GVM Camera Slider Motorized, 120cm Carbon Fiber Video Slider Track Dolly, Photography Camera Stabilizer Rail with Time Lapse Tracking 120 Degree Panoramic Shooting for DSRL Photography Video Shoot

I bought the 120cm/48-inch Wired version mainly aimed at Time Lapse photography and at times for videos too. I did some testing at home to see how many shots I get at various settings for a time lapse event setting the A & B end points to the extreme ends of the slider with a couple of centimeters left from either side to avoid damage to the motor by the carriage hitting the sides. The payload that I used was a Canon 6D with Samyang 14mm and the tripod ball head that came along with the slider. So that is roughly less than 2 kilograms of weight loaded. The slider was horizontally placed on the floor with the controller hooked on a tripod 6 feet height to avoid the control cable and the shutter release cable getting in between the slider and its belt. Interval: 0.1, Speed: 1% - Earned 1800 clicks Interval: 0.2, Speed: 1% - Earned 924 clicks Interval: 0.2, Speed: 2% - Earned 910 clicks Interval: 0.3, Speed: 3% - Earned 605 clicks Interval: 0.4, Speed: 2% - Earned 455 clicks Interval: 0.1, Speed: 75% - Earned 582 clicks Interval: 0.2, Speed: 75% - Earned 291 clicks Interval: 0.1, Speed: 85% - Earned 412 clicks Interval: 0.2, Speed: 85% - Earned 205 clicks Interval: 0.1, Speed: 100% - Earned 156 clicks These stats could vary depending upon how far the end points are set. I also believe that there could be slight variations based on the payload weight, and the carriage direction on a slanted position (moving up vs moving down). I did all these testing on a single battery recharged to full capacity on the item arrival. After all these experiments along with at least 10-15 video trials from one end to the other end of the slider, a quarter or a bit more of the battery capacity was left according to the control display. And I believe that the battery capacity could be lesser in different environments if you are aiming at night time lapse out there in winters. The motor is engaged full time to prevent the carriage moving side ways to prevent slippage, which is particularly helpful for setting slanted positions, but then I haven’t tested it on a field to see how much additional battery power will it consume on a long time lapse event that spans for long hours with 25 sec or 30 sec exposure for milky way / starry sky shots. I have attached a picture with the rough estimate of the time-lapse time span that you can cover using a 25 sec stop time and a 30 sec stop time, as well as the video length that you get if you convert the clicks to a 25 frames/sec video. This will be helpful for milky way time-lapse makers. I have also tested a 45-degree slanted video shot with the carriage moving up and down with the 2 kg camera/ball head payload and the gear was able to perform it even though it was not mentioned in the product description. Few recommendations: For time lapse, allow a settling time (setting named as time-lapse in the controller) of at least 1 sec or more for the vibrations to settle down if you are setting the speed to 75% or more, and the vibrations could take more than 1 or 2 sec if the entire assembly is mounted on tripods, but then it depends on how stable and sturdy your tripods are setup. Few things I liked about the product: 1. It comes with a decent carry bag with good protection without which I cannot imagine carrying the gear to locations out there in the wild at night times 2. It came with a decent tripod ball head and 1 / 4 to 3 / 4 adapter screws 3. Light weight 4. Very much suits and cost effective for my purpose – Milky way time lapse and homemade videos 5. The tilt-able center rod that allows panning shots and tracking shots

This slider is a fraction of the price of others. I have owned the ARC 1 from Rhino and have the iFootage S1A3 motorised sliders and here's my views. The iFootage is a different slider as it's slide, pan and tilt. It's also perfect but around £3k!!!! So I'm not using this as a comparison. The Rhino Arc 1 is similar to the GVM but the pan is motorised, too. Secondhand these are still over £1000 and this GVM is better! Yep, better. The motors are near silent and perfectly acceptable for interviews etc. Obviously if you go top speed or have it on a flimsy table it'll make more noise. But noise is important to me so it's beats the Rhino Arc I as the Rhino is ridiculously loud and cost 4 or 5 times more when new. The GVM on tripods (you need two for the long one) is perfectly quiet enough. For that it gets a full 4 stars and the compromises are something you may be fine with as long as it's quiet (which it is). Also GVM have fantastic customer support. Rhino think they're better than you. The hand controller it cheap but does the job. It's not a great interface but it functions. The pan function is sloppy and something I couldn't live with, BUT, it does work and, again, it may not be an issue for you. The slop is only an issue at the end of the run/return point. If you want more precision you'll have to spend in the 1000s. GVM 42" motorised slider: For B-Roll: 8/10 For interviews: 8/10 For noise: 10/10 If the £400 is stretching you budget, but you need a slider...you won't be wasting money. It's a solid investment.

