Care to share your thoughts on your GoPro brushless gimbal??

[mmurfitt]

Correct me if I'm wrong (and please do) but there seems to be to primary players vying for the GoPro brushless gimbal crown, the good old DJI H3 2D Brushless Gimbal and the Tarrot 2D Brushless Gimbal.

The Tarrot is about 60% cheaper (in the UK) which is always an consideration, but the DJI's installation, and operation, appears to be kind of plug & play.
There seems to be little to separate the footage from both which looks to be pretty much the same.

Do you own either? What's your experience of setting up and operating?

 

[rolf65]

I own the Tarot. Canceled my Zenmuse preorder...thank god for that desicion. This gimbal are total undependant of the Naza as controller. very "true PnP" needs power only.

 

[RTRyder]

I have a Tarot and a pair of RCTimer brushless for GoPro. All three of them combined cost less than one DJI H3-2D and as far as I can tell they work exactly the same or better. Granted they don't have the fancy builtin Hero3 connection or the hidden wiring of the DJI unit but on the other hand they are complete independent units and flight controller agnostic. Hang them under whatever you want and go fly, or for that matter attach one to a set of bicycle handlebars and have a homebrew Steadycam, can't do that with a DJI unless you connect it to a Naza or WKM at the same time.

The RCTimer units are definitely a hands-on assemble and setup proposition but they're quite sturdy and you can put any model of GoPro or similar size camera on them as long as it fits within the tilt cradle framework. This link will take you to a video of one of my RCT gimbals being given a good workout under my MK FPV quad... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_JpWGqUro

The Tarot gimbal is smaller and more streamlined than the RCT built in a similar manner to the DJI. From a quick glance at each it almost appears that the same engineering team designed both although it's more likely that one is intentionally built to resemble the other as much as possible. The only downside to the Tarot for my use is the fact it only takes the Hero 3 size GoPros, otherwise it's as close to true plug and fly as things get in this hobby. This is a link to the first test flight I did with mine hung under the same MK FPV quad which is also my testbed for small gimbals... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRi_tdowk64 At this point I hadn't even connected the controller board to a computer, I simply assembled the few pieces that needed to be and mounted it up then flew. To this moment I still have not changed any of the settings, seems to be pretty much as dialed in as one of these can get. Eventually I may upgrade the software once it matures a bit more and maybe then I'll try tweaking some settings. For now it works great and the best part is it cost a whopping $182 delivered to my front door

Ken

 

[mmurfitt]

Great, thanks Rolf, I'm definitely leaning towards the Tarot, particularly as it gives pretty much the same stable platform as the DJI but at a fraction of the cost..

I own the Tarot. Canceled my Zenmuse preorder...thank god for that desicion. This gimbal are total undependant of the Naza as controller. very "true PnP" needs power only.

 

[mmurfitt]

The Tarot just looks like the perfect bit of kit for what I need.
I hadn't heard of the RCTimer, but watching your video (I've subscribed to your channel as well) it looks very similar. I'm in the UK and can get a Tarot pretty easily, where as the RCTimer will be a little more tricky, plus the Tarot just does what I need it to do with the minimum of fuss..
Just got to get myself a GoPro Hero3 now..!
Thanks for the comprehensive reply Ken, appreciate it.

I have a Tarot and a pair of RCTimer brushless for GoPro. All three of them combined cost less than one DJI H3-2D and as far as I can tell they work exactly the same or better. Granted they don't have the fancy builtin Hero3 connection or the hidden wiring of the DJI unit but on the other hand they are complete independent units and flight controller agnostic. Hang them under whatever you want and go fly, or for that matter attach one to a set of bicycle handlebars and have a homebrew Steadycam, can't do that with a DJI unless you connect it to a Naza or WKM at the same time.

