The Best Gimbal For Mountain Biking!

So for today’s article, we are going to be going over what we feel is the best gimbal for mountain biking at the moment. Now, we have an absolute ton of content online going over various handheld gimbals but we don’t have much for the wearable gimbal side of things. Due to this, we are hoping that this article is able to help any of our readers who are looking to pick up a gimbal for their mountain biking adventures and save you some time from having to go out and research the available gimbals on the market.

Now, the wearable gimbal market is becoming more and more popular, especially within the mountain biking community and we feel that this is probably why we have seen so many people reaching out over the last few months. Although there are a whole bunch of wearable gimbals on the market right now, it is a bit of a minefield in all honesty due to there being so many low-quality products that are nothing but a waste of time and money.

Now, we have settled on three gimbals that we wanted to feature in this article. In reality, the first two are pretty interchangeable between what you can consider being the best one as they both have their own strengths and weaknesses. This means that in reality, either can be added to your collection of camera accessories and help improve your image quality. The third gimbal, however, is what we would consider being the best budget gimbal for mountain biking by far.

As usual, we have our table below followed by a quick paragraph for each gimbal that we are recommending and then throughout the rest of the article we have our gimbal deep dives where we go into detail for each product. We feel presenting our articles in this way is a better option as it helps to ensure that you get the information you want if you are short on time or if you have the time available to read the deep dive sections.

Comparison Table

Last update on 2023-05-08 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Now, as we mentioned, either of these first two gimbals can be considered the best gimbal for mountain biking but we put the Evo SS first in the article due to it having the larger customer base. It is an excellent bit of kit that has a massive user base of people from multiple extreme sports. The build quality is tough enough for use in extreme sports and its performance is excellent with a really fast yet smooth image stabilization.

The Zhiyun Rider M is the other option that could be considered to be the best at the time of writing. Coming from Zhiyun, one of the leading brands in the world when it comes to gimbals, you can rest assured you are getting a great bit of kit. The balancing algorithm on the Rider M is excellent and ensures you get some exellent image stabilization to help improve your image quality.

The third gimbal that we are featuring is our budget option, the Hohem XG1 that is actually a surprisingly solid bit of kit in all fairness to it. Now, we quickly want to point out that this is an entry-level, budget-friendly wearable gimbal for mountain biking so things have had to be sacrificed to keep the costs down.

Most notably, the Hohem XG1 doesn’t have the load capacity available to support the latest generation of GoPro Hero Black cameras. That said, the White edition can work but the top-level Black editions are too heavy. Like we said though, this is an entry-level option so chance are, if you are opting for the XG1 that you are using a lighter, entry-level action camera. For its price tag though, it offers some great image stabilization provided your camera is light enough to meet its maximum load capacity limits.

The Evo SS

So, the first gimbal for mountain that we will be covering is the Evo SS that is one of the most established wearable gimbals on the market right now and just keeps getting stronger and stronger as time goes on and more and more people purchase it. Since its release, the gimbal has also received a number of firmware updates to help to improve its great performance to ensure that the user is able to get the best image quality possible while out on their adventures.

The Evo SS already has a large following within the mountain biking community with many riders using it as their go-to wearable gimbal of choice when on their bikes. It has managed to build up a well deserved reputation within the community that is steadily getting better due to Evo Gimbals working some of the early bugs out via their firmware updates.

If you do choose to pick up the Evo SS, be sure to update it to its latest firmware build as soon as you get it to ensure that you are getting optimal performance from the get go. It only takes a few minutes, is free to do but can actually help with a vibration bug the gimbal had in earlier firmware builds.

Performance And Functionality

When it comes to the performance and functionality of the Evo SS, it is without a doubt one of the best wearable gimbals for mountain biking available. It is able to hold a maximum load capacity of 0.31 pounds meaning it is able to support any camera from the GoPro range from any generation. Keep in mind, in the future, GoPro may release a heavier camera but to date, every action camera that they have released will mount to the Evo SS and work fine.

