Steadicam Volt Electronic Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for All IPhone XS, XS Max & XR, All Samsung S9/S9+ & GoPro Hero

2.0 out of 5 stars

By Le Ralf - Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2017

A definitive stabilization improvement with an obvious lateral stabilization flaw.

After trying one, I am hardly satisfied by the Volt and it doesn't stand to the overly enthusiastic hype I read about it. Short version: There's a definitive improvement above simple handheld cell phone footage with the Volt yet eventually I always end up with a tilted horizon level even after near-perfect calibration. And that calibration phase takes easily 20-30 minutes for me, not the mere minutes indicated by the support videos. Longer version: The Volt is not a true "3 axis" stabilizer. There is no horizontal/vertical compensation. It's "hard link" from the handle to the camera, there are no springs, not a floating head of any sort. So right there, the comparison with an heavy-weight professional steadicam rig is flawed. From my understanding, the Volt does 2 things: - A 2-axis gyro so that the main body stays in the same level position. I can manually tilt the cell phone forward by say 10 degrees and it will stay that way. To do a pan or change the view I manually move the main body as I want, it rotates freely on top of the handle. Then after it just "translates" and always keep on the same axis. However I said it's a 2-axis gyro. If I tilt the camera left or right, it will always recenter, e.g. the counterweight is always centered vertically. - Moment of inertia. The device weights about 1 pound or feels like it. And I have the feeling it uses haptic feedback so that the device seems to "resist" moving around, which helps in keeping a more steady stance. What I liked and did not like: - It did a good job at removing small hand vibration and the issue of holding a cell phone level (with the important caveat listed at the end). It will not remove a walking motion or any kind of sudden arm motion (just will dampen them a bit). So having a proper smooth body motion is still important. - Setup was cumbersome. With some training and some careful marks, I guess I could need only 10-15 minutes to calibrate it for the cell phone. It was a very very finicky process. Obviously figuring the counter-weights needs to be done only once, but the front-rear wheel and left/right position needed to be carefully adjusted every single time. - I used a Nexus 5X, which is not a very big phone. I never managed to get the calibration done properly with the phone's case cover, it was always falling backwards. I had to remove the cover to make it work. This is indicated in the manual, but I don't get it because I have a fairly non intrusive TPU case cover, it's really light. Also there's a reason I have a non-slippery case cover on the phone and I don't like the idea of having to remove it. - The device prevents any kind of cell phone interaction when recording because it is so sensitive. Any attempt to interact with the screen, for example zooming while recording, directly affects the video. - The Android app linked in the manual is just yet-another camera recording app that more or less tries to look like a dlsr or a point-and-shoot screen. It did not have anything specific that would "link" it to the Volt that I can see. - For outside use where most of the shot are going to be level, it's a perfect match, or is it? For a steady shot, nothing beats a tripod with a fluid head (or a monopod). And although it's not the same price range, I'd say the results would probably be equal or better by using a dedicated camcorder like a modern Panasonic or Sony with 5-axis stabilization, these have internal image stabilization and a 20-25x optical zoom and still allow zooming interaction. Combine it with a shoulder mount for best handling. - The thing that ruined it for me is the lateral stabilization, the "horizon". No matter how carefully I balanced the cell phone, I ended up with a tilted horizon by a few degrees, consistently, over and over, each try. It's almost as if the internal gyro was not properly calibrated, with no way of adjusting it. At first I thought it was "newbie error", however double checking I found several mentions of the exact same issue in the KS campaign comments.

3.0 out of 5 stars

By Michael A. - Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2017

Don't use with Google Pixel or phones that have buttons on the center left or right side

The Volt is an intriguing piece of simplified engineering, but I think it is not quite ready for prime time. Other reviewers have detailed the device's temperamental setup, its weak horizontal balance control, and its oversensitivity to various motions. In my case, the horizontal balance method -- moving one's phone back and forth within a vise that sits atop the Volt -- is the product's fatal flaw. In the case of phones whose volume control resides near the center of the left or right side of the phone, the Volt vise clamps squeeze the volume controls. This action causes great confusion for the Android OS, which pops up mute warnings over the camera app and, depending upon one's choice of camera app, may also trigger undesired actions within the camera app itself. Going forward, the manufacturer must automate some of the 3-axis setup; secure the phone without clamping the phone's buttons; and include controls that would move the camera or dampen movement without requiring the user to touch the camera and jostle the image. Until then, buyers are basically alpha testers for Steadicam's hardware development team.

1.0 out of 5 stars

By The Money Pit - Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2019

Product Breaks Easily - Tiffen Doesn't Stand Behind Product Warranty

Purchased this product for light use and noticed that the metal tab that secures the wire support to the frame was difficult to connect in place. After a dozen or more uses, it snapped. I reported the claim to Tiffen (while under the warranty) which was extremely difficult as they first claimed the warranty for the product was handled out of a west coast office, where I left messages and sent emails that were not answered. After about 3-4 weeks of trying to reach them, they finally wrote back to say that I must have caused the problem since they'd never seen it before and would not cover it under the warranty. So, first they hide, then they deny responsibility. I use very expensive broadcast gear in my business and know better than to abuse it as they seem to suggest. So, good job Tiffen, blaming your customer for what would have been a very, very simple fix and instead, earning yourself a lifetime of disrespect from me and whoever else reads my review or sees me using the SteadiCam and asks what I think. I'll show them the rubber band that I now have to use to hold the wire support in place.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By jfr60 - Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2018

Great value for money but get the free bag from Tiffen Rebate offer

This is a great buy IMO. Very nice and inexpensive addition to my box of tricks. That said, it's not a full replacement for the Osmo. There is of course no time-lapse support, etc.. just motion stabilization. But it seems to do that very well. Given the nature of this type of device, it is of course going to require some patience to set up, as it is designed to accommodate a wide range of devices, and hence the need to manually set the counterweights, and position the phone via sliding it from side to side and adjusting the positioning wheel. So yes, a bit of a hassle to set up, but the benefit is that by having it mechanically balanced, the motors have less work to do to stabilize the image, and you will get much better battery life than something like the Osmo which is using power to balance the device. And It was a little tricky to set up, but not that hard IMO. 20 minutes, perhaps. But once you do have it set up it works very well. The motion is very fluid and it is a lot more controllable than the Osmo for panning and tilting. It was not obvious to me how this is done at first but after watching a video I saw that you only have to use your thumb to turn the wheel above the grip to aim, pan and tilt. The associated app doesn't seem to work very well, although it did successfully upgrade my device's firmware. However, it keeps hanging and crashing on my iPhone XS Max so I am just using the regular camera functions on the phone. I am hoping they will improve on it in a future release. There is also a rebate program at Tiffen going on currently (Holiday 2018 season) to get a free case for this and this deal is exclusive to purchases made on Amazon. Not sure why it's not mentioned here but the claim form is on the Tiffen website.