Are All Articulating Arms the Same Quality ?

T

TheDingo

Veteran
When I look around I see that there is a huge price range being charged for articulating arms...

What should I look for when buying articulating arms ? ( many seem to use EXACTLY the same design )

I know that Zacuto gear is first rate, but are Zacuto articulating arms worth the extra cost ?

Thanks in advance.
 
Zacuto's arms are good, but the best thing about them is their quick release endpieces. Nogas are good. Red branded arms seem to be prone to failure under my hard use. The huge Manfrotto arm is good and inexpensive, but I've not seen their smaller units, if they exist. Most other brands I've seen are crap.
 
The RedRock can snap. I had one snap on me and sent it back and the sent me another. I got a Noga but that thing was just too big, but good quality. So I'm back with the RedRock and it's fine if you're not too heavy handed.
 
TheDingo said:
What should I look for when buying articulating arms ? ( many seem to use EXACTLY the same design )
Click to expand...

Key point here - a lot of them are rebranded by certain companies and then marked up.
What can help differentiate is by looking at the rated weight - of course that isn't going to exclude a crappily designed product, but an arm which is rated for 7kg is generally going to be more reliable than one rated for only 3kg.

I can't say that paying $215 for an articulating arm is a good investment:

Zacuto: $215
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Wondlan: $109

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Lanparte: $99
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You do, obviously, get what you pay for, but they're also all much of a muchness.
 
You don't alway get what you pay for. We get a ton of failures from our RED arms an they are far from cheap. We have started replacing all with Zacuto.
 
Noga gets a huge vote from me. No reason to skip on an arm. The thing you are putting on it is likely very expensive and well built arms will last you years without falling apart
 
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