard and rigid, the second is the short wheelbase that exagerates every bump in the road. The shots, even on a small screen were very bumpy, on a large projected image - unusable. Close examination of what was happening was required. The major issue was the camera shaking from side to side. The Stickypod is rigid, movement right up to the top of the ball joint on the swivel is minimal. The snag is the camera. It has a plastic case, and the mount at the bottom, where it attaches to the swivel, is the problem. It flexes. Not much, but the distance from the hood to the camera is moving the base of the camera from left to right, quite forcibly. The camera flexes - not much, but enough to ruin the shots.

Plan C - I wondered if I could use any of my normal camcorders (full size DV and Betacam)? A lot heavier. On the Stickypod website, there's a great video of Tom hanging huge sports weights onto the side of a vehicle. So the mount can take the weight - however, hanging this weight via the ball joint is impossible - no way of locking it tight enough - it wasn't designed to do this. EVen if it could lock that tight, all the weight is on a tiny 1/4" thread. Not a sensible way to do the job.

I had a spare Manfrotto 501 head lying around, so I drilled a hole in the aluminium plate, between the two suction cups, this allows the head to pan properly. The results were very encouraging. The only snag was that I couldn't lock the tilt hard enough to stop the camera falling forwards on heavy braking. So I hit on the idea of using the original sticky pod mounting system in tandem. The rigidity is amazing now - the only downside is that I was lucky the angle matched - maybe Tom will make an adjustable version to allow the tilt to be changed - I'd certainly buy one. The additional mass and weight of the camera means the wobble is managed much better - the suction cups acting as kind of shock absorbers - with a lightweight camera they tend to stay quite still. The Suzuki is now quite usable as a camera platform. The only addition is that I use a couple of ratchet straps to the top handle of the camera as safeties - these also damp the lateral movement slightly - increasing the cornering video performance - the weight normally pulls the camera the opposite way to the turn - which looks good normally - for my needs I need the image to remain as flat as possible.

From my skiing excursions in the States, I've noticed all your automobiles have much softer suspensions than we do over here in the UK - we're slowly coming around to your way of doing things, but the Suzuki is just so poor, stability wise, my modifciation seems to do the job - and best of all, consists of just 1 hole in the Stickypod!

Click any pic above to enlarge

Paul Johnson
East Anglian Radio Services 2006
www.earsmedia.co.uk

Hi Tom, I want to thank you for all your advice and time on the phone (we talked for over 20 minutes).  As I explained, my neighbor kept urinating on my car handle and, needless to say, this perversion was disgusting and causing me great stress in my life.  Since I live in a very nice neighborhood, I couldn't believe this was happening to me.  Like I said, the boy next door was from an egyptian family that was very well off so he was very spoiled, but I still was not sure if he was the culprit.  Since, I couldn't figure out what to do and I wasn't sure who was doing it, all I had were my suspicions, but nothing to backup my claims.  When you suggested that I video tape my car from my 2nd story window with a Sticky Pod, that did the trick.  I placed the camera high on top of the glass and zoomed the camera in on the driver side of my car and caught my neighbor's son red handed.  (It was the egyptians next door.)  You could see his face and the video was so crystal clear, the police were able to take action immediately.  Since they had the video, it was easy for them to press charges (urinating in public) without me having to press charges.  Now my neighbors were so completely embarrased, they apologized and they leave me alone.  Since they know I can video tape them, they keep to themselves and they behave.  You suggested the Original for it's endurance and ability to work with many cameras, what a great buy!  I can't believe my problems are solved for only $89 bucks!  I tell everyone about the Sticky Pod and the problem I had.  Thank you again for inventing the Sticky Pod.

Ann W.
Stockton, CA

Ann later writes me an update...
I just wanted to let you know that my neighbors are moving.  Can't say I'm sorry to see them go.  Thanks again for your product and all the great advice and service.

