Chest Strap Mount for Phone and Action Camera

Both hands stay busy. The camera keeps rolling.

You are up to your elbows in it. Winch cable in one hand, snatch strap in the other. Or you are on the bars picking a line through rock, or you have got a fish on and the rod is bent. That is the bit worth filming, and it is exactly the bit where you have no spare hand for a phone.

So one of two things happens. The footage never gets taken, or you fish the phone out one-handed at the worst possible moment and it goes in the drink, under a wheel, or down the rocks. A phone you dropped in a creek is not a camera any more, and it is not a map or a sat call either.

This is a chest strap that carries the phone or the action camera for you. It sits flat on your sternum, points where you are pointed, and leaves both hands where they need to be. The clip opens from 55 mm to 105 mm across, so it takes most handsets with a slim case on, and the plate underneath takes a GoPro-style two-prong fitting for an action camera.

Two kits are sold on this page and they are not the same bag of parts. The anti-shake rope, the wrench, the long and short link brackets and the extra screws are in the remote kit only. Both kits include the phone clip. The full contents of each are listed in the Specs tab.

What It Does

• Carries the phone: the spring clip opens 55 mm to 105 mm across the short edge, which covers most current handsets with a slim case fitted.
• Carries a camera instead: the chest plate takes a GoPro-style two-prong J-hook buckle, so an action camera bolts straight on in place of the phone clip.
• Turns to suit the shot: the clip head rotates a full 360 degrees, so you can shoot upright or on its side without unbolting anything.
• Tilts down and forward: the link brackets in the remote kit let you drop the angle to shoot ahead when you are hunched low over the bars.
• Fires without a hand: the remote kit includes a Bluetooth shutter button on a wrist lanyard, so you start and stop without reaching up to the screen.
• Adjusts in five places: two shoulder sliders, two chest-band sliders and the back yoke, so it goes over a t-shirt or over a jacket.

Key Features

• Clip range 55–105 mm: the one number that decides whether your phone fits. Measure the short edge of your handset with the case on.
• Silicone retaining strap: a stretch web that goes over the face of the phone as a second hold, on top of the spring clip.
• Two-prong camera fitting: the standard action-camera interface, plus a J-hook buckle and an adapter in both kits.
• Threaded socket in the base: the phone clip has a metal tripod socket underneath. The supplier does not state the thread size.
• Side-release buckle: plastic quick-release on the chest band, so it comes off over a jacket without pulling it over your head.
• Elastic shoulder straps: the supplier gives the strap material as PVC and elastic band. It is a stretch webbing harness, not a rigid frame.
• Anti-shake rope, remote kit: a removable terylene lanyard weighing 14.8 g that links the clip back to the strap and takes the sway out of it.
• Coin-cell remote: the Bluetooth button runs on a CR2032 3V lithium cell with an on/off switch and an LED, and the cover is removable to change it.

Limits

It Will Not Hold a Person

This is the one that matters. It is a camera mount and nothing else. It carries no load rating of any kind, it is not fall-arrest equipment, it is not climbing or work-at-height equipment, and it must never be used to support, secure, catch or lift a person or to attach a person to anything.

Nothing on the product, the buckles, the plate or any of the supplier's artwork is marked to EN 361 or AS/NZS 1891 — the fall-arrest standards — and no certificate has been sighted for it. If you need a body harness that will take your weight, this is not it, and you should be buying something with a certificate and a stated rating printed on the label.

What Else It Does Not Do

• It is not a gimbal: the anti-shake rope stops the clip swinging on its pivot. It does nothing about the fact that your chest bounces. The supplier prints a 98 per cent figure on the artwork with no test behind it and we are not repeating it as a spec.
• No water rating: the supplier states none, so treat it as gear that copes with weather but not with immersion. Nothing here is sealed, and your phone is your own problem in the wet.
• No chest measurement stated: the artwork says it fits all body types and shows five adjustment points, but the supplier publishes no minimum or maximum chest size in centimetres. We are not going to make one up.
• Big phones may not fit: 105 mm is the hard ceiling on the clamp. An unfolded folding phone, or a handset in a thick armoured case, will be too wide.
• No camera or phone included: the supplier's own packing panel says so plainly. You are buying the strap and the mounting hardware.
• The two kits differ: the basic kit has no anti-shake rope, no wrench and no link brackets. If you want the tilt range and the remote, take the remote kit.
• Not a bar or roll-cage mount: it straps to a body. There is no clamp here for a handlebar, a helmet or a bull bar.

Q & A

How do I know if my phone fits?

Measure the short edge of your phone with the case on. If it lands between 55 mm and 105 mm, the clip closes on it. That covers the great majority of handsets sold. A tablet will not fit and neither will a folding phone opened out.

Do I get the phone clip, or is it just the strap?

Both kits include the phone clip and the silicone retaining strap. Neither is an optional extra here. The supplier's packing panels for both options list a phone clip and a phone strap.

What is the actual difference between the two options?

More than the name suggests. The basic kit is chest strap, J-hook buckle, one long screw, one adapter, phone clip and phone strap. The remote kit is all of that plus the Bluetooth remote, an anti-shake rope, a wrench, a long and short link bracket set and extra screws. Both lists are in the Specs tab.

Will my GoPro go on it?

Yes. The chest plate uses the standard two-prong action-camera fitting and a J-hook buckle. The supplier lists GoPro Hero 5 through 11, DJI Osmo Action, DJI Osmo Pocket, Insta360 One RS and Insta360 X2 and X3, and says most other action cameras as well. If yours takes a two-prong mount, it will fit.

Can I clip myself to something with it?

No. Absolutely not, in any circumstance. It has no load rating, it is not certified to any fall-arrest standard, and it is built out of elastic webbing and plastic buckles. It holds a camera. It will not hold you.

Does it go over a jacket?

The straps are elastic with five adjustment points, and the supplier shows it worn over both a t-shirt and a heavy hoodie. What it does not publish is a chest size range, so if you are at either end of the scale we cannot promise you a fit.

How long does delivery take?

Allow 10 to 14 days from the day you order, and up to three weeks to regional and remote addresses. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs