Recommend a small motorized slider other than the Kessler?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I've got the Kessler Pocket Dolly and the Basic Motion Control Kit.

We've been very dissatisfied with the quality. The plastic cigarette lighter socket housing on the battery cracked. The wires that attach to the battery disconnected. The power socket that the power cable goes into on the remote cracked and fell out. I emailed support (they don't have a phone number) and they have been less than responsive.

We need another slider that will work mounted on a single pan head and has higher quality than the Kessler. And better support. From user reports, the rails on the Konova slider are too close together and it doesn't slide well. Plus I have one and I've gotten quality issue with THAT as well. The battery charger died on us as well as one of the batteries. And they are all the way in Korea.

UPDATE:

Joel over at Kessler responded by giving me a link to purchase the remote ($250 for a cheap plastic remote that breaks) and the battery ($130 for a heavy lead-acid battery that normally retails for $90).

http://www.kesslercrane.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=100128

http://www.adorama.com/BOMM7ATM.html

Kessler's lifetime warranty does not apply to their cheap quality electronics. For those you only get 1 year.

So let's see... $250 for a remote that I could get screwed on again in a year + $90 for the battery + shipping = at least $340.

Or buy a complete kit from Varavon for $400 + $50 shipping.

 

[Inveresk]

I have one of these. http://salamanderslider.com/Products/products.html

It slides beautifully and is very robust but when loaded with the camera and at full extension is too heavy to mount on a single tripod. Cost was around $500 for the 4' motorized but without the time lapse. The company was good to deal with.

 

[tired]

I'm supprised Kessler arn't more responsive - I've always had good dealings with them. I use the Varavon sliders, very happy with those and the now have a motor addition to the range - haven't tried it yet but it looks okay

http://www.varavon.com/product/motor.html

 

[bgreencam]

I also bought the Varavon slider...very heavy duty...motor it is very strong and easy

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Ehhhh... having something light enough to mount on a single head and tripod is a must. We do pans with it to while it's sliding. We have the Manfrotto 504HD head.


I'm not very happy with Kessler right now. I got it a little over a year ago and had to wait ages for them to get the battery from China. Then the plastic housing around the 12V cigarette lighter outlet (who the hell uses this kind of outlet BTW?) for the battery cracked after about 2 weeks of use and it would cause the power to go in and out intermittently. Now the power plug on the remote is busted, the remote itself is just made of cheap plastic, and the wires that attach to the battery have disconnected. It seems that all the plastic that they use are the type that crack easily. They're stiff, but not strong.

I needed to reach someone ASAP because the above busted and we have jobs every day that need this. Of course there's no phone support. I don't have time to wait while I send my stuff back, have them repair it, and then have them ship it back to me. I'm trying to get a simple cross ship going for the remote and battery and cables but they haven't responded. We sent the email detailing the problems at 10AM PST and still no response and it's a Friday night. We are looking at renting this crap until we get this resolved.

All this has left a seriously bad taste in my mouth, especially the quality issues. This is stuff that should not break.

I'd like to just sell this and get a slider that is:

1. Light enough for a single tripod and head.
2. Bombproof.
3. Great operationally.
4. About 40" in length.

STANDARD equipment like power plugs and motors and mounting and batteries would be great. There's nothing worse than having a totally proprietary thing break on you and you are forced to pay for overpriced replacements from the manufacturer.

 

[ggrantly]

A few thoughts,

Kessler I believe works a four day week and I believe they are closed on Fridays. I have a bunch of Kessler gear and for the most part, they have given me good support, though not really lickitysplit. There is zero chance that a 504 is heavy enough for a single point slider, no way. A Hercules and kpod will do nicely.

When I decided to motorize my slider, I opted out of the Kessler kit. Instead, I frankenrigged components from servocity to my gen I Kessler slider with the belt drive option. This worked out really well and is powered vis a tekkeon battery. If you spec this out using gear motors and the servocity memory recorder, you can pre-program your movement and get it just silky smooth and ramp your start-stop and variable speeds via the recorder. The savings is about half the cost of the Kessler kit with two motors.

In any event, Kessler is a pretty good outfit, you will need a heavier rig for single point mounting, and there are other motorized option available.

Grant

 

[marlontorres]

I reviewed the varavon motorroid here: http://procinematools.com/varavon-motorroid-universal-motorized-slider-upgrade-kit/

Nice unit, strong motor, and best of all toucan slap it on almost any slider!

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Thanks for all the replies.

We shoot with the Panasonic GH3 on a small Manfrotto ballhead on the camera platform. We use a Manfrotto 504HD head to hold the slider.

1. With that said, will the Varavon Motorroid fit a Kessler Pocket Dolly?

http://www.kesslercrane.com/product-p/100159.htm

I get how the belt mounts to the camera platform, but I'm not sure how the motor and the anchors at each end mount.

2. Is there a similar setup with an actual remote? The motion control on the Varavon is consolidated on the unit itself. We'd like an external remote.