MOVO GH80 metal fatigue - and a fix to prevent calamity

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Terry said:
There's one thing you may not be considering. Wimberley is built in the US. Makes it more expensive and very likely better quality. Movo is a knockoff (nice way of saying they stole the design) and likely built in China (can't find country of origin in my search). I buy US goods whenever I can. I hate the fact we lose our jobs and intellectual property to another country. This is a personal thing for me but something to consider when you find that "great deal". Not so great seeing gear hit the ground.
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Wimberley is (as I said) an industry leader. However, Made In the USA ia not always evidence of a superior product, IMHO. Among the many US built items i owned in my life was an AMC Pacer... :)
 
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RKOP said:
Again, I hope my post will convince others to consider securing a part with a weak design point (the clamping neck on the cantilevered arm) to avoid what happened to me, regardless of brand or design. Failures happen, and as pointed out by many, the large lenses are quite expensive and worth protecting. Faith in your brand is not quite as secure as the lightweight steel loop and screw.
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Your unfortunate incident illustrates quite well the risk of using a cantilevered gimbal without a backup means of keeping the camera from an unplanned meeting with the ground. A side-mount gimbal has similar stress concentration points with similar risk. At the very least I hope others reading this discussion will heed your advice and have a secondary way to prevent a failure from becoming catastrophic.
 
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RKOP said:
... and the tripod (RSS) stood while the lans dropped sliding along the leg. As to the loop. its short enough so that the equipment is still positioned near the center - I cannot think of another way. Open to suggestions!
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Yes, you were lucky the first time that the tripod did not fall also. But your fix now couples the tripod with the gimbal. Considering the weight of the camera and lens, I think it is likely the weight shift of a falling camera+lens will cause the tripod to also fall. Maybe not. I use the RRS tall tripod (I'm sure you remember how tall I am! LOL!) and it has a pretty wide leg spread. Still, I wouldn't put my beloved 600mm TC at risk..... Fingers crossed you have no more such accidents!
 
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Charles Loy said:
Recently I contacted Wimberley about a lens plate. During the discussion he ask me if I had a Wimberly that is not registered with them. He went on to say "if you have a concern with any of our products, we stand behind them, regardless if you purchased direct, from a dealer, a friend or off the internet". I did buy one used and provided him the S/N, but it is not required. I own two. I'm happy and unconcerned that either will break. Buy Wimberley!
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Couldn’t agree more. Wimberley is about the best in the business.
 
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Butlerkid said:
Yes, you were lucky the first time that the tripod did not fall also. But your fix now couples the tripod with the gimbal. Considering the weight of the camera and lens, I think it is likely the weight shift of a falling camera+lens will cause the tripod to also fall. Maybe not. I use the RRS tall tripod (I'm sure you remember how tall I am! LOL!) and it has a pretty wide leg spread. Still, I wouldn't put my beloved 600mm TC at risk..... Fingers crossed you have no more such accidents!
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I do :) and we have the same model tripod. the drop wit the loop is 1.5 inch, so it should not gain too much extra weight from the acceleration. I will consider a Kimberly and modify it the same way, for sure. and finally, the best way to avoid damaging your expensive lenses is to not take them out of the padded case.
 
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