Tom,
First I want to say I've really enjoyed using my StickyPod that I bought last year.  We're so pleased with the type of shots the Sticky Pod can pull off, we are going to do some product demos with it at the NOPI car show this coming September 16, 17 at our booth.
http://www.nopinationals.com/2k6/show_info.cfm

Our company, StreetFire.net is a free video sharing web site that allows car enthusiasts to upload videos they shoot of their cars.  So, at our booth, we are going to highlight some good filming techniques to help promote our service.

The reason I wanted to mention this to you, is that if you are in the Atlanta area and would like to come by our booth and participate with us, we would love to have you.  If you even would like to use the opportunity to sell some Sticky Pods, we wouldn't mind letting you use our booth space (so long as you wear one of our StreetFire.net T-Shirts!)

Anyhow, thanks again for a great product!

PS here is a mini-blurb I put up on our website earlier this month
http://www.streetfire.net/2006/08/camera-mounts-sticky-pod.aspx

(After the show, Ali writes...)
I have the Sticky Pod Dash Cam set up, and have used it 4 or 5 days a week for the past month since I received it. This past weekend was the most notable when I used it with the WRX Atlanta car club at the NOPI Nationals show at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

I have to say a lot of people (45+ people) asked about the Pod and I got a lot of looks and comments regarding it.

I had my camera mounted on the roof of my Subaru and people just couldn't stop looking and pointing at it, at the show and on the drive to the speedway.  I was the only one at the show who had any sort of camera mounting device, and I suspect by the reactions people will have ordered some so they can have it for next years show, if not before.

I have gotten a comment almost everytime I have had the Pod on the hood or roof.

I wanted to thank you for the product. I took the liberty to give out the www.stickypod.com address to several people.

NOTE: I'd love to find out how to be a reseller of the product as well. I'd surely be at NOPI next year trying to get a booth set up.

Cheers,
Ali D
Atlanta, GA, USA
WRX Atlanta
2006 Subaru STI

Thank-you TOM!

I was very excited to try out your product after finding it online.  Similar products, consisting of one large suction cup are going for about $500 a pop and don't include any of the extras you provide.  I'll admit I was a little skeptical at first then after I watched your video... huh! nothing to it!  Then came test time.  I took my car out, cleaned everything, mounted the camera, started the car, and began to sweat bullets.  "What if it didn't work?" "What if this is a death sentence for my camera, I can't afford to buy another?"... but the adrenaline started to flow and I decided to take it for a whirl!  first out the parking lot, 10, 20, 35mph, sharp turns, then "Hey" I'm gonna miss that light, Vroom, screeeech, I made a sharp left at about 55mph and got on the main highway, 60, 70, 85mph... I got this sick feeling in my stomach that I lost the camera somewhere back there and pulled over. Quickly checking on the camera I gave it a little tug, then a big one, then leaned into it with most of my weight. nope not budging. Full confidence your product works 110%.  I thank you and my camera thanks you!

Brad - WeLuvMovies.com
Temecula, California

Hi Tom,

This Sticky Pod is the best friend to any automotive filmmaker.

We just finished our first scene in Canyon Racers with the Sticky Pod. Just so you know, I am refilming the other scenes with the Sticky Pod. Our shoot time went from 4 hours to 2 hours.

I will use this for every film we do. More orders are coming from us.
Steve H
Sacramento, California

I just got back from Italy. Video on skis is always tricky and you can't go too fast with a camera in hand - so I took my sticky pod. inside my jacket, down the front of my salopettes. worked a treat! the video is now on your server - emedia21

Paul J
Lowestoft, Suffolk - UK

Hey Tom,
I have recently purchased a Sticky Pod Pro, and I'm so impressed I was wondering if you were listed on any stock exchange. I am interested in buying stock in your company. Please let me know.