**UPDATE** I emailed GVM straight after I received the slider and explained my issues. I'm happy to report that they were quick to respond and offered me compensation. I'm happy with the resolution and very happy with the customer service I received. Thank you for sorting so quickly GVM. Good customer service is hard to find. :) **ORIGINAL REVIEW** Just received this today and so far a little disappointed. I ordered the 48" version, so quite a lot of money (£469) and I've been let down by poor quality control. I also feel this was slightly miss advertised when it comes to the 'mute motor' part. So... Pros: 1. Seems pretty smooth and generally build quality is good (not sure if it's £469 good though, time will tell. ) 2. Pan head works pretty well although not ultra smooth at end points when looping. 3. Pretty easy to use once you've figured the remote out. Cons: 1. There is sticky glue on the carbon fibre rail next to one of the supports which indicates someone missed the first time, then put it in the right place without cleaning the glue up. 2. Ball head also has sticky glue on and slight damage to the plate indicating it was used by someone else. 3. Foam packaging damaged. Not the end of the world but again shows quality control issues and lack of attention to detail. 4. Motor is NOT completely mute. When power is on, there is a constant high pitch noise and louder when in operation. Yet to find out if will be picked up by mic. 5. Markers on pan head don't quite align with arrows. (Markers on the the ends of the pan bar would also be very useful) 6. Controller feels like a cheap toy. Cheap plastic. Buttons feel horrible. Menu system outdated and unintuitive. 7. Doesn't remember A-B settings on power off. This would be such an easy fix and would be really useful. I really hope GVM read this and take a good look at their quality control. If GVM can rectify my issues then I'll happily update this review.

I guess I call myself a professional video and photo shooter (at least that’s what it says on my job description)! So day in, day out I wanted something that would give me different options, which is why I chose this particular slider. Really the limitation then becomes your imagination, (which by the way expands when once you have this in your kit bag), as it allows so many different plains of video motions etc. It’s also just the right size, meaning I just take it out with me and it doesn’t feel like I’m unpacking the whole studio! Also, carbon fibre and red anodised hardware? What’s not to like? 🤓😄🙌

It's well made, comes in a nice bag and indeed does the job, but the user interface on the controller is not what one could call user-friendly. I really wish some consideration had been put into the operation of the unit, it could have been made so much better. Summary - good unit but, poor user interface.

It's overall good. But I don't see much use for these as most things can be done with a gimbal and a dolly. Construction good. App works well. Good motors but not for me.

Jut buy it. Now will explain. ( If you need it for real proffesional work, save more money and buy the big names) if not, will do the job. For me it didnt. 1. Cost a fraction vs the big names 2. Is silent, really silent (only horizontal) 3. Does same job as the big names 4. Comes fully assembled ready to use in less than 1 minute 5. Comes with a ball head (cheap one but does the job) 6. Only weak point is the belt, buy 2 spare ones just in case (will cost you £30 ) 7. No need of phone to operate it 8. It can be really slow at 1% speed and it can be inaugh fast at 100% speed (somtimes id wish to be bit faster but ...) Downsides -1. It can be big sometimes ( buy that is why you got the 120cm one -2. Movement is gittery some times and it can make you go crazy because there ia no same take twice (the loop is not the same will be little differencies) -3. You will need 2 support arms if you mount it on a tripod or 2 tripods That is it really, can t find any other fault.

Pretty good product while working but zero support for parts. The controller stopped working and the company does not send any replacement parts to uk customers. Not a good business model.

Todo el tiempo supe en dónde y cuándo llegaba mi paquete. Excelente atención.

SEE 11/2020 UPDATE BELOW I haven't had a chance to fully field-test this slider yet, but so far I've been loving the features included. As I gain more experience with this slider, I will be updating this review, so expect more details on features soon. I'm a huge fan of NP-F powered film gear, as the batteries are extremely high capacity and relatively inexpensive compared to v-mount or gold-mount options. The built in remote control means we don't need a smartphone or other device to control the slider, and the inclusion of control cables leads me to believe there might be some ability to control cameras from the remote as well. For now, I can say the case is fantastic, the design is sleek and smooth, and the components included seem to be high-quality and durable. I note a few of the shortcomings in my video, but those are all extremely minor with easy workarounds. I'm curious to see how smooth the pan function is, as well as what speeds can be achieved by this slider. The price-point does seem a bit high, but I'm hoping the functions within the remote will justify the cost. So far it has been a great step up from a less expensive slider with similar functions, and has become my go-to motorized slider. I'll be back with updates soon! UPDATE 11/2020 OK, it's official. I love this slider. I've used this slider on dozens of gigs now, actually getting an entire summer of work as a cam op for PBS during which my slider was the main reason they were calling me. Being able to run this thing on an NPF970 battery for 8hrs is amazing, and I haven't had a battery die on me yet. It's withstood direct sunlight in the middle of summer at 110°F, spritzing rain and drizzle (I bagged up the electronics, but there was still water getting into the gears), and a LOT of abuse and getting thrown into my trunk. It takes practice to be able to set the parallax, and lots of patience to be able to do it perfectly. Always allow 15m to get this set up and finalized, simply because adjusting and balancing two tripods, then mounting the slider, then balancing the camera on top, then setting in and out points takes some serious time. Don't let that discourage you from this slider though. Out of all the other motorized options I've tried (some costing well over $2500) this is by far the fastest, lightest, and most effective setup. It's extremely smooth and doesn't translate vibration into the camera at all. Ive also had rigs on this that were 12lbs at the very least and it never bat an eye. Maybe if it was set on an incline, but so far I've had zero issues. Love this product, and love GVM! Great experiences with them and their equipment all around.

Good gear to be added to your filming equipments

Suffers in the cold canadian outdoors. Stalls after a bit but amazing indoor. Smooth.

A nice slider for anyone wanting to try these on a budget. Controller is probably the weakest li k but is useable but a fragile part. Works well when setup correctly. Needs power adapter for those of us in Australia.