Glide Gear Vest & Arm Kit for Motorized Gimbals Supports 6-13lbs Rigs

I will say this is my first and probably last vest I have tried. The quality is good but very inconsistent. The main elbow seems like a part off a Mac Truck (very heavy ) but the hardware is cheap plastic I had to replace to work. My thought was to use for real estate but the arm would cause more damage swinging than I am willing to try. I also wanted it to help with the bounce from walking but I still needed to ninja step and it didn't remove much. If you do try one I did find that the lower belt should be around your hips and not your belly like many images show. If it's on your belly it still puts most weight on your lower back. I'm keeping so if you had success please share!

So I bought this to pair with my Zhiyun Crane 3S in the hopes of getting similar capabilities of the Arri Trinity set-up on a budget ($500 vs $52k seems like a killer deal). I don't shoot big hollywood films and don't have that kind of money. Anyways, things weren't as amazing as I was hoping for. Here is what isn't so great.1. There are two bags, one for the vest and arm and one for the gimbal. To use the gimbal equipment bag for transport would require you to dis-assemble the gimbal to pack it away, which kinda sucks if you want to travel with it AND get quick shots. This didn't matter too much to me as it'll be put into the trunk of an SUV for most trips, but it may matter to you if you need to fly with it.2. One of the immediate issues I found was that I couldn't get the thumbscrews tight enough on the two vertical rods that the center pivot connects to. Basically, the whole thing would just slip quickly down the smooth rods. The manual showed photos of the set-up using thumbscrews that were NOT round so you could get more leverage on it. I noticed that the screws on the weight carriage/stand plate at the bottom had thumbscrews with the flat tab to leverage more - so I swapped them and it worked fine after that. Mentioning this because I imagine others will have this same problem. Photos are shown with the 2 different thumbscrews.3. The manual showed, specifically, a Zhiyun Crane 3 or Weebill-S adaptor that is a long (maybe 5" or 6") tube to connect the bottom of the Zhiyun gimbal to the gimbal plate. This was completely missing. I contacted their tech support and the woman answering kept repeating that it was different than in the manual sent to me and that I don't need the part. Looked at the "new" manual online and it was slightly different than the printed manual I received but it still showed an extension adaptor (smaller, like 1" tall) for the top of the gimbal plate. So without the extension piece the Crane 3S cannot spin around because the shape of the body hits the top of the rods AND the 3/8-16 threads sticking up are too long to properly fit into the bottom of the Crane 3S. The woman eventually took my info and said she would send it along to someone else at the company. A guy called me the next day and we spoke at length. He figured out what I meant and said he would ship me the missing parts. The parts showed up quickly (2 pieces, 1 for 1/4"-20 and 1 for 3/8"-16) and they are the shorter 1" tall pieces (shown in photos). This solved the issue, but also meant that the gimbal plate adjustment height on the rods MUST be at the very top. I was okay with this as a quick solution. It's worth mentioning here that I bought the Zhiyun Crane 3S with the smart handle, not the easy sling handle. I believe the expensive kit includes both handles. I mention this because to get the gimbal any lower on those rods you would need that easy sling handle to do it - and it costs $50.4. This is trivial, but the top gimbal plate is very wide for what it is and what its doing. Comparing it to an Arri Trinity, its obnoxiously wide and I don't know why. I don't think it was to save on cost.5. The vest is very adjustable but it is very difficult to adjust by yourself. If you have someone helping you - and you should for this kind of rig - then it is much easier to get the size dialed in. The vest could probably be better, but it seemed on par with most other vests I've encountered.6. I noticed a weird jump or bump when shifting the gimbal from an upright to a forward or underslung position. I thought it might be the Crane 3S motors being jittery at first but it was a different feeling than that and was repeatable with the movement change. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from... but my guess is its related to the next point.7. And now for the worst part. CATASTROPHIC FAILURE. So apparently the telescopic pole is glued on to the gimbal plate. Yes, you read that right - a critical component that holds the weight carriage/stand plate to the top gimbal plate is GLUED ON. I will admit I am running a heavier set-up with the Crane 3S and a Panasonic AG-CX350, but it is still within the claimed 6-13 lbs of weight. I was lucky that I had a hand on the Crane when the weight carriage fell off or it would have been an even worse day. I have called Glide Gear back again and am waiting for a response on the issue and how it can be resolved. I am not certain that getting another glued-on component will make me want to continue using it. I'll try to update once I get a response or resolution.I really really wanted to like this more. I did. I was happy when they got the adapters sent out to me quickly and it was, until failure, a decent set-up. But if you are thinking about purchasing this - are you willing to risk a catastrophic failure that could break your camera or glass?