Thanks,
Paul W
Sydney, Nova Scotia

Hi Tom,

Well, I truly feel indebted to your team for giving us an opportunity to shoot mobile shots without any worries. I will admit, I had my doubts at first, but from the very first scene we shot using the Sticky Pod I was a firm believer in it and what it can do. Now when we read scripts for consideration; moving shots of characters in cars, boats, helicopters etc. are no longer a sticking point for whether or not we can produce the story. The Sticky Pod has given us the ability to do so much more then we could have prior to having owned it. Once we finish editing our current production "The Memorial Counselor," I'd love to post some of the shots the pod was used for on your gallery. While they may not appear to be anything spectacular, I can tell you with a strong degree of certainty, they would not have been anywhere near as good without the Sticky Pod.

I'll keep you posted about the progress of the film as we are hoping to get a distribution deal consisting of a wide release, which if it comes to fruition, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be telling even more people about the Sticky Pod. Not only do I love to tell fellow Independent Film makers about it, urging them all to consider purchasing them for their productions, but I love to show it to people because it is truly a unique tool for individuals and organizations such as ours. So if we end up lucking out and actually get to hob nob with any "big league" distributors and/or media during our marketing blitz for this production, I'll let you know who I got a chance to talk to about "the pod." You all deserve a round of applause for creating such a great tool.

I appreciate your consideration of my comments and if any potential customers have any questions about my claims, please feel free to give them my contact information, as I said, I love "the pod," and look forward to using it as often as I can. If you don't mind, I'd be honored to put a link to your site on our website (www.hexi.com/LST), which isn't necessarily a traditional website, we use it mostly for information for cast and crew of our productions, but I know many independents in the Northwest visit it as well. Once we finish editing in about a month or so, we will be creating a new website specifically for the film that we hope will generate a lot of traffic for interest in our film and techniques used (such as "pod" filming). No biggie if there are any sort of issues related to this request, but I can't stress the fact enough that I am such a firm believer in your product and wish for every production company to own at least one, if not many. All I would need is your permission and/or a JPG of either your name or a picture of the Pod, or both, to put up on our site as a link. Take care.

Sincerely,

Patrick Sevigny
Long Strange Trip Productions, LLC
Salem, Oregon
www.hexi.com/LST

Just found your site - actually did a search on Yahoo for a monopod, and found the Sticky Pod. What a great item, I bought one for my son who is going to absolutely FLIP when he gets it for Christmas, you don't know how many videos he has shown me that actually make me motion sick from watching of him off-roading. Several times you can see/hear the camera hit the roof of the truck! I have a feeling many of his friends will want to get one when they see his! Congrats on a great product, hoping it is everything I witnessed on the videos that are on your site, and good job at search engine placement. Having never heard of it, I am glad it came up with my search for a different item!

Elizabeth
Southern CA

Just wanted to say that you have a great product. I was able to drive around an entire Friday night with it looking down the length of my car for some great shots. I also wanted to congratulate you on being featured as a great geek buy in MaximumPC. That is awesome.

Wayne Adams

Thank you so much for such a wonderful product; it is truly truly amazing; a blessing for any independent film producer.

Patrick S.
Salem, OR

My name is Christopher Sellers and I live in Anchorage, AK. I recently purchased a Stickypod from your website! I was amazed at how simple yet strong and sturdy it was, so I decided to put it on the car and go for a test drive. You can't believe what happened next. Went around the block once with it mounted on the hood facing the window. I went back home and turned it towards traffic, and took off. I got about a block away, and a Tahoe pulled up to a stop in front of me. The gentle men inside started shooting at some other people on the side of the street!! I was in the middle of a war! The tahoe drove off past me, and the gentlemen standing across the street started yelling at the tahoe as it drove away. All while my Camera captured every moment from my Stickypod! Holy Crap I thought and went back home. I gathered myself and went back to the scene and the police had the whole area sectioned off. So I told the police officer and he was stunned. So he called up the investigator and they took the tape into evidence. My Civic Duty was done for this day! I still havent got the video back yet, but I would be glad to share it with you when I do. Thank you so much for this great product, and I believe the video captured enough to put these guys away.

Chris Sellers
Anchorage, Alaska

The mount works, Dude!!! :)

Thanx for this product, at the beginning I had problems to screw my 1300€ cam on your mount, but now I can't wait to make new videos with your Sticky Pod!

