GVM 1.5D Wireless Motorized Camera Slider Dolly First Impression

Update: GVM reached out to me and told me that they are in the process of developing a new motorized slider to replace this model, and since I have returned this slider for a full refund, you should watch this video and make your own judgment on whether you want to purchase a motorized slider or not.

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So I bought this GVM 1.5D Wireless Motorized Camera Slider Dolly on Amazon https://amzn.to/2LTaIss last week. Upon unboxing the unit, I found it to be completely un-useable due to the fact they shipped a ball head with different size thread than the mounting plate of the slider, without including a proper adapter.

List of areas that needs improvement.

1. I can't mount the included ball head onto the slider to set it up. Because the ball head they've included had 3/8" thread, and the screw on the mounting plate of the slider is 1/4". There is no easy way to remove the 1/4" screw on the mounting plate or to switch out without disassemble the slider.

2. You need to fiddle with the wireless controller and reset the settings on the controller to be able to detect the slider's motor unit, only after a full reset I was able to connect the controller to the slider. During the Bluetooth setup, the controller will pickup ALL nearby devices so if you have 10 devices around you that had Bluetooth discoverable enabled... You'll need to guess which one out of 10 is the slider motor... The good thing is once Bluetooth connection is set up, the controller was able to reconnect to the slider rather quickly and show the battery life of the slider.

3. The mounting plate had markings for parallax/pano effects, but the markings were not aligned with the arrow indicator when the center column (which is used to adjust the effects) is set parallel with the slider.

4. Slider motor noise is quite loud.

5. The included battery charger only outputs 0.6amp current, and each battery is 4400mah... It'll take a very long time to fully charge a depleted battery.

6. The wireless controller needs a proprietary charger to charge. The controller battery is also non-removable, non-replaceable.

7. You can not use this slider as a manual slider because the motor locks the slider in place, you can't move it with hand, even with power turned off.

I ordered the Neewer Slider with a counterweight flywheel instead after returning this slider. The Neewer costs only $150 and is a much more versatile manual slider for everyday use. To buy it, here is the link: https://amzn.to/318KIgm And here is my review of the Neewer slider.    • Neewer 31" Counterweight Flywheel Vid...