Sidekick – A Gopro Light To Capture Perfect Imagery At Night

What would be the best way to use this to light up overhead shots or use as an external light source? Do you think it's 'too bright'?

Hello again, I was previously known as Irene :) I posted a pic here: https://www.instagram.com/p/_jJdzsFGxs/

Hi Irene, Thank you so much for your feedback. We are happy that you love your Sidekick. You might be interested in our Action Camera Tray: http://www.lightandmotion.com/action-camera-tray We would love to see how you use Sidekick. Please feel free to share your photos/videos with us. Our Instagram handle is @lmlightlife

Excellent product, I love it, thank you! And delivered very quickly too, I'm impressed. Wish list: I'd love to see some kind of a dual mount so I can mount the GoPro AND the SideKick on a pole. It's very helpful when diving with frisky sharks! They get too close for comfort sometimes.

I completely agree with Mike Reed. Delivery to Canada was very quick, My Sidekick Duo works as advertised, great as a bike light, campaign was well run, pretty much stuck to timeline and communicated well, customer service was great too. I love L&M's other products as well and would not hesitate to back another project from them. Great experience as a first Kickstarter project for me.

Thought I'd let everyone know... This is an awesome product! Once you manage to find a way to get the locline forced into place it's all perfect! I'm really happy! Prompt delivery (to Australia) and excellent product. I knew the idea was good but wasn't sure if it would work well in practice - it does! Tied with smartwallet as my best kickstarter experiences to date.

Hi
I'm about to go on my first dive w the sidekick only to realize there's no attachment to connect it to any poles
Since the large screw will hook into the duo, there's no way to use the available connectors
Now I'm disappointed that I won't be able to use it during my five
How did everyone use connect it to a gopole for instance ?

As said before, the Locline connectors are a real challenge. I had to order a set of Locline pliers from the UK in order to get the freaking thing assembled. However, it is a pity, that I cannot remove the light from the Locline arms with out taking the arms apart, requiring the pliers again. Could you please think about some sort of "adapter", so that users can easily switch from "dive arm mode" to normal "sidekick mode". I only need the dive arms when diving. In all other situations, I prefer just mounting one SideKick to each of my GoPros in the "classic" way. Until now this means taking the Locline arms apart, then unscrewing the light from the last Locline piece, then mounting it to the GoPro. Quite a hassle when travelling...!
Thanks for your support...
Yves

Dear Sidekick Team, Unfortunately I still have not received my reward. Could you please advise me on this. Best Chris

Very very disappointed. Got charged an extra £25 duty after paying shipping and $119 in total and they didn't even have the respect to reply. Poor business. Wouldn't ever deal with or recommend again . Sorry but it really isn't good enough.

Here is a video shot with the sidekick. I've found it works well as a bike light on top of being a great addition to our go pros. https://vimeo.com/128660274

Got to try out the sidekick Duo light underwater last weekend. I did a night dive at Blue Heron Bridge. This is a GREAT light, very impressed. Also used the coupon to buy a Sola Light from their website. Excellent products! Look forward to future dive trips.

I paid for the $250 early bird level to get 2x black ones with tray. I only received one black light. Please send me my remaining reward.

Is there any way for me to receive a tracking number for my shipment?

I did it! Had to put some oil to lubricate the joints, and now I'm never taking them apart haha! Looking forward to using it for my dive end of this month! =)

We understand the frustrations about customs :( Legally our hands are tied (we did not want to be dishonest on all the invoices) but we are looking at some creative ways around it so that we don't run into these issue again. Thanks so much for your understanding.

YES! Vincent - we are working on it now.

Just got my sidekick, its charging now and looks fantastic, Im also wondering about puttingbthe dive arm together. Maybe make a video about it? I had to pay 45€ in customs, this is not your fault but maybe kickstarter should put more attention to this to European backers.

