GVM Camera Slider Motorized, 120cm Carbon Fiber Video Slider Track Dolly, Photography Camera Stabilizer Rail with Time Lapse Tracking 120 Degree Panoramic Shooting for DSRL Photography Video Shoot

I bought the 120cm/48-inch Wired version mainly aimed at Time Lapse photography and at times for videos too. I did some testing at home to see how many shots I get at various settings for a time lapse event setting the A & B end points to the extreme ends of the slider with a couple of centimeters left from either side to avoid damage to the motor by the carriage hitting the sides. The payload that I used was a Canon 6D with Samyang 14mm and the tripod ball head that came along with the slider. So that is roughly less than 2 kilograms of weight loaded. The slider was horizontally placed on the floor with the controller hooked on a tripod 6 feet height to avoid the control cable and the shutter release cable getting in between the slider and its belt. Interval: 0.1, Speed: 1% - Earned 1800 clicks Interval: 0.2, Speed: 1% - Earned 924 clicks Interval: 0.2, Speed: 2% - Earned 910 clicks Interval: 0.3, Speed: 3% - Earned 605 clicks Interval: 0.4, Speed: 2% - Earned 455 clicks Interval: 0.1, Speed: 75% - Earned 582 clicks Interval: 0.2, Speed: 75% - Earned 291 clicks Interval: 0.1, Speed: 85% - Earned 412 clicks Interval: 0.2, Speed: 85% - Earned 205 clicks Interval: 0.1, Speed: 100% - Earned 156 clicks These stats could vary depending upon how far the end points are set. I also believe that there could be slight variations based on the payload weight, and the carriage direction on a slanted position (moving up vs moving down). I did all these testing on a single battery recharged to full capacity on the item arrival. After all these experiments along with at least 10-15 video trials from one end to the other end of the slider, a quarter or a bit more of the battery capacity was left according to the control display. And I believe that the battery capacity could be lesser in different environments if you are aiming at night time lapse out there in winters. The motor is engaged full time to prevent the carriage moving side ways to prevent slippage, which is particularly helpful for setting slanted positions, but then I haven’t tested it on a field to see how much additional battery power will it consume on a long time lapse event that spans for long hours with 25 sec or 30 sec exposure for milky way / starry sky shots. I have attached a picture with the rough estimate of the time-lapse time span that you can cover using a 25 sec stop time and a 30 sec stop time, as well as the video length that you get if you convert the clicks to a 25 frames/sec video. This will be helpful for milky way time-lapse makers. I have also tested a 45-degree slanted video shot with the carriage moving up and down with the 2 kg camera/ball head payload and the gear was able to perform it even though it was not mentioned in the product description. Few recommendations: For time lapse, allow a settling time (setting named as time-lapse in the controller) of at least 1 sec or more for the vibrations to settle down if you are setting the speed to 75% or more, and the vibrations could take more than 1 or 2 sec if the entire assembly is mounted on tripods, but then it depends on how stable and sturdy your tripods are setup. Few things I liked about the product: 1. It comes with a decent carry bag with good protection without which I cannot imagine carrying the gear to locations out there in the wild at night times 2. It came with a decent tripod ball head and 1 / 4 to 3 / 4 adapter screws 3. Light weight 4. Very much suits and cost effective for my purpose – Milky way time lapse and homemade videos 5. The tilt-able center rod that allows panning shots and tracking shots

This slider is a fraction of the price of others. I have owned the ARC 1 from Rhino and have the iFootage S1A3 motorised sliders and here's my views. The iFootage is a different slider as it's slide, pan and tilt. It's also perfect but around £3k!!!! So I'm not using this as a comparison. The Rhino Arc 1 is similar to the GVM but the pan is motorised, too. Secondhand these are still over £1000 and this GVM is better! Yep, better. The motors are near silent and perfectly acceptable for interviews etc. Obviously if you go top speed or have it on a flimsy table it'll make more noise. But noise is important to me so it's beats the Rhino Arc I as the Rhino is ridiculously loud and cost 4 or 5 times more when new. The GVM on tripods (you need two for the long one) is perfectly quiet enough. For that it gets a full 4 stars and the compromises are something you may be fine with as long as it's quiet (which it is). Also GVM have fantastic customer support. Rhino think they're better than you. The hand controller it cheap but does the job. It's not a great interface but it functions. The pan function is sloppy and something I couldn't live with, BUT, it does work and, again, it may not be an issue for you. The slop is only an issue at the end of the run/return point. If you want more precision you'll have to spend in the 1000s. GVM 42" motorised slider: For B-Roll: 8/10 For interviews: 8/10 For noise: 10/10 If the £400 is stretching you budget, but you need a slider...you won't be wasting money. It's a solid investment.

It's well made, comes in a nice bag and indeed does the job, but the user interface on the controller is not what one could call user-friendly. I really wish some consideration had been put into the operation of the unit, it could have been made so much better. Summary - good unit but, poor user interface.