A car rolled over Peter McKinnon‘s backpack during a durability test, left a full tire tread mark across the outer shell, and the bag held. That moment – equal parts alarming and reassuring – set the tone for a full day of stress tests on camera accessories that popular YouTubers helped design and bring to market.
The lineup covered everything from backpacks to suction cup mounts, cage systems, filters, a V-mount battery, and a carbon fiber tripod. Each product was bought, packed, rigged, soaked, slammed, or stood on to find out whether YouTuber-branded gear delivers on its reputation – or just trades on a familiar face.
What Peter McKinnon‘s bag actually fits when someone packs it properly
The Peter McKinnon creator backpack was packed by an assistant named Bryson before testing began. What came out: a gimbal, filters, a phone gimbal, a V-mount battery, a Hollyland mic, a 360 camera, two lenses, a camera body, a charger, Ronin rigging accessories, and a 16-inch laptop, which slid into the rear sleeve without forcing. The top compartment held the Ronin itself. A small front slot handled keys and cards. The outer material felt scratch-resistant and water-resistant by touch alone.
The water resistance test used water-reactive activity books placed in each main compartment. After getting soaked, the books had colored in – meaning water had made it through to at least one section. Not catastrophic, but not fully waterproof either. The durability test, which involved the backpack being run over by a vehicle, left a tire tread scar but no structural damage. The final rating landed at nine out of ten: substantial capacity, strong build, but priced at a premium.
The next product came from a neighbor. Brady introduced the Cine Jaws – a heavy-duty clamp built with 3/8-inch, quarter-20, and NATO rail mounting points across its body. Brady’s pitch was direct: most friction arms on the market are either small or weak. The Cine Jaws is neither. To demonstrate its load-bearing strength, the two rigged a camera onto an electric scooter using Cine Jaws and Cine Pins, then rode it down the street. Turning at speed felt uneasy, but the rig held. Rating: nine out of ten, with a slight deduction for price relative to a standard Cardellini clamp.
Filters, cages, suction cups, and a tripod that held a person standing on it
Jacob Owens’s Prism Lens Effects ghost effect filter earned an eight and a half out of ten. It was described as a product that won’t fit every shoot but does push a filmmaker out of familiar creative patterns – which is a reasonable thing to ask of a specialty optical filter.
The Mike Visuals POV rig – a stabilizing frame that mounts a camera on one side and a secondary object on the other using NATO rails and a quarter-20 connection – rated eight out of ten. Its measurement markings make match cuts repeatable. The one requested improvement: a rubberized grip on the mounting surface.
Brandon Lee’s iPhone cage system, which includes a soft inner case, a hard outer cage, side handles, a physical shutter button, and an anamorphic lens adapter slot, also rated eight out of ten. The only issue was a magnetic ring on the cage that detached minutes after purchase. Otherwise the build quality held up across previous Oregon shoots where the anamorphic adapter was used heavily.
The Kofi suction cup mounts went through a door-slam test, a speed test while mounted to a car exterior, and an improvised wash-and-rig situation. They held through all of it. Rating: nine out of ten. The NATO rail and multiple quarter-20 mounting points on a suction cup base make it more versatile than standard car-mount options, though one additional mounting point would be welcome.
The Potato Jet Tribeex tripod – designed by Eugene Ng, known online as Potato Jet – is built on carbon fiber legs with a professional video head and a handlebar-style leg-extension mechanism inspired by motorcycle brake levers. The center column extends fully and hides a flathead screwdriver in the base. The quick-release plate system accommodates both standard Manfrotto and Ronin plates via a flip switch. To test its weight capacity, a person stood on it. It held. Rating: eight out of ten. The comparison class for this tripod, according to the reviewer, is professional-grade models in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.
Caleb Pike’s VB212 V-mount battery, made in collaboration with SmallRig, runs at 212 watt-hours compared to a standard 99-watt-hour V-mount. During testing, five devices drew power simultaneously: a camera via dummy battery, a Hollyland mic via D-TAP, a second battery bank via USB-C, an Insta360 via USB-C, and a MacBook via Thunderbolt. A screen on the battery displays per-port power draw in real time. The grip texture was also noted as an improvement over standard V-mount designs. Rating: eight out of ten.
Mondo Ties from Arandu Ferrer are quarter-20 cable management clips made from rubber and plastic. The demonstration ran an HDMI cable from a monitor through a Mondo Tie attached to a Sony FX3 cage. For anyone running a complex camera rig with multiple cables, the utility is real. Rating: seven and a half out of ten.
The final product was Short Stash’s Everyday Filter – a combined polarizer and mist filter in a single unit. Before designing it, Short Stash was physically stacking two separate filters. The combined version rotates to cut glare and simultaneously adds a diffusion bloom to highlights. Tested on a car windshield, the polarizer visibly cut reflections. With both effects active, the image lost its sharp digital edge. Rating: eight and a half out of ten.
The moment Bryson’s packing job got put under a car
The Peter McKinnon backpack sat on the ground with all of Bryson’s careful layering still inside – the Ronin in the top compartment, the 16-inch laptop flush against the back panel – when the vehicle rolled over it. The tire tread mark appeared on the outer shell. Nobody checked the contents for a beat.
That tire tread mark is still on the bag. Bryson’s packing job survived intact.
Source: Watch original
This article was reported in June 2026.
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