Hero 13 + Protective Housing + Floaty Backdoor + Bite Mount... Will it float or sink like a brick?
Hey everyone. I need a quick reality check on buoyancy before I accidentally donate my brand new Hero 13 setup to the ocean floor.
My old setup was a Hero 11 Mini with its dedicated full-wrap Floaty and a bite mount. It worked perfectly. I could just jump in, spit the camera out in the water, and it would immediately pop right back to the surface.
Now I’ve upgraded to the Hero 13. I really want to run it inside the Protective (Dive) Housing for that extra layer of safety against drops and salt. My plan is to stick the adhesive Floaty Backdoor onto the housing, and attach a standard Bite Mount to it.
The math in my head feels super sketchy, though.
The 13 with the Enduro battery is already a chunky boy. Add the thick plastic of the dive housing, the metal thumbscrew, and the bite mount itself... is the standard adhesive Floaty Backdoor actually buoyant enough to bring all this bulk to the surface?
I see the pros doing the "spit out" maneuver all the time, but they usually run the bare camera inside the full-wrap Floaty, skipping the heavy dive housing altogether.
Has anyone actually tested this specific, heavy-duty combo in open water? Does it float safely, stay neutrally buoyant (which terrifies me, invisible right under the waves), or just go straight down?
Would really appreciate any real-world experiences before I take this thing out. Thanks!