Additionally, a few cheap GoPro alternatives will also mount to the gimbal although these are not officially supported. Essentially, many of the entry-level action camera brands will just copy the GoPros dimensions for their own action cameras meaning they are able to mount to the Evo SS.

Now, battery life used to be a major issue within the wearable gimbal range and Evo were one of the first to reliably get over the four hours of battery life mark. The Evo SS is able to provide you with a massive five hours of battery life with each charge to help ensure that the gimbal has all the juice you need while you are out and about on your adventures.

Although we have seen a few people from various action sports saying they carry a small power bank with them so when they are having a break, the can top up their Evo SS with power while they are away from a wall socket but we would imagine that five hours is plenty for most of our readers. Once you do get back to a power outlet, you can charge the gimbal back to full in around two hours via a regular wall based power socket.

Now, keep in mind that the video above was recorded to be more of a cinematic video for mountain biking rather than just to showcase the potential of the Evo SS. That said, all of the point of view clips from the rider’s perspective has been recorded using an Evo SS with a GoPro mounted to it. As you can see, it really does offer you some excellent image stabilization that is very smooth even when going over rough terrain.

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User Interface And Control System

Now, with the Evo SS being a wearable gimbal, there’s really not much in the way of a user interface as there is with the handheld gimbals that we usually cover. In all honesty, this is usually a good thing as it makes the gimbal much easier to use and most mountain bikers are just wanting to capture their video footage as quickly and easily as possible without having to waste time with their gimbals settings.

If this is the case then the Evo SS is an ideal choice for you. It is very user-friendly so even someone who has never used a gimbal before can get it working. Simply mount your GoPro, balance your gimbal, mount it to your, and off you go. Very quick, very simple, and great for anyone who is not a videographer or doesn’t have the free time to learn a complicated gimbal system.

Build Quality And Design

Now, as we said earlier at the start of the article, the Evo SS is tough and this is a good job as the vast majority of people who use a wearable gimbal actually use it for recording themselves doing extreme sports of some kind. The gimbals build quality is a little heavy but when you factor in just how robust it is as well as the weight it can support and its maximum battery life, we feel that this is forgivable.

The small size of the gimbal is ideal too as you are able to mount it to you and go about your business as required rather than have to worry about accidentally knocking it or something. Some of the older generations of wearable gimbals were bulky and could have an effect on your movement but the Evo SS is small and ideal for a mountain biker.

Our Verdict

Now, it may seem like we are overly positive on the Evo SS and in all honesty, we really do love this gimbal but you can also read these third party reviews from independent owners of the Evo SS and you can see that most people love it. Evo has managed to do what so many other brands have failed to do. They have provided a great load capacity, excellent performance, solid battery life, and a tough build quality all in the same gimbal for a very fair price.

We are confident that the Evo SS will make a great addition to your collection of GoPro camera accessories and provide you with some exc

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The Zhiyun Rider M

Next up, we have the Zhiyun Rider M and although at the time of writing it does not have a user base as large as the Evo SS covered above, we do think that over the coming months and years this will change and the Rider M will end up being the more popular gimbal simply due to the Zhiyun brand being more well known and trusted than the Evo brand.

Now, in reality, both the Evo SS and the Rider M are almost identical with very similar featured too. In all honesty, we flip flop between the two on which gimbal we prefer on a regular basis as both have their advantages that score them points over the other but both are solid additions to your GoPro camera accessories.

Performance And Functionality

The Rider M is able to support the heaviest load capacity of the three featured gimbals on our list coming in at 0.35 pounds of payload weight. Now, this may be good for future-proofing your purchase against the next generation of GoPro action cameras being heavier than they currently are but at the time of writing, the increased load capacity on the Rider M over the Evo SS offers no real advantage.

