If you're a tinkerer like me, you understand the obsession. It's that tiny, irrational detail that nobody else notices, but it keeps you up at night. For me, it was the missing 1/4" screw mount on my GoPro Hero 8.
Sure, the stock GoPro finger mount is functional. But as someone who grew up with old-school film cameras, a camera without that standard tripod hole just feels... incomplete. It’s a weird, compulsive fixation, I know.
So, I decided to "fix" it. And this is the story of how my quest for perfection led to a completely pointless, yet strangely satisfying, failure.
The "Solution": A Simple Swap That Promised Perfection
I ordered a third-party finger mount that included the sacred 1/4" threaded hole. The swap itself was incredibly easy. The kit even came with a hex key, so no extra tools were needed. You just unscrew the old one, put the new one on, and tighten the bolts.
(A quick note for Hero 8 owners: the bolt that came with the new mount was too long. I had to reuse the original GoPro screws to get a proper fit.)
Here's a quick video of the installation process:
With the new mount installed, I’ll admit, it looked great. It finally looked like a "real" camera. For a moment, I felt a deep sense of satisfaction. My weird compulsion was cured.
The Reality Check: A Flaw Measured in Millimeters
That satisfaction lasted for about five minutes.
My pride quickly turned to disappointment when I tried to actually use the mount. The thread was shallow. Dangerously shallow.
A standard camera mount should have a depth of 6-7mm. This one? Barely 4.5mm.
This meant that a standard tripod screw wouldn't tighten securely. Even worse, trying to force it could easily crack the camera's housing. I could have used a washer or a spacer to make it work, but let's be honest—that's too much hassle for something I probably wouldn't even use.
Final Thoughts: A Glorious, Pointless Failure
In the end, I just mounted it back on the headband — right where it belonged all along.
The whole adventure was a solution to a problem that never really existed. I use my GoPro for POV shots, so tripod mounting was never a priority. I had created a problem in my own head (the missing hole) and then spent time and money on a flawed solution.
So, was it worth it?
From a practical standpoint, absolutely not. It was a complete waste of time.
But from a tinkerer's perspective? I satisfied my weird, compulsive need to "fix" something that wasn't broken. I added a tiny, useless bolt hole that no one will ever see, and for a brief moment, my universe was in perfect alignment.
And sometimes, that's all that matters.