The RCTimer units are definitely a hands-on assemble and setup proposition but they're quite sturdy and you can put any model of GoPro or similar size camera on them as long as it fits within the tilt cradle framework. This link will take you to a video of one of my RCT gimbals being given a good workout under my MK FPV quad... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_JpWGqUro

The Tarot gimbal is smaller and more streamlined than the RCT built in a similar manner to the DJI. From a quick glance at each it almost appears that the same engineering team designed both although it's more likely that one is intentionally built to resemble the other as much as possible. The only downside to the Tarot for my use is the fact it only takes the Hero 3 size GoPros, otherwise it's as close to true plug and fly as things get in this hobby. This is a link to the first test flight I did with mine hung under the same MK FPV quad which is also my testbed for small gimbals... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRi_tdowk64 At this point I hadn't even connected the controller board to a computer, I simply assembled the few pieces that needed to be and mounted it up then flew. To this moment I still have not changed any of the settings, seems to be pretty much as dialed in as one of these can get. Eventually I may upgrade the software once it matures a bit more and maybe then I'll try tweaking some settings. For now it works great and the best part is it cost a whopping $182 delivered to my front door

Ken

 

[KopterVision]

The Tarot gimbal is smaller and more streamlined than the RCT built in a similar manner to the DJI. From a quick glance at each it almost appears that the same engineering team designed both although it's more likely that one is intentionally built to resemble the other as much as possible. The only downside to the Tarot for my use is the fact it only takes the Hero 3 size GoPros, otherwise it's as close to true plug and fly as things get in this hobby. This is a link to the first test flight I did with mine hung under the same MK FPV quad which is also my testbed for small gimbals... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRi_tdowk64 At this point I hadn't even connected the controller board to a computer, I simply assembled the few pieces that needed to be and mounted it up then flew. To this moment I still have not changed any of the settings, seems to be pretty much as dialed in as one of these can get. Eventually I may upgrade the software once it matures a bit more and maybe then I'll try tweaking some settings. For now it works great and the best part is it cost a whopping $182 delivered to my front door

Ken

Hi Ken - Can you post of picture of how you mount this? Colin

 

[RTRyder]

Hi Ken - Can you post of picture of how you mount this? Colin

Sure can but it will be a few days, I'm in Phoenix until Friday and the multis are back home in Boston.

Ken

 

[PeteDee]

I have one of the Hobby-Wing ARRIS CM-2000 gimbals, pretty good unit that is working well, all pre-configured so plug in power and it works but you do pay for that so costs a bit more.

I have also ordered a TBS Discovery Pro, will make for a very simple all in one setup for GoPro video work.

Pete

 

[Stacky]

One of the guys on these forums, JamieNZ stopped by about 6 weeks ago with his spidex frame and gimbal. It was the first flight, he hadnt hooked it up to a computer, he basically had just built the quad and was giving it a first test run at my place. The first footage was perfect, the only problem was a nice fingerprint smudge on the lens. This was for a gopro3. Its from these guys who look to be doing some sort of restructuring before having products available to sell again. Im not surprised as this was from what I saw a true plug and play.

http://quaternium.es

 

[KopterVision]

Sure can but it will be a few days, I'm in Phoenix until Friday and the multis are back home in Boston.

Ken

i have a full time job too that pays for my kopter addictions...

I ordered one of these and was curious about how you mounted.

Colin

 

[Silverburn]

I'm using the new quadframe.com brushless gimbal. 34euro's and fits directly to the quadframe legs which is really handy! Lighter than the Rctimer too.

However...it's not that easy to tune. See attached - an Alexmos powering 2 x T-motor 2208's lifting a gopro2. The roll axis is just not stable I've tried high PID's, low PID's, a full range of power settings, repeated re-balancings...nothing. I think it's the vibes - it mounts with a hard rubber ring, and is treacle smooth on the bench. Will attempt to replace with moongel to see if that improves it.

Apologies for the length, it's basically unedited. But you can see the very slight wobble on the roll axis almost immediately it's in the air. And this a short flight...with a 10,900 6S, I'm flying 24 minutes!