know that the most frustrating aspect of this otherwise gorgeous product is the continual challenge to figure out how to mount it exactly where you want it. Other than the Powerbook clip, the mounting clips provided by Apple are, at best, only partially acceptable solutions. And, at worst, the OEM clips will frequently leave you with no good way to put your iSight where you need to put it. That can be frustrating
Welcome to the new SightFlex adjustable iSight mounting stand, from MacMice… the end to your iSight mounting frustrations.
Clever, Cute, And Darned Handy
The SightFlex was inspired by the good, old-fashioned gooseneck lamp. You know… the ones that you can just grab and twist, and adjust about any way you want to. We had the crazy idea of putting a high-quality Firewire cable inside one of those flexible gooseneck tubes, adding a 6-pin Firewire plug to the top, and just plugging an iSight webcam onto the top of the resulting product. Sure enough, after building one and playing with it, it turned out to be about the handiest product we’ve ever touched. So, we decided to produce it for sale.
The SightFlex is a high-quality flexible steel tubing stand, with the tube itself satin chrome-plated, solidly mounted to an extra heavy hemispherical silver base, terminating at the top in a male 6-pin Firewire connector. It is over 20-inches tall… plenty tall enough to reach over the top of even the 23-inch Apple Cinema Display. The weight-bearing ability and “obedience” (the way it holds its shape when bent) have been carefully determined to nicely match supporting the Apple iSight. The SightFlex is an exclusive design of MacMice and is only available from MacMice… it’s our baby.
What Can It Do?
The SightFlex can be twisted, yanked, snatched, pulled, tugged, and otherwise deformed into pretty much any shape you can imagine to help you find a useful location for your Apple iSight. Use it beside a display, peeking over a display or Powerbook, peeking around a display or Powerbook, squished down in a coil, twisted in a knot, or even sneakily peeking out from under an Apple Cinema or Studio LCD display! Have a CRT display?… use the SightFlex to curl over its top or curl around its front bezel, and get your iSight in the position you want it to be! The signal from your iSight will be reliably transmitted through the SightFlex’s heavily shielded five-foot long Firewire cable.
What About Style?
The SightFlex has been crafted from the start exclusively as an iSight stand, for use with Apple Computer products. Its clear and silver design motif will elegantly blend with any combination of Apple’s clear acrylic or anodized aluminum product designs. Its clear covered, silver braided five-foot Firewire cable, its soft satin chrome flexible stalk and its soft silver-finished hemispherical base all add up to a nicely designed product that will blend beautifully with whatever Apple computer and display system you own.
Owning A SightFlex
Having a SightFlex will open your mind to all sorts of new possibilities for using your iSight webcam. For one, you can now place the iSight directly in front of your display screen, sitting directly next to your iChatAV chatbox. We believe that Steve Jobs’ emphasis on making video chat as realistic as possible was right; we’re just the first company to provide a method for actually doing that. When you open your SightFlex, you will realize that this is a very soft, supply product, one that easily yields and bends. You will find yourself gently adjusting the stalk, softly fine-tuning the precise location of your iSight to that “just so” position. And, as long as you keep the center of gravity of the iSight within 6-inches or so of the SightFlex base, the adjustments you make will “just work.”
The Bottom Line
The iSight is the most well-executed webcam on the market, and, with its iChat AV software, it has quickly become a popular addition to the Mac lifestyle for many thousands of people. Our new SightFlex is our answer to the frustration of being able to mount the camera where you want it when you want, and in a simple, easy to use manner.
Frankly, if you own an iSight webcam, you really need a SightFlex.