It is not the Opteka SteadyVid Pro with red accents?
Also it's $139 on Amazon Prime.
And it is good to understand that no everyone lives in US :-)
@vicharris I saw some reviews of the Opteka and it looked good for the price range - obviously a Glidecam or a Lainz are much better, but also costs more.
There is a YouTube video (could not find it here, now - YT blocked at work...) of a guy in a garden showing the proper way to balance it, is very interesting - he achieves a very good balance with simple steps in about 4 minutes.
Another copy of the same stabilizer, US$110 in eBay.
I had the Opteka stabilizer, and it worked pretty well after balancing. The main flaw of the design is the mounting plate, which tends to come loose with use. You have to constantly re-tighten the silver locking screws. The main arm has to be "unfolded" each time you use it (if you stored it "folded"), which requires re-balancing. As much as I think the Opteka works well, I lost too much time rebalancing it, and eventually I stopped using it. I feel the most important part of a stabilizer is the mounting plate balancing design.
I feel the most important part of a stabilizer is the mounting plate balancing design.
Yep. From that I tried Laing and Skier top bases are good, cheaper options have various issues like you mentioned.
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