$200 Gimbal Budget

[Bunger]

I have about $200 to spend on my new phantom and I would like to get a gimbal. Unfortunately, at that price point there are a few options:

Goodluckbuy (or similar): crap shoot on quality and will take a bit of tinkering

Beholder Lite: heavier with some tinkering

tarot: heavier still (I read 330g) and will need to extend landing gear

Given my budget, what are the recommendations?

Tia!
Bill

 

[syotr]

I got the Feiyu Tech fy-g3 gimbal for $167. It works fine right out of the box. Made an adapter plate to mount it to the Phantom. I beleive they are releasing a new mount just for the Phantom soon.

 

[Nidge]

These are just my experiences with the $85 Goodluckbuy Gimbal.

I ordered mine in November and it arrived in just under two weeks. On initial power with my Gopro attatched it took about ten seconds to boot up and levelled perfectly. The only issue I had was I wasn't happy with the way the wiring was routed from the IMU to the main board as it was fouling the mechanism when pitched to the full down position, this was easily rectified.

From arriving it only took five minutes to attatch to the Phantom and the subsequent test flight showed that the stabilised footage was quite good. There were servo leads supplied to connect these to the Phantom's FC but were too short to use so I had to use a servo extension lead to allow for pitch control.

The only fiddly work involved was the routing of the servo cable from the gimbal to the Naza. Once connected it was a simple process of enabling the Gimbal control, calibrating the X1 control, and setting the limits of the Gimbal's movement, all done in the Naza Flight Assistant Software.

When compared to the Zenmuse gimbal it's certainly a lot heavier and my flight times on a standard 2200mAh battery were reduced to about six minutes though recently I've equipped my Phantom with V2 props and this has increased the flight times back to an acceptable ten minutes.

Due to a number of issues beyond my control I haven't done any serious flying for a few weeks but if you do a search on Youtube for Sputniksam, my Youtube handle, you'll find a couple of videos showing my initial flight without pitch control ( shot five minutes after the gimbal was delivered ) and another showing how I mounted it to the Phantom and the flight controller.

Regards

Nidge

 

[Gizmo3000]

tarot: heavier still (I read 330g) and will need to extend landing gear

Where on earth did you get that mis-information?

The Tarot weighs about 190g, if anything, it's slightly lighter than most of the other gimbals out there.
I have mine mounted straight up to my Phantom using a $15 adapter plate I got off ebay, but I did not extend my landing gear. so it rubs the ground a bit, but it's no problem when I take off from soft ground and hand catch my landings.

Hearing good things about the Feiyu Tech fy-g3 , seems to have even bigger motors so not sure what it's total weight is.
but it certainly seems more forgiving in taking the bumps

 

[syotr]

tarot: heavier still (I read 330g) and will need to extend landing gear

Hearing good things about the Feiyu Tech fy-g3 , seems to have even bigger motors so not sure what it's total weight is.
but it certainly seems more forgiving in taking the bumps

Feiyu Tech fy-g3 is 178 g. The new version made just for the Phantom may be even lighter and has enough ground clearance that the landing skids need not be raised.

 

[Gizmo3000]

Feiyu Tech fy-g3 is 178 g. The new version made just for the Phantom may be even lighter and has enough ground clearance that the landing skids need not be raised.

good to know!
does it have the same style compression/vibration isolation as the Tarot, or is it hung off the balls? (like the Zenmuse)

 

[Bunger]

Where can I find the Feiyu Tech fy-g3 gimbals in the US? Also, any idea when the native-Phantom supported version is available?

 

[Bunger]

tarot: heavier still (I read 330g) and will need to extend landing gear

Where on earth did you get that mis-information?

The Tarot weighs about 190g, if anything, it's slightly lighter than most of the other gimbals out there.
I have mine mounted straight up to my Phantom using a $15 adapter plate I got off ebay, but I did not extend my landing gear. so it rubs the ground a bit, but it's no problem when I take off from soft ground and hand catch my landings.

Hearing good things about the Feiyu Tech fy-g3 , seems to have even bigger motors so not sure what it's total weight is.
but it certainly seems more forgiving in taking the bumps

Someone had one listed on ebay for $149 and indicated the weight at 330g. Good to know it isn't that heavy. So it doesn't natively attach to the Phantom and I would need an adapter plate, correct?

 

[Bunger]

When compared to the Zenmuse gimbal it's certainly a lot heavier and my flight times on a standard 2200mAh battery were reduced to about six minutes though recently I've equipped my Phantom with V2 props and this has increased the flight times back to an acceptable ten minutes.

Are the props that only thing you changed and that made that big of an impact on flight duration?

 

[Bunger]

So it doesn't natively attach to the Phantom and I would need an adapter plate, correct?

