adminWe’re not quite sure how we missed this one, but here’s today’s Public Service Announcement: Think about your GoPro helmet mount kit, and think hard. Why? Because there might just be a chance it could turn you into a paraplegic, or worse.
All this because of an interview with a lone French F1 journalist – Jean-Loiuis Moncet – who has been following Grand Prix legend Michael Schumacher and his very slow recovery from coma and paralysis after a skiing accident. Moncet wrote in October that “The problem for Michael was not the hit, but the mounting of the GoPro camera that he had on his helmet that injured his brain.”
Because of Schumacher’s massive celebrity, this single sentence caused a shockwave in the world of high-flying IPOs and action sports. GoPro’s stock (which had only gone public a couple of months before) immediately tumbled more than 20%, losing literally billions worth of market capitalization in a few short days (and other wearable cam makers followed). According to Forbes, GoPro responded by immediately (and publicly) discussing legal action; perhaps this was what led to Moncet immediately labeling his comment as ‘opinion’ via Twitter just days later.
According to various sources, at least one German lab is testing to see whether a GoPro on your helmet can contribute to injury or reduce the efficacy of a helmet; considering the fact that more and more of you are wearing hard hats for your cat/kite/moth sailing, it’s probably a prudent time to wear your helmet as the engineers designed it rather than the way your HD loving ego would prefer, right?
It seems obvious when you think about it – doesn’t it seem stupid to glue a very strong, sharp-cornered bit of plastic onto the hard shell designed to protect your head? Whether it is dangerous or not, there are plenty of other mounts to use…leave the helmet clear, for now.
