I am thinking on buying the Steadytracker Extreme and the CobraCrane II from www.promax.com for use with my Canon XL1S. Has anyone here used it with their XL1s and experimented with any of those devices? I just recently bought the Glidecam 4000 Pro but I like the SteadyTracker much better.

I bought the cobra crand from them and for the $ it is a good value. But it does have problems.

1. It tends to twist a bit under the weight of my PD150.
2. It is a bit too 'springy' to use in fast moves.

Those may be show-stoppers or not. I'd try and find one to play with a bit.

They asked for comments about the gear I did purchase from them. I made the comments to them too. No feedback.

ProMax does not accept returns (and they don't tell you about this until after you purchase) so you are stuck with whatever you buy from them. This has greatly limited my purchases from them since their competitors don't have those limits.

thanks for that info, who are their competitors that accept returns?

SkyCrane.

See http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/camsupport/skycranejr.php
http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/camsupport/skycrane.php
http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/camsupport/skycranemods.php

Ryan:

What do you like better about the Steadytracker versus the Glidecam?

Go with the skycrane. They are excellent for the price.

-Nori