Fially got my sidekit it work and im very pleased with it it is a bit bright but i can handle that thanks :)

Jean,
The locline connection is a challenge to get on at first. I don’t have any special tricks pr se but I suggest you choke up on the parts so you are firmly holding the two pieces you are trying to connect. Put them together straight and push firmly until they pop together. Easier said than done but once you do it a few time you get the feel for it. It’s always hardest the first time. To disconnect, you can’t just pull them straight apart, you need to “break” them apart by bending the arm at the joint you want until they snap apart. Others have suggested getting locline pliers. We use those in-house when assembling kits but many customers still use their hands.

Still waiting to receive mine, I backed at a duo level.

Just received my Sidekick yaaayy! Just one concern about assembling the dive arm - is there a technique to connecting the locline base to the flex arm other than to push/force it in place? It's really tight and I'm afraid of breaking something. And it seems that it'll be tricky to remove ask well. Please advise, thanks!

Brent- We will take care of it. Please expect a direct email shortly... and yes, you are correct. Bringing in over 1000 orders and shipping them has had its challenges (all good!) we are reviewing each challenge and using it to improve our processes. Roger - thanks again for your comments! :) We are stoked you got it!!! All Backers - If your shipment was not what you expected please don't hesitate to contact us at seva@lightandmotion.com. We will make it right. I have been emailing people directly instead of commenting on the Kickstarter page. Please don't feel the requests have gone unanswered.

My Sidekick arrived this morning in perfect condition, despite it's visit to Australia :)

Brent - to be fair, my package was correctly addressed by L&M.
It was the US Postal service that sent it to Australia instead of Austria by mistake.

Yet another shipping problem--- I received the regular Sidekick (and the invoice in the box matches), but I backed at the Duo level... and just checked my survey confirmation email to make sure that was correct. Based on the other comments here about people receiving one when they paid for two, packages sent to Australia instead of Austria, etc., it sounds like there should have been another step in that pre-shipping QC procedure...

@aidren i completely agree just had to pay duty charge on it and the fact its already on sale here in the uk does hurt a bit after being it was supposed to be here last month and its takes a while to get here while the uk would be here by now does make you feel a bit bitter

I have some feedback and a question. My unit arrived safe and sound, after having to fork out about £30 for import duty and fees. Looking at the comments below it seems this item is already being sold for considerably less than my total pledge from at least one UK store, maybe more, and there would be no import duty on top of that. I thought the whole point of the kickstarter pledges was that we would get something special. I.e. a special price, or early access to the product, or something free as an extra benefit to pledging money early on. None of this seems to be the case here and it does leave a little sour taste as a result. My second bit of feedback is regards to the design. The status LED on the unit is a nice touch, however you obviously didn't consider the location very well. When the unit is in use, the status LED will be facing the subject. In a lot of cases this is likely going to be the opposite direction to the person operating the camera. Also, even if you are in front of the camera, the LED is next to useless when the unit is on, as the lights are so bright that you are effectively blinded to everything nearby. I would recommend future units have the LED on a side that DOESN'T have the primary LEDs on it (top, bottom, back or sides). Lastly, how the heck are you supposed to get the flexible arm parts together. I have tried pushing the bits together and it just wont go. I don't want to sand it down at all as I know it needs to be a tight fit to work well, but I just cant get it attached. (Note the two ends attach to the camera and gopro respectively just fine, i just cant join them together)

Edgar- we will email you directly to take care of it!

Did everyone from the uk have to pay a customs charge :) its almost here so excited !!

PERFECT¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
I HAVE THE LIGHT IN MY HAND¡¡¡¡
Fantastic ¡¡¡¡

Hi, My pledge was for $250 usd (plus $19 for intl shipping). I have just received a package today but is contains only 1 silver sidekick, when it was supposed to be 2 of them. Order #80787 Please let me know how to proceed. Thanks. Edgar Guerrero

