Customer Reviews

Olympus STRAP FLOAT ORANGE

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Love the floating camera strap - for me its a perfect pairing with my Olympus 1030sw. One of the reviews mentions it doesnt float a 1030sw, but it has worked great for me. Ive tried tested it several times with that review in mind, and granted, if I toss the camera in the water from a couple feet up, it does sink a foot or two, but comes back up after a second or two. I havent tested it in a river type condition, like whitewater swimming or something, but I can imagine it would have some issues staying fully afloat (although it wont sink to the bottom, thats for sure). Bottom line, it works great with my 1030sw. It should have been included with the 1030sw as a standard accessory, thats how much I like it.

The strap itself fits my hand/wrist very well, although if you have a smallish hand I can see this slipping off. The little black strap on the back of the orange part works great for hooking to a carabiner, or tying a small rope to if you need a little more flexibility or safety. I used it when sailing, just in case the camera fell in the water, I wouldnt have to go back and search for it.

The strap also doesnt soak up any water, as I expected it to. It dries out pretty quickly, which is nice.

The small clip holds well, and seems to have a pretty confident grip, although Im glad they included it, since the camera gets bulky with the orange strap.

Overall, I can only highly recommend this strap, especially if youre going to be anywhere near water too deep to free dive for your camera.

The floating strap for the camera is super lightweight and small, it works great. It has a tiny loop on the top of the orange part that I'm assuming would be good to hook keychains or to hang on a hook or something. I'm not really sure, I haven't found a use for it but you can just fit a finger through it. Otherwise, a great produc - you'll definitely need something like this if you're using an underwater camera in the ocean. I have an Olympus Stylus 1030SW camera and it goes up to 33ft underwater but if it were to sink lower than that it would basically die, so getting the floating camera strap was a necessity. I think it comes in other colors but the orange is what I have and it's great!

I tested this with my 1030sw and it will NOT keep my camera from sinking. If I gently lay the camera in the water then it will just barely keep it afloat but if the camera has any momentum (such as when you drop it into the water) it will slowly sink to the bottom of the pool.

This won't work if you are actually concerened about dropping your camera. It just isn't sized properly for the 1030sw

Simply put, this strap is not buoyant enough to even remotely float the Olympus 1030 SW. I went on a camping trip and the camera got accidentally dropped while kayaking a calm, flat-water river. It sank to the bottom instantly. The strap failed 100%. It didn't even slow the descent. I had the orange strap and it was bright enough for me to see it sink straight down. I thought "not a big deal". At least the camera is waterproof and I can see it. By the time I got out of my kayak it was gone. It must have been just buoyant enough to keep it off the bottom of the river and the little bit of current there was took it. We had almost 20 people spend nearly an hour scouring the river (as most of it 5 feet deep or less), but it was gone. Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed with the performance of this product. Advertising it as a "Floating Camera Strap" is VERY misleading since it doesn't really float. The only legitimate use I can think of for this strap would be for snorkeling to help keep it cinched around your wrist. Otherwise, save your money on this product.

I just received this strap - wanted it for kayaking with my waterproof camera. I tossed the camera into the hot tub with the strap attached and it is VERY buoyant - IT FLOATS! So far so good. It is only a wrist strap, so don't expect it to go around your neck. There is a small loop sewn onto the strap and I imagine that is where a longer lanyard can be clipped on, or where it can be fastened to a clothing item or PFD (life vest)
Update 7/2/2010: This strap has saved me from losing my digital camera - I like to leave the camera on top of the spray skirt of my sea kayak and it has slid off a few times (get a silicone skin to help with the slippery factor) and I have not lost my camera (a friend without the strap lost her camera in the river - not to be found again even with a scuba diver) What a great investment this strap is! Also I keep the strap on when hiking and skiing so I have the bright orange to help find it - in case I drop it into the forest or the snow.

This is a totally revised review. I tested the strap with a 6.7 Ounce Panasonic Lumix DMC TS2 waterproof camera and the strap easily floated it with most of the floats still out of the water. I would be cautious in heavy waves or rapids.

I'm perplexed by the polar opposite reviews on this product. Some people say it works fine, while others say it fails miserably. Could this be a quality control problem?

We purchased a 1030W and the floating camera strap for our 8 YO son to take scuba diving on vacation in St. Lucia. Before leaving, our son tested the camera and strap in the bath tub (like all little boys would do) and noticed that the camera sank to the bottom of the bath tub. We used the camera on Barbados and St. Lucia for about 3 days. On our first scuba dive (he can only go to 6 feet due to regulations)... it was too merky to use the camera, so I took it from him for safe storage. I accidently released the camera under water for just a second... thinking the float strap would at least keep the camera at a neutral position. To my shock, the camera went straight to the bottom and quickly out of sight. I couldn't swim fast enough to save the Camera! We never did find the camera.

I'm in the process of contacting Olympus because I believe this product represents false advertising.

I have a 1030sw Olympus camera. I attached the strap to the camera and took it to the river. I was very disappointed. The camera sank. The strap would not keep it afloat. Reading the other reviews, I'm confused. Some straps apparently work, but mine doesn't. Your taking your changes ordering this strap.

This would be a great product if it did what it is supposed to do. I tied a string to my camera and tossed it in the lake with the floating strap attached. the strap did not have sufficient buoyancy to float the camera. It sank and kept sinking. When it got to the end of the string 10' or so, I gave a little tug to see if it would eventually come to the surface. No deal. Maybe the 830 is lighter.

I bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 and wanted a float strap for it, so I bought this one. It works, floats the camera fine. However, I did not replace my camera's strap with this, I put BOTH straps on. So when I'm in deep water where the camera cannot be retrieved, I do NOT trust this strap to hold my camera, I secure the one the camera came with to my wrist and NEVER take it off. I remove this strap via the snap so it isn't in the way when I'm using the original strap. It's very convenient to snap on and off when I want it. Some have said the snap failed on them, but it seems very tight for me, I haven't had a problem, but then I'm not dangling the camera from the strap all the time.

What do I use this for then? I use it when we are taking pictures in the pool and I'm not concerned about being able to retrieve the camera if it sank, but I don't want to HAVE to. This way when I hand the camera to my kids and if they drop it it doesn't end up on on the bottom of the pool and get damaged hitting the bottom.

This is in NO WAY a replacement for your original strap. You cannot put this strap tightly around your wrist, it doesn't get tight even when cinched up completely. It's useful in the pool at home, not while snorkeling or scuba diving.