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Black Bear Studio Systems Doorway and Track Dolly Review
My thoughts on the Black Bear Dolly:
This dolly is, quite literally, the most effective piece of grip gear I’ve used on any production to date. Its engineering is brilliant, its build quality is immaculate and its versatility is second to none.
I utilized the Black Bear Dolly recently for the first time on a corporate video production and was genuinely blown away by this impressive piece of film equipment. The crew and actors actually gathered around the dolly to see what it was when we brought it on set. Maybe it’s the unique look but whatever it was, it was impressive.
Here are some of the things that impressed me the most:
On Dolly Track:
The dolly works with track in a way I’ve never seen on any other dolly. Track wheels screw right into the underside of the dolly frame itself into stud receptacles.
You don’t have to take the tires off like you do on other dollies to get it to roll on track. The ground wheels can stay on the dolly when it’s riding on track. Brilliant. Also, once you put the track wheels on, they can stay on while you use it on the ground. So it will literally roll onto and off of track without any modification. And it will STILL fit through tight spaces like doorways when doing so.
I’ve never seen any other dolly that can do that.
On Features:
We needed a roundy round steering mode for a scene where we follow an actor around a bunch of crazy moves. The tight turn radius and the precision of a roundy round were necessary.
On the Black Bear dolly, there is a feature called the “Four Wheel Steer (Roundy Round) Rear Converter Module, which converts the dolly’s two wheel steering mode into a roundy round. We just plugged the module into the back of the dolly and hooked up the linkages and in about two or three minutes the two wheel steer was converted to roundy round. I’m told there is an accessory that will crab steer, roundy round, two wheel steer and something called “zero point” which free rotates the rear wheels for rotating around the dolly’s own “axis” as well. We didn’t use this function. But maybe for the future.
That’s another great thing about this dolly—it EXPANDS. You can add on accessories that increase its capabilities.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s revolutionary.
On Efficiency:
The dolly weighs something like 65 pounds. I could move it into and out of the truck by myself. The Black Bear dolly track we used weighed something like 8 pounds per section. I’ve used American track and I don’t remember what the weight was but it was ridiculous. One of my crew nearly threw his back out taking it off the truck.
I could get this dolly in and out of location quickly and easily. Its platform dimensions also seem way bigger than other dollies I’ve used though the Black Bear dolly feels much more maneuverable and easier to get around.
On Build:
Exceptional. I’ve seen “pre-owned” dollies (ie used) from other manufacturers and they were a wreck. The carpets needed to be replaced, the painted portions of the frame were scratched and damaged. There was rust on the steel parts, etc. Not so with this dolly.
We used the dolly in the middle of the desert and it got FILTHY. Afterwards, I brought it back to the office and cleaned the diamond plate rubber top with a sponge and the aluminum frame with a rag and it was literally as clean as it was before the shoot. I could NEVER do that with a carpeted dolly. And the aluminum will never rust.
On Price:
I think we saved something like $3,000 off what we would have paid with a Matthews dolly. But it’s almost a silly point to begin with, because the Matthews dolly wouldn’t have done any of the things above that we needed.
Overall, for versatility, price, engineering, build quality and efficiency, this is the best dolly on the market, no contest.
My thoughts on the Black Bear Dolly:
This dolly is, quite literally, the most effective piece of grip gear I’ve used on any production to date. Its engineering is brilliant, its build quality is immaculate and its versatility is second to none.
I utilized the Black Bear Dolly recently for the first time on a corporate video production and was genuinely blown away by this impressive piece of film equipment. The crew and actors actually gathered around the dolly to see what it was when we brought it on set. Maybe it’s the unique look but whatever it was, it was impressive.
Here are some of the things that impressed me the most:
On Dolly Track:
The dolly works with track in a way I’ve never seen on any other dolly. Track wheels screw right into the underside of the dolly frame itself into stud receptacles.
You don’t have to take the tires off like you do on other dollies to get it to roll on track. The ground wheels can stay on the dolly when it’s riding on track. Brilliant. Also, once you put the track wheels on, they can stay on while you use it on the ground. So it will literally roll onto and off of track without any modification. And it will STILL fit through tight spaces like doorways when doing so.
I’ve never seen any other dolly that can do that.
On Features:
We needed a roundy round steering mode for a scene where we follow an actor around a bunch of crazy moves. The tight turn radius and the precision of a roundy round were necessary.
On the Black Bear dolly, there is a feature called the “Four Wheel Steer (Roundy Round) Rear Converter Module, which converts the dolly’s two wheel steering mode into a roundy round. We just plugged the module into the back of the dolly and hooked up the linkages and in about two or three minutes the two wheel steer was converted to roundy round. I’m told there is an accessory that will crab steer, roundy round, two wheel steer and something called “zero point” which free rotates the rear wheels for rotating around the dolly’s own “axis” as well. We didn’t use this function. But maybe for the future.
That’s another great thing about this dolly—it EXPANDS. You can add on accessories that increase its capabilities.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s revolutionary.
On Efficiency:
The dolly weighs something like 65 pounds. I could move it into and out of the truck by myself. The Black Bear dolly track we used weighed something like 8 pounds per section. I’ve used American track and I don’t remember what the weight was but it was ridiculous. One of my crew nearly threw his back out taking it off the truck.
I could get this dolly in and out of location quickly and easily. Its platform dimensions also seem way bigger than other dollies I’ve used though the Black Bear dolly feels much more maneuverable and easier to get around.
On Build:
Exceptional. I’ve seen “pre-owned” dollies (ie used) from other manufacturers and they were a wreck. The carpets needed to be replaced, the painted portions of the frame were scratched and damaged. There was rust on the steel parts, etc. Not so with this dolly.
We used the dolly in the middle of the desert and it got FILTHY. Afterwards, I brought it back to the office and cleaned the diamond plate rubber top with a sponge and the aluminum frame with a rag and it was literally as clean as it was before the shoot. I could NEVER do that with a carpeted dolly. And the aluminum will never rust.
On Price:
I think we saved something like $3,000 off what we would have paid with a Matthews dolly. But it’s almost a silly point to begin with, because the Matthews dolly wouldn’t have done any of the things above that we needed.
Overall, for versatility, price, engineering, build quality and efficiency, this is the best dolly on the market, no contest.