Greetz from Munich, Germany.

My Name is Philipp, I'm a cutter and I thank Mr. Tom Heibel for his product!!!!!

Dear Tom:

I contacted you in Jan. '05, about using the sticky pad to try and overcome some problems I was having filming live music in bars/nightclubs. I got out my windex wipes, cleaned off a Budweiser Ireland plaque six feet up a wall. Mounted my sticky pod and then a Canon Optura Xi and 4 hours later it was still up there. I have a couple of stills if you're interested, I also have a pretty good 18 minute DVD (also quick time movie) of my son for promotional packs if you're interested I'll send them.

Thanks for you're help, the promptness of shipment (I received the propack the next day), and a great product.

Robert M.
Bellaire, MI.
Check out Robert's pics:  Rock Band 1   Rock Band 2

I bought your Motorcycle Stickypod and after moving the suctions cups just a little it fit quite well on my 2001 Zx6-r Ninja. I have made a few short videos and would be glad to send them to you for your use. I am trying to figure out how to add them to my website, but until then I can email them to you if you like.

Satisfied with StickyPod,
Matt D.
Check out Matt's video here.  I love the wheelie!

Hi,

Just wanted to say thanks for a great product. I just got back from a vacation after not driving my WRX for while. I need to get new rubber and a road trip combined with an abandoned landing strip provided a great opportunity to test the mount. I used the My Stickypod just to see if it will hold and it did. So this is for you. If you would like to use it you have my permission.

Thanks again.
John C.

secondly, I have some video from an autocross I was in a few months ago and(of course!) brought my sticky pod along.  I was wondering if I sent you the footage(it is on a DVD) if you would like to post it on your website, or just on the forums for me, as I don't have the capability to make it a useable/downloadable file.

It's sure a great showing of the stickypod's capability with all the hard turning and braking.  I mounted it twice inside the car facing me and twice outside the car(one on the upper left of the windshiwld, and the other on the driver's side rear window).  The view from the driver's side rear window is my favorit, because you can see my face in the mirror while driving.  :-D 

let me know what you think!  THANKS AGAIN FOR AN AWESOME PRODUCT!!

Matthew C.

I have some suggestions on how and where to sell it and may even how to improve it.

1. I think your main customer base would be Mini DV film directors. There are tons around the country trying to get a steady thru the windsheild shot. (right now you seem to be marketing it to race car drivers- I guarantee you filmmakers will buy this twice as much as racing enthusiatists). Places to advertise are magazines like AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, MINIDV DIRECTOR.... umm just go to the tattered cover and check out all the film mags.

Hi Tom, I just received my Sticky Pod today. Thanks for the fast shipping! I'm excited to use this on my motorcycle...now only if winter will cooperate. Thanks for inventing a great product! Regards and good luck to you!

John

i recently recieved my sticky pod, and i will admit its some of the best money i ever spent on my car, im in japan with the US Army and theres all sorts of illegal street racing and we could never find a way to capture racing up and down a windy hill till i got my sticky pod, its so convienant to take it off when you're done or switch between cars whenever you feel with no tools needed.

Jeff

Tom, you are amazing. You set a new level in customer support. I just watched the video and just bought (PayPal) one of your 'Pods' and a couple of accessories and I can't wait to use them with my XL1. Thanks again for your time and the video answer to my question.

Jerry T.

I wanted to say how impressed I am with your total product. By that I mean the Sticky Pod itself and the instructional video you sent along with it. That does not happen very often and I think it is great. I have shared it with a bunch of my friends and they were impressed also. Your customer relations will get you far...................

Dave E.

Hello, I just received my new Sticky Pod because I was in the same predicament that you were, trying to find a camera mount. I must say that the Sticky Pod is a great invention and I love it. I would like to share a video I made with it the first day I opened it but could not send it via e-mail. Also if you can I would like to hear more about your other invention that stops cars that are in pursuit.  Once again I think your invention is great.

Nathanial W.

Carlos E.