Since its creation in 2002, GoPro has become a household name known for making some of the best action cameras available on the market. Their popularity has grown no doubt because of the stellar picture and video quality but also due to the wide-spanning array of accessories available to help users tailor it to their specific video needs, whether that’s a mount to secure your GoPro to a surfboard, or a waterproof housing to go diving, a headband to help a mechanic show off their point of view when working on the engine bay of a car or even a floating handgrip to stop your expensive action cam from ending up on the ocean floor.
In this review, we take a closer look at GoPro’s own-brand Chesty V2: a redesigned harness that lets you mount your GoPro to your chest and record video while keeping your hands free. This could be a great way of mounting your GoPro when you need both hands to be free such as hiking with walking poles, riding a mountain bike, or heading out with your camera, and should be more comfortable than a head-mounted strap too as the weight is more evenly distributed across the chest, back and shoulders.
To thoroughly test out our Chesty V2 harness we got hold of a GoPro HERO12 black and took it out to put it through its paces.
Specifications
Price: $39 / £39.99
Size: One-size fits all
Colours: Black
Fits: All GoPro cameras
Max load: 0.5Kg
Size: 11.99x13.89x2.31cm
Weight: 136g
Features
The Chesty V2 is the new and improved official chest harness from GoPro. It boasts a lightweight, flexible construction and is said to strike the perfect balance between comfort and performance. The front chest pad measures 11.99x13.89cm and it has soft breathable padding over 1cm thick which makes it very comfortable to wear, plus GoPro’s are very lightweight so it’s never going to be loaded up with tonnes of kit. GoPro has become known for more extreme sports such as surfing and mountain biking, so the Chesty V2 should be a good fit for those too.
You have two elasticated shoulder straps and two side straps which can be adjusted to keep the harness tight to your body and stabilise your GoPro, though once cinched down it can be a little tricky to get in and out of. There is a quick-release buckle that helps open up the harness to make this a little easier and can even be operated with gloves on.
Unlike some other chest harnesses, there’s no gimbal for stabilization or ball joint to help you reframe your composition, though you can take out the mount adapter and flip it around by 180º to mount your GoPro upside down – it's a bit awkward but does allow you to tilt the GoPro up more if needed. Another option with our GoPro 12 Black is to attach the Max Lens Mod 2.0 which expands the field of view to a staggering 177º in 4K60, with the wider angle giving you more options to crop (and stabilize) your footage in post.
The Chesty V2 has been designed to be fully adjustable to fit a wide range of body types and can even be worn over heavy winter jackets. It weighs just 136g but can support up to half a kilogram of equipment – plenty enough for our GoPro Hero12 Black which tips the scales at 153g with a battery inserted. This gives users a really nice lightweight way of recording footage while on the move when you need to be hands-free, such as walking, running, or cycling. The tradeoff though is that you don’t have the stabilization you’d get from holding a gimbal like the DJI OSMO Pocket and less control over your framing too, more on how the Chesty V2 performed below…
Performance
The Chesty V2 is comfortable to wear with your GoPro action camera firmly mounted to the chest plate on the front of the harness. The shoulder and side straps aren’t padded, but you’re never supporting a huge amount of weight with our GoPro HERO12 black weighing just 153g.
The straps are soft and comfortable and didn’t get in the way too much either, though some women left reviews online saying that the straps didn’t have enough length to comfortably place the front plate under the chest. The straps are also elasticated so have plenty of give in them – essential for extreme sports where you’re going to be moving a lot.
One issue is that the adjustment to where your GoPro is pointing is quite limited, especially compared to a harness like the Stuntman which has a ball joint allowing you to aim your action camera wherever you please.
Some users claimed their Chesty tended to hang downwards resulting in lots of footage of the floor, however in my testing, I didn’t find this to be the case – it stayed perfectly upright. You can also mount your GoPro upside down to tilt it up more if needed.
If you can get your GoPro pointing in the right direction there is another hurdle – camera shake. When you’re walking or running your body naturally bobs up and down and this movement is transferred directly to the camera. For our GoPro Hero 12 Black with its Hypersmooth 6.0 and AutoBoost stabilization, this wasn’t too much of a problem, though the footage did look a little odd when I moved too quickly. This is potentially more of an issue for older GoPro models with less advanced stabilization tech. It’s certainly not as ideal as having a camera with sensor-based stabilization or using a gimbal like the one built-in to the DJI Osmo Pocket 3.
Another thing to point out is that with any chest-mounted camera, your arms creep more easily into the shot than say if you mount your GoPro to a headband. This isn't inherently good or bad, just something to be aware of if for instance, you want to record mountain biking as your arms and hands will be in a significant portion of the frame.
Verdict
The GoPro Chesty V2 is an affordable harness that allows you to chest mount any GoPro. It’s easy to use, light and breathable. It inevitably picks up the motion in your chest but with the Hypersmooth 6.0 and Auto Boost enabled on our test GoPro 12 Black this wasn’t a big issue, our footage looked really smooth and mostly shake-free, though your mileage may vary with older GoPro models. The Chesty V2 only costs $27 on sale (down from its $39 RRP) so it’s a cheap and cheerful harness worth trying out if you’re interested in chest mounting your GoPro.
Should you buy the GoPro Chesty V2?
✅ Buy this if...
- You’re on a limited budget
- You’re filming activities with a GoPro which requires both hands to be free
🚫 Don't buy this if...
- You own an action camera which isn't a GoPro model
- If you want the best stabilized footage the DJI Pocket Osmo 3 could be a better option
