Gimba Head: Wimberely, Benro or Jobu?

Traubrey

Traubrey

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Ray
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Hi

I'm looking for a Wimberely style gimbal head. I got one recently with a lens and it is really sturdy (think it's the Indian one) but I hanker after the engineering prowess of the Wimberely.

The Benro copies look excellent as does the Jobu. The price of a Wimberely is a little out there but I have a chance to buy a new one for £400. That's around £125 less than list and about the same amount more than a Benro. I think that makes the choice a little harder.

Will be using it with both a 300mm VR, with converter and a 70-200mm.

Any opinions/experiences out there?
 
Jobu Blackwidow LW II ... offers the best range of vertical movement.

Benro, build quality is abysmal

Kirk King Cobra, is a beast, beautifully engineered, smooth as silk, but far too heavy and limited in it's vertical movement.

I have owned all three of the above, the Jobu is the one I still use with a 500mm lens, and would be my recommendation every time.
 
If you can get a Wimberly II for £400, get it bought. You wont regret it.:thumbs:

Kev.
 
Interesting comment about the Benro as I had read many good comments. The Jobu and Wimberely are different price points but for £300 you would still expect excellent build quality.

I've always liked the Wimberely design but thought the price was prohibitively expensive. At £400 rather than £525 (ish) it does make it financially a more attractive competition when compared with the other gimbal heads
 
I'd say Jobu BWG-J3K Jr.3 for your size lenses, but only because I will be selling one shortly :D
 
I can vouch for the wimberley ii

Fantastic bit of kit.
I have two other gimbal heads but its the wimberley by a country mile then some more
 
I own both, and totally disagree re the benro build quality, I was surprised how little difference there was between it and my Wimberley! Ps, currently have a benro for sale, see classifieds
 
The thing that swung me when I was looking around, was that there were good and bad stories about all of the 'other' gimbals, but the Wimberly consistently had good reports. Apart from the price. I managed to get a small discount on mine. But to be honest, I would have paid the full amount. I certainly would now that I've owned it for a while. Buy once buy right. especially at the price that you can get one.

Kev.
 
I think Martyn had the Benro BH1, I know he was very scathing about the quality of it when I bought the BH2.I must say that the BH2 has no such issues in my experience.
 
When I was making my choice as to which gimbal to buy it seemed to me that there were 2 sorts of people making adverse comments about non-Wimberley gimbals.
One group were engineers who criticized the gimbals in engineering terms, build/finish quality and quality of materials.
The other group were those who had gimbals fail or fall apart and causing damage to gear.

Typically of the internet there are far more posts generally from unhappy consumers than those singing the praises of their gear.
I chose the Wimberley because I couldn't find complaints about the engineering quality, only the reverse and I got a good price for one from Kerso!

The gimbal is beautiful to use ( although that doesn't mean others aren't) and I feel it's worth paying that bit extra for the consistency of reliability that top notch engineering brings.
 
Sincere thanks for all your thoughts.

I've pressed the button on that deal for a Wimberely II. Seemed far too good to pass up at £407 inc. postage.

If it was £525 (usual price) I think I would have a) waited to buy Mark I second hand or Jobu (whatever turned up first). At £400 then I did take a fair amount of the thought process out of it.

For those who are interested, I've put the details up in the Suppliers section. They also had deals on King Cobra and Jobu. Will add to that thread if/when I receive my goods.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=5290271#post5290271

Thanks again. Real world advice like this is just invaluable.

Ray
 
fracster said:
I think Martyn had the Benro BH1, I know he was very scathing about the quality of it when I bought the BH2.I must say that the BH2 has no such issues in my experience.
Click to expand...

Yes it was, still cost around £180 at the time.

The box was superb, the rest held together by super glue, it would only move about 5mm, utter garbage.

If you want cheap the Lensmaster Gimbals get really good reviews and are made in the UK.



.
 
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Martyn... said:
Yes it was, still cost around £180 at the time.

The box was superb, the rest held together by super glue, it would only move about 5mm, utter garbage.

If you want cheap the Lensmaster Gimbals get really good reviews and are made in the UK.



.
Click to expand...

The Jobu was my first choice based purely on quality and price as the Wimberely was very expensive. The special price on the Wimberely changed that dynamic and brought it into my budget range.

The point I kept returning to is that I have paid extra to get a really good tripod I can rely on, spent a small fortune on lenses and do I want to risk it by getting something that is cheaper and perhaps more untried or something which everyone agrees just works effortlessly.

My research suggests you can put a Wimberely or Jobu over your shoulder and know the lens will still be attached to it when you stop walking. That comfort factor is well worth the extra to me.
 
Just to repeat the bh 2 benro gimbal has no quality control issues in my experience and is very close to Wimberley standard especially considering the price differential!
 
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