Gimbal Weight

[RenoReno]

I ordered a RTF gimbal off of ebay for $80, coming from China. Weight is 400 grams.

Does this weight seem a little on the high side for a gimbal?

I'm planning on dremeling some some partial holes in portions, sort of like countersink holes that don't go all the way through the aluminum. I saw a picture of one someone had done the same too and it looked pretty slick.

 

[ElGuano]

The tarot gimbal weighs about 180g without the GoPro. The Zenmuse H3-2D weighs about 130g without Gopro. Some heavier 2-axis gimbals weigh 200+g. The entire payload of my Phantom is under 280g. I haven't even heard of a 3-axis gimbal that weighs more than 300g.

I wonder if the 400g number you're seeing is the shipping weight.

 

[joeflyer]

Wow, that's very heavy. Most seem to be in the 200 gm. +/-30 range. The lightest one that I'm aware of is the Stella at 120 gm.

I just got a Tarot, which weighs 200 gm. When you add the Gopro camera that's another 75 gm. I was surprised at my reduction in flight time and I wish it were lighter. The one second per gram rule of thumb seems fairly accurate.

If it's really that heavy, cancel the order if it's not too late and spend a few more dollars getting a lighter one. That gimbal + Gopro will weigh 475 gm. and shorten your flight time up to 8 minutes.

I got the Tarot because it seems to be a popular one. Getting the software downloaded and working was a real pain, but because there are lots of them out there you can find online help in various forums. Now that that's behind me it seems to work quite well. Rangevideo has them on sale for $135 and you'll have it in 2-3 days if you live in the US. My biggest dislikes are that the tilt motor is on the same side as the Gopro USB & HDMI ports making connection difficult, and you have to remove two screws to remove the camera. If I were doing it over again I get one lighter and with the tilt motor on the right.

 

[davemcm]

it certainly does sound a little high, my very cheap 2 axis chinese gimbal (£56 delivered) weighs in at 220g without GoPro, my slightly more expensive one (which hasn't arrived yet) is 220 including the GoPro

 

[RenoReno]

Wow! Sounds like 400 grams is definitely on the heavy side. Some lightening will be in order for sure.

 

[MILLER4PRESIDENT2020]

i have honestly seen a million different weights listed for what seems to be the exact same gimbals. The only way you really know is once you get it and weigh it yourself

 

[ericdes]

That is REALLY heavy.

However, I also believe it's completely inaccurate.

There are a ton of variants of this exact same gimbal, and the real weight of the gimbal is 185G naked.

 

[RenoReno]

Yeah I think I'll weight the thing for sure. I saw on ebay for less than $20, a couple of carbon fiber base plates for gimbals. Might be worth looking into once I've actually got the gimbal in hand and it proves to function well.