You can buy a plate on ebay or simply mount the stand-offs to the shell.

That require new holes in the shell, correct? In other words, the least intrusive solution would be to buy the plate?

 

[Nidge]

When compared to the Zenmuse gimbal it's certainly a lot heavier and my flight times on a standard 2200mAh battery were reduced to about six minutes though recently I've equipped my Phantom with V2 props and this has increased the flight times back to an acceptable ten minutes.

Are the props that only thing you changed and that made that big of an impact on flight duration?

Yes, so far the only thing I've changed from stock are the props.
The current configuration of my Phantom is, Goodluckbuy Gimbal, GPH3B, Fatshark 250mW vTX. I fly with either the supplied battery or Turnigy 2200mAh 20C's. The remaining alterations are just the addition of supply leads from the power distribution points on the main board to the Gimbal and video transmitter, and the servo lead from the Gimbal to the flight controller.

I feel I must also point out that I'm not saying that the GLB Gimbal is the be all and end all. There's plenty of info demonstrating that many have had issues with it. For the price I was willing to take a gamble and thankfully it paid off for me.

Regards

Nidge

 

[syotr]

Feiyu Tech fy-g3 is 178 g. The new version made just for the Phantom may be even lighter and has enough ground clearance that the landing skids need not be raised.

good to know!
does it have the same style compression/vibration isolation as the Tarot, or is it hung off the balls? (like the Zenmuse)

The original version has the weight resting on top of the balls. This is the one I have. I have attached a plate to the Phantom which connects to the lower plate of the gimbal mount with standoffs so that the balls are in compression.
The new version being released for the Phantom has the gimbal hanging from the balls.

 

[Bunger]

Feiyu Tech fy-g3 is 178 g. The new version made just for the Phantom may be even lighter and has enough ground clearance that the landing skids need not be raised.

good to know!
does it have the same style compression/vibration isolation as the Tarot, or is it hung off the balls? (like the Zenmuse)

The original version has the weight resting on top of the balls. This is the one I have. I have attached a plate to the Phantom which connects to the lower plate of the gimbal mount with standoffs so that the balls are in compression.
The new version being released for the Phantom has the gimbal hanging from the balls.

Any idea when the new version is available and whether there are any US distributors?

 

[Todesengel]

Bunger, I just ordered one from here. http://www.gothelirc.com/shopdisplaypro ... Feiyu+Tech .
I don't do enough video to make it worth going with the high priced ones, so I'll give this one a try. It supposedly has the new Phantom mount, and the company is based out of Chandler, Arizona.

 

[Bunger]

Bunger, I just ordered one from here. http://www.gothelirc.com/shopdisplaypro ... Feiyu+Tech .
I don't do enough video to make it worth going with the high priced ones, so I'll give this one a try. It supposedly has the new Phantom mount, and the company is based out of Chandler, Arizona.

How soon until you receive it?

 

[Bunger]

Bunger, I just ordered one from here. http://www.gothelirc.com/shopdisplaypro ... Feiyu+Tech .
I don't do enough video to make it worth going with the high priced ones, so I'll give this one a try. It supposedly has the new Phantom mount, and the company is based out of Chandler, Arizona.

How soon until you receive it?

Also... Do these require landing gear extensions?

 

[Todesengel]

Don't know when it will arrive. just ordered last night, and haven't gotten a shipping e-mail yet. If it ships out today, hopefully by Tuesday. The mount listed right under it on their webpage says the mount doesn't require leg extensions. I included a note with my order asking to verify that the included Phantom mount was the one they had listed separately. I'll let ya know when i get it hooked up.
Like I said, I don't do enough video to make the more expensive gimbals worth it, but i do hate the lean when i am watching the few I do take.

 

[Bunger]

Like I said, I don't do enough video to make the more expensive gimbals worth it, but i do hate the lean when i am watching the few I do take.

I am in the exact same boat... would like pretty clean shots, but don't do it enough to want to spend $300+

 

[Bunger]

Don't know when it will arrive. just ordered last night, and haven't gotten a shipping e-mail yet. If it ships out today, hopefully by Tuesday. The mount listed right under it on their webpage says the mount doesn't require leg extensions. I included a note with my order asking to verify that the included Phantom mount was the one they had listed separately. I'll let ya know when i get it hooked up.

I just called them to verify the options and the one that is listed as the direct-Phantom mount does NOT need landing gear extension and is the "new" version of the Phantom. So ordering that item is all that is needed.

He also indicated that orders placed before 4pm Arizona time will ship out that same day.

 

[Todesengel]

Yes, I got the shipping email a short while ago. they threw in a note stating that it was the new mount. Now if my v2 props would just hurry up and get here :evil: