Steadicam Merlin: Metal vs. Plastic Gimbal

dust'n the callipygous

Well-known member
How can I tell if my gimbal is metal or plastic? My merlin is the signature edition, which comes with the plastic gimbal, however, the guy I bought it from told me it had a metal gimbal. I had my brother pick it up from the guy, so I wasn't there to talk to him about it. He also didn't respond to any emails after the fact...

Anyway, the outside of the gimbal assembly is definitely plastic, but the parts down inside are metal. It seems to be constructed half with plastic and half with metal, which throws me off a little bit. I can't find any good pictures online to show the difference. Here's what I'm looking at:

IMG_7239.jpg


Anybody with a plastic or metal gimbal out there that could tell me which version this is?
 
the one pictured is the plastic version. I used to have the plastic version and upgraded to the metal version. i couldnt tell the difference in peformance. i think they switched due to the plastic versions breaking. My plastic version never broke and i had a 5 lb canon xh-a1 on there.
 
Yeah I think they say the the metal one can support a little more weight. Thanks for clearing that up. I'm only asking because I may be upgrading soon and selling this one, so I'd like to be able to tell someone what they're getting (especially after I was told incorrectly when I purchased).
 
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