$300 Arris CM2000 Gimbal VS. $119 eBay Gimbal.

[jgerlitz]

Hey -

Was really looking into getting a gimbal. Read great reviews about the Arris CM2000 which retails for $300. Then I headed over to my favorite website, eBay, and searched for "DJI Phantom Gimbal." Found about 86 results ranging from price of $800 all the way down to $99.

Many of these sellers have videos up showing their gimbal in action. I have to say I don't see much of a performance difference between the Arris $300 gimbal and another one for $119. If I can save $180 to get something practically the same quality, I want to!

I can't find too many differences in appearance or specs between the two. Is there something I'm overlooking besides the name brand?

Both feature 2-Axis 2208 motors and a "V3" gimbal controller. Both are tuned for Hero3. Both can easily be hooked up the AUX power from the phantom using a JST connector. Both come from China (what I'm told.)

Only differences I can see is the Arris is carbon fiber and appears to have 8 rubber damepeners and the $119 eBay version just has 4. But I have to say that after watching the example video on the eBay one, it looks fairly similar to what I can see.

What should I do?

$300 Arris CM2000 Gimbal:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Arris-Cm2000-Br ... 2a2f29e8f2

$119 Gimbal eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DJI-Phantom-Bru ... 4611581db8

Thanks!

Jeff

 

[Gizmo3000]

tech support and documentation is almost non-existant for the Goodluck Buy gimbal
however,. it does appear to use the same controller board as the Arris, (the Martinez board), and people who've gotten theirs to work have reported some success! (but might take some learning if you want to enable tilt-down.
.. but heck, at 1/7th the price of the DJI gimbal, not a bad item to try out.

however I'd recommend going straight thru Goodluckbuy if you did go with that gimbal
http://www.goodluckbuy.com/dji-phantom- ... lalck.html

 

[CameraGuy]

I bought, and just finished installing this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130921728635?ss ... 1497.l2649

Out of the box it seems to work pretty well. It requires me to extend the legs on my Phantom, but without doing any programming work yet, I did get it to be this stable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIIJjOCi ... r1P4xWZh4Q

Not a great video, but it shows it's abilities.

Good luck with your decision. There are lots of talented people who have done some tutorials, etc on this forum and others who can help.

Plus, at the end of the day.... It's only $119.

You will need to purchase either a battery for it, or connect it to the aux power cable in the Phantom. I bought a battery, but will be switching to the internal cable.

Darren

 

[Gizmo3000]

You will need to purchase either a battery for it, or connect it to the aux power cable in the Phantom. I bought a battery, but will be switching to the internal cable.

the Aux power is your best bet. as most gimbals don't usurp significant power
any additional weight you add (such as an extra battery) will only decrease flight and make the craft less maneuverable.

 

[CameraGuy]

http://youtu.be/lLhGdyeVI-k

See this video for the gimbal and the link to it on ebay.

D

Darren

 

[Gizmo3000]

nice colors!
what filter did you put on the lens? a circular polarizer??

 

[CameraGuy]

nice colors!
what filter did you put on the lens? a circular polarizer??

It is the 4 stop ND filter from Polar Pro.

I am about to release a review on their line this week, using the Phantom.

The file was processed through protunes in the CIneform software, which I have become very fond of for better colour, more contrast and more sharpness out of the GoPro.

D

 

[Perfdavid]

nice colors!
what filter did you put on the lens? a circular polarizer??

It is the 4 stop ND filter from Polar Pro.

I am about to release a review on their line this week, using the Phantom.

The file was processed through protunes in the CIneform software, which I have become very fond of for better colour, more contrast and more sharpness out of the GoPro.

D

I agree with you on your color philosophy, I have started doing that to my vids. I run it through cineform and adjust the colors on only the clips I want, then put them into Final Cut Pro.

But, is it me or does it seem that your gimbal has a slight tilt to it?

 

[CameraGuy]

nice colors!
what filter did you put on the lens? a circular polarizer??

It is the 4 stop ND filter from Polar Pro.

I am about to release a review on their line this week, using the Phantom.

The file was processed through protunes in the CIneform software, which I have become very fond of for better colour, more contrast and more sharpness out of the GoPro.

D

I agree with you on your color philosophy, I have started doing that to my vids. I run it through cineform and adjust the colors on only the clips I want, then put them into Final Cut Pro.

But, is it me or does it seem that your gimbal has a slight tilt to it?

Yes, there is a slight tilt. At this point, I just want the motors to settle into position, and the gimbal to get comfortable, and all that. I also have not read ALL the posts on how to program, and what adjustments to make just yet.

Darren

 

[halfpipe]

power source for the whichever gimbal

I bought one from InfinityHobby and the helpful customer support were rather insistant that an additional battery be used saying a 850mah would be big enough. They were dead against using the internal available power from the phantom.
I've been pondering this and have concluded that they are right, Consider that if anything goes wrong with the gimbal electrically, the flight power could be interrupted

 

[CameraGuy]

I'm using an 850Mah Blade made battery right now for mine. I may try the aux power, but right now I have this double sided tape to the back of the GImbal.

Hope this helps

D

 

[simonthk]

I bought, and just finished installing this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130921728635?ss ... 1497.l2649

Out of the box it seems to work pretty well. It requires me to extend the legs on my Phantom, but without doing any programming work yet, I did get it to be this stable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIIJjOCi ... r1P4xWZh4Q

Not a great video, but it shows it's abilities.

Good luck with your decision. There are lots of talented people who have done some tutorials, etc on this forum and others who can help.

Plus, at the end of the day.... It's only $119.

You will need to purchase either a battery for it, or connect it to the aux power cable in the Phantom. I bought a battery, but will be switching to the internal cable.

Darren

Hello camera guy

Have you tried out tilt function? I am very curious of this Gimbal and how it works.

 

[jgerlitz]

I went ahead and purchased the Arris. It arrived a couple days ago and just now had the time to look it over. Looks very well built and even purchased the plug and play kit which allows for easy hookup. Looks like it works! Only thing I don't like is the cheap strap that holds the Hero3 to the unit. I see they have a new carbon fiber frame for the camera that attaches to this gimbal. I just hate to add another 45grams of weight to my phantom. I just keep adding and adding....I feel bad.

 

[CameraGuy]

I bought, and just finished installing this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130921728635?ss ... 1497.l2649

Out of the box it seems to work pretty well. It requires me to extend the legs on my Phantom, but without doing any programming work yet, I did get it to be this stable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIIJjOCi ... r1P4xWZh4Q

Not a great video, but it shows it's abilities.

Good luck with your decision. There are lots of talented people who have done some tutorials, etc on this forum and others who can help.

Plus, at the end of the day.... It's only $119.

You will need to purchase either a battery for it, or connect it to the aux power cable in the Phantom. I bought a battery, but will be switching to the internal cable.

Darren

Hello camera guy

Have you tried out tilt function? I am very curious of this Gimbal and how it works.

No. To do that, I would need to solder a connection from the controller to either the NAZA or the receiver, which I don't want to do right now.

I'm confident it would work, I just need the phantom and the gimbal to produce clean video without any needless stabilization in either Premiere, After Effects or using a ProDad product.

Of course, since my success last week, I have either been on the road, or the weather has been bad since then, so I have only had one flight.

Maybe tomorrow

Darren