The Rider M does have an additional thirty minutes of battery live over the Evo SS coming in with a maximum battery life of five and a half hours. Now, depending on what you are doing, that additional thirty minutes may be useful but with the Evo SS providing you with five hours of battery life, both gimbals are too close to call.

The YouTube video above offers an excellent example of the level of video footage that you are able to expect from the Rider M when using it for your mountain biking. As you can see in the clips, even when going over bump routes, the Rider M keeps your GoPro action camera steady to ensure you are capturing the best possible video footage.

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User Interface And Control System

Again, being a simple wearable gimbal stabilizer, there really isn’t much in the way of a user interface on the Rider M. One thing that the Zhiyun gimbal does have over the Evo option is the limited support in the Zhiyun smartphone app though. This can allow you to tweak some of the settings on your gimbal via your smartphone and we hope that Zhiyun adds more functionality to the app for the Rider M in the future.

Build Quality And Design

As you would expect coming from a Zhiyun gimbal, both the design and build quality are excellent and Zhiyun have done an excellent job of putting the gimbal togeather. It is as tough as possible while also being pretty lightweight and small too ensuring that you can wear it without having to worry about damaging it when out riding.

Our Verdict

Like we said back at the start of the article, either the Zhiyun Rider M or the Evo SS will make excellent additions to your mountain biking accessories and help you capture your adventures with the best possible image quality. With the Evo SS being around $50 cheaper than the Zhiyun gimbal at the time of writing while offering very similar capabilities, the price tag may be the deciding factor for many of our readers.

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The Hohem XG1

Finally, we have our budget gimbal for mountain biking, the Hohem XG1 that is without a doubt the best entry-level and budget-friendly wearable gimbal on the market right now. The entry-level category for mountain biking gimbals is a total nightmare filled with low-quality gimbals that do little to nothing other than waste your time and money.

Thankfully though, Hohem are rapidly earning a name for themselves as being the go-to, trusted entry-level brand in the gimbal market space and the XG1 is no different. Since its release onto the market, the XG1 has managed to earn a solid reputation for itself within the community and the gimbal is only becoming more and more popular.

That said, just to quickly repeat what we said back at the start of the article, the Hohem XG1 is unable to support the weight of the most recent flagship GoPro cameras being the Hero Black series. If the last few generations of GoPro are anything to go by, this is unlikely to change in the future too.

Performance And Functionality

The Hohem XG1 supports cameras up to and including 0.26 pounds of payload weight meaning that there are a number of GoPro cameras that it is able to support. Although this is an entry-level gimbal stabilizer, it can do a solid job provided you are using action cameras that are within its payload range.

When it comes to the battery life of the XG1, it comes in at only two hours per full charge with some people reporting as low as one hour depending on what you are doing with it. For most people, this will simply now be enough making something like the Evo SS a much better option.

The footage above shows exactly what you are able to expect from the Hohem XG1 when used for your mountain biking. As you can see, for its price, the gimbal actually managed to provide some decent image stabilization and ensure the rider gets some decent image quality.

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User Interface And Control System

Again, there is no real user interface system due to it being a wearable gimbal but the Hohem XG1 is very easy to use and you should be able to quickly get to grips with it. It has a very easy balancing system and it is also very easy to use efficiently too.

Build Quality And Design

When it comes to build quality and design, the majority of the stuff on the Hohem XG1 has essentially reverse-engineered tech from other companies. The design is very similar to what Evo uses and most of the motor designs are also similar what other brands use in their gimbals too.

Although the Hohem XG1 is a little heavy, it is pretty robust although we would not recommend that you try to use it in heavy rain. Although it is not listed as being water-resistant, we have seen some reports of it having issues with water ingress in super heavy rain.

Our Verdict

As we said, this is a solid entry-level, budget-friendly gimbal for mountain biking with a few independent reviews that you can read if you wish. If you are on a tight budget then the Hohem XG1 can be a nice cheap addition to your mountain biking accessories to help you record your adventures.

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