As mentioned in my earlier blog, I sold the VIRB Elite and purchased the new Garmin VIRB XE. The new VIRB XE is shaped much like the GoPro and even shares the same mounting design so that you can use GoPro mounts for the VIRB XE. This was a genius move by Garmin since GoPro has many third party mounts including those by GoPro. Needless to say I have purchased a few including chest, head, and a variety of bolt-on and stick-on mounts.

For the motorcycle I plan to use the helmet stick-on mount and an additional few stick-on mounts in the front of the F700GS. I have ordered a power connection to plug into my PDM-60 and this is one of two features that sets the VIRB XE apart from the GoPro for motorcycles.

1. The VIRB can be charged and used simultaneously whereby I believe the GoPro will enter a charging mode that prevents filming.
2. The VIRB XE has built in stabilization software whereas the GoPro requires additional software to stabilizer it during the video editing.

So I tried the chest mount and although it offers an interesting perspective as seen below, I think that it would be much better for my canoe trips.

You can see that the picture is clear as well as the focus in all areas of the shot. However, the helmet mount offers a better birds-eye view and the wide angle edge distortion is also minimized with built in VIRB software as you can see by the post.

So, this morning I had to get up early to ride to Ottawa Good Time Center for my yearly maintenance. I used the opportunity to test this new VIRB and below are the results.