The StickyPod is an inexpensive but high quality car mount for consumer and prosumer cameras. Follow the jump for my full review and some sample video.

Our StickyPod was purchased in response to an “incident” in which a camera was returned covered in duct tape. This prompted the question of “Hey, why is this camera covered in duct tape” and the unfortunate reply of “Oh, I taped it to my car.”

Hrm.

We decided that at least with a car mount, if something bad happens it’ll probably totally destroy the camera, instead of just making it all sticky. And, if you’ve ever scrubbed duct tape off a camera, you know that destruction is the better option.

We ended up getting the StickyPod “Pro Pack” from B&H. This includes the StickyPod, an extra suction cup, some extension arms, adjustable knuckles, and a tie-down strap. The strap is my only real criticism of the kit – it’s far too short to be useful for much of anything. The included training video shows a much longer strap, so it’s possible that our kit was just missing a piece. In any case, I intend to get some additional straps.

The mount itself seems very solid. Essentially it’s a steel plate with four suction cups and a standard screw mount. I appreciate the simplicity. The suction cups seem to be pretty high quality, and they grip quite solidly. I attached the mount to an interior window and it held firm, even against my tugging.

The process for getting ready to use the StickyPod is pretty straight forward. First, clean the suction cups and the surface you’ll be attaching it to, to ensure a solid grip. Then, attach the camera to the StickyPod, using whichever extensions and mounts that you desire. Then, firmly press each suction cup to the surface.

We did some test shooting using a Sony PDX-10 and overall I’m happy with the results. I think the biggest lesson learned is to turn off the optical image stabilizer in the PDX-10, as it can’t cope with the jarring motion and instead overcompensates. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize this until getting back inside. If we ever have nice weather again, I’ll do another test run. Additionally, this testing was done with a Mini Cooper S, which has a ride that is rather on the stiff side. Expect less jarring motion with a more loosely sprung car.

In any case, I think it’s a solid piece of kit, especially at the price. I’m not sure I would mount a camera much larger than a PDX-10, at least when combined with some of the extension arms. While the mount stayed firmly stuck during testing, I think physics will prove victorious with a significantly weightier camera. The StickyPod folks have a video of a 25lb weight held up by a StickyPod for multiple hours, but I found that the jarring motion of a car reduces the grip significantly.

In any case, click the image below to take a look at the sample video (Quicktime 7). Thanks to Mark and Adam for helping with the shooting.