Hi Light & Motion, my Sidekick Duo was shipped out on April 27th and I received it on April 30th in Canada. So far it looks, works and feels good. I'm glad I got the chance to participate in this campaign and support the creation of this light. Jessica has always been helpful for my upgrade requests and though communication was sometimes understandably slower, it was always thorough. I just have one question before attaching my sidearm dive kit. I notice that since one of the arm segments is screwed into the Sidekick mount first and then the full arm snapped into the screwed on segment, how easy would it be to detach the sidearm from the sidekick? The reason I ask is I'm wondering if the sidearm is meant to to left on full time or can it tolerate constant attachment and detachment? Not sure if that one attachment point is designed so that it can be easily snapped out deliberately or if it's just as strong as the attachment between all the other segments. The other segments on the full arm seem to be on pretty tight and not removable from each other without substantial force that could break it. If I snap the full arm into the screwed on segment. I am afraid I may not be able to easily remove the sidearm dive kit should I ever want to use the Sidekick by itself or tighting the attachment screw if it vibrates loose. Anyone have any insights? Light and Motion, if you have a spare second, would you kindly advise? Thanks for your time.

Thanks Rodger & Barry!!! - Jess

I got a very quick and helpful reply from Light & Motion. Good customer service - well done!

Oh! Tracking shows my Silver Sidekick has reached Australia.
BUT .... I live in AUSTRIA Mountains not Kangaroos!
My address was clearly correct so I guess someone in the postal service was sleepy.

HI, received an email about shipping but while checking the invoice attahced, shipped item is incorrect, I have ordered an Epic Combo #159, but the invoice said it was one Sidekick duo black, one dive arm kit and a thank you card being shipped. I supposed to have two Sidekick duo black,right?
Please help me to find out.Thank you.

Hi, thanks for the feedback here and the more detailed feedback by mail. Also thanks for the shipping number. I am looking forward to using the sidekick, appreciate the works that you guys are putting into the product and the feedback. Hope your product also goes well in the wider marketplace.

Barry - You are right I can completely understand your frustration. We made the mistake of giving a few of our key dealers some sidekicks to samples sales (so that we could forecast appropriately) they were not supposed to go to Amazon and am working with our sales managers to manage this. Your order is shipping today. After responding to comments and messages I am walking to our shipping and will be helping get the rest of the orders out. Emanuele, I am hoping this comment was before your spoke with Jon. I know he is working to pull back that package and having a new one sent out to you. As far as communication about the tracking number we are sending out emails when each package ships with the tracking number - I will go back and make sure your email is correct in our system.

Tracking info arrived for my Silver Sidekick - I see that it was picked up yesterday.
Normally stuff arrives here in Austria after 7 to 12 days, I hope customs do not inspect it for too long.

as all of you have signed this contract of purchase months ago, the site was written that the expedition would cost $ 19, were not specified additional fees to be paid. last Friday I write to L & M (in response to an email in which they say that the first version of firmware has a problem of corrosion when used in salt water) that have not yet received anything.They respond by giving me the traking number of USPS and I find that the parcel was sent on March 18 and March 23 is stopped at customs in Italy. But what the hell, shipped and not communicated the traking number? in addition if the package is stopped at customs mean that there are problems with documents! or, worse, fees you pay. What will it cost before shipping chiedre confirmation of the shipping address, references and contacts? if the customs has blocked the package for more than a month it means that he does not know who to ask for documents! I am very much outraged by this behavior.

Have been very patient. A number of missed timelines is almost acceptable. However when I see the product in stock on Amazon and backers have paid 3 months ago for "first" production runs, this is disrespectful to your backers and to the spirit of kickstarter. Please confirm when my product will be shipped.

Connor - your order has shipped I will email you directly with the tracking number.

Still nothing got told it would be shipping 2 weeks ago.

Received mine today, excellent piece of workmanship! A long time L&M customer, this exceeded my expectations. Thank you!

Hi guys, any idea when mine is going to ship? Leaving Switzerland for Polynesia in 8 days ...
Harrrrrrrr, the sharks are waiting! Pls update me on shipping schedules! Impatient and eager? Yes!
Martin

The waiting is killing me. Any way to get an ETA on my delivery? This is worse than Christmas. Just a little whining. But, any info would calm me down. Thanks.
Eric