Is a a Promaster a good Gimbal head? (Page 3): Let me start by saying I have never even touched a Promaster gimbal head. So this won't answer your question. However, my local camera...

clickety

Joexx wrote:

Hunts has the Promaster GH25 Professional Gimbal Head Kit on sale for about 1/2 price ($150). Is this Gimbal head any good? I am thinking of using it for a Nikon D750 with a 200-500 lens. There are other options even less expensive. Does anyone have a suggestion. I will not be using this all that much, so I would rather keep the cost to under $150, But I do not want to get something that works poorly. Thanks

Let me start by saying I have never even touched a Promaster gimbal head. So this won't answer your question.

However, my local camera store is committed Promaster's products and that is what they primarily stock. Thus for convenience, I have purchased Promaster products.

I can say that I have yet to buy a Promaster product that I have been totally satisfied with. Across the board I've found them to be "cheap" with lesser fit, finish, functionality or ease of use. Yes they have been good about exchanging defective items and sometimes it improved the situation but sometimes not. I'm at a point where I will no longer purchase anything with the Promaster name.

Hopefully your experience will be different but I advise you proceed with diligence and caution.

pendennis

clickety wrote:

Let me start by saying I have never even touched a... (show quote)

Likewise, my experiences with Promaster have been less than satisfactory for the most part. I have purchased some lens shades, caps, etc., but their tripods aren't very stable. That weakness came to light when their top of the line carbon fiber tripod slowly collapsed under the weight of my Nikon D500 and 200-500mm f5.6 zoom. I had secured the leg locks firmly, but fortunately it wasn't a catastrophic collapse. The next day, I went to another store, which had a good selection of Manfrotto, Benro, etc., and I bought a Manfrotto 055 carbon fiber. They even matched the B&H price. I only use the Promaster for my 16x Pentax binoculars.

jcboy3

AlfredU wrote:

Never heard of stiction before. But that doesn't happen on my GH25. I haven't told y'all how much I paid for mine when I bought the Tamron 150-600. I got it for $25. But regardless of what I paid for it, it just works. And no stiction.

My comment was not about the GH25, but about the cheap head mentioned in the post I was replying to.

See previous comment of mine about the GH25 specifically.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Robeng wrote:

Because they are cheap and don't know better!

But the question is when something goes wrong, as in the cheap gimbal locks up, won't work right in cold weather, something breaks, or the thing fails catastrophically and falls off the tripod along with the camera and lens, will they then fully appreciate the meaning of the old adage, "Penny wise, pound foolish?"

Buying anything cheap almost always ends up not saving any money down the road.

Robeng Loc: California

Gene51 wrote:

But the question is when something goes wrong, as in the cheap gimbal locks up, won't work right in cold weather, something breaks, or the thing fails catastrophically and falls off the tripod along with the camera and lens, will they then fully appreciate the meaning of the old adage, "Penny wise, pound foolish?"

Buying anything cheap almost always ends up not saving any money down the road.

Gene,

Totally agree! I found that when you buy cheap and sub standard products you will end up buying again. I say spend the money and buy it right the first time. I learned that with tripods. As a award winning photographer and a member of NPS I'm not going to chance putting $6000 worth of camera equipment on a $150.00 gimbal. I think you will agree with me on that.

Rob

AlfredU Loc: Mooresville, NC

Robeng wrote:

Gene,

Totally agree! I found that when you buy cheap and sub standard products you will end up buying again. I say spend the money and buy it right the first time. I learned that with tripods. As a award winning photographer and a member of NPS I'm not going to chance putting $6000 worth of camera equipment on a $150.00 gimbal. I think you will agree with me on that.

Rob

No. I won't.

jcboy3

pendennis wrote:

Likewise, my experiences with Promaster have been ... (show quote)

I wonder what model you were using? Clip locks can be tightened with the clip and still be loose; I've had to fix other photographers tripods because they don't tend to carry the necessary allen wrench. I've never had a twist lock slip unless I just didn't tighten it enough. I've learned to give the tripod a push after extending the legs, just to test for slippage, before loading it up.

I happen to like the Promaster tripods, if you can get them cheap. I have a T525P because it just fits inside my LowePro Mini Trekker (without ball head). And I have a pair of C429W; one works quite well with the D500 and 200-500 f5.6 and Promaster GH25. I also use the two when using a long slider for video.

The problem with Promaster, is that you will not get service or parts. For that reason, I would never pay full price for their gear. But half price? No problem. And yes, you can buy the best (for 4-5 times the price), but I need multiple copies/sizes and that's too much money. It's a tradeoff I can live with.