MUDDY Hunt Hard Compact Durable Aluminum Lightweight Ergonomic Portable Easy-to-Install Silent Outdoor Camera Arm | 24″ Reach with Over 5 Points of Adjustment

We got this for him to record his deer hunts this season. It was a great addition to the stand and price was good too compared to others.
It was easy to set up and held the very expensive camera better than I thought it would

Review of factory condition product:
I purchased this item for $50 on an amazon sale. Pretty good price compared to other top tier arms costing $250+. I used the arm as it was manufactured a few times. The motion on the arm is stiff, and makes noise that will spook deer nearby. I applied oil and loosened the bolts. Still not a permanent solution. The fluid head does the job, but it is very large and made of cheap plastic. Not ideal for packing out, especially when already adding a lot of equipment to your pack for filming. I purchased a miniature fluid head and it is substantially better. My only other complaint was the strap and leveling mechanism. The ratchet is very large, and is in a terrible place if you’re planning on sitting up against your tree in a tree stand, or if you’re saddle hunting and want a place to put your knees up against the tree. For my preferred mounting position the buckle is always right in the way for comfort. Easily solved by replacing with a smaller strap and relocating the buckle position. And the mechanism used to assist in leveling the mount, is basically trash. Its not very often i find a perfectly straight up tree. And i prefer to position myself on the tree in a way that is the opposite to the leveling function. Adjusting the level screw will only adjust in the wrong direction. My first time using, I had to break a branch off my tree, and wedge it behind the mounting plate to compensate a few degrees, this is a commonly used temporary solution. Unless you just HAVE to film a hunt, I would not recommend using this arm directly from the manufacturer, and instead modifying it slightly and affordably. But it will do the job.

Review for the DIY Hunter:
I’m pretty hands on and wont settle for mediocre within my budget. So I modified it quite a bit to extend the reach, to run the joints on bearings for smoother filming, and allow for multi directional leveling.
The bolts used are 5/16″ diameter, and the ID of the square tube used on the product is 17mm, so I purchased 2 sets of flanged bearings 8mmX16mmX5mm Part# F688 RZ. I also purchased a small length of pipe with an ID of 8mm. As well as a short length of aluminum square tubing as close to the size used on product as possible. All on amazon for an additional $25. I drilled out the original holes to 16mm and inserted the flanged bearings on both sides. I used a length of the 8mm ID tube as a spacer between the two bearings inside the square tubing. Now my arm has 36″ of reach and the moving operation is very smooth and consistent. Actually too smooth. I ended up using some teflon washers and tightened them down on the bearings a little to adjust the tension of the fluid motion. The DIY modification resulted in a much better product for less than MSRP.

If I did it again, Id probably just buy the Muddy Outfitter on sale, and modify it similarly.
Or, just wait and save up for a better quality arm all together. But this arm is now super nice and don’t see myself needing another one anytime soon.

Easy to use

Great for the money, works good and is quiet

Well made, sturdy camera mount. A little snug initially getting camera arm bolt into support socket but works very well.