Thanks Christian!

looks great. im sold. now if only we could get in contact with tiffen!

Have you tried giving him a call? Michael was easily reachable by phone when I contacted him.

Im purchasing through my dealer here in NZ. It is them trying to contact tiffen.

I support my dealer, they've got the contract with steadicam. I shouldn't have to order though other sources.

Apologies, I figured you were trying to contact Tiffen USA yourself, as you had said in an earlier post that you sent Michael an email.

Does this still leave some of the hook side of the velcro exposed as this was the main reason I made my own set?

Don't understand your question, please reword it?

Some more info.

The price of $140USD is not the final price. The kit should hopefully come in well under $100.

Tiffen have them and they are ready to ship, however no press release has been made as of yet due to the fact the installation instructions are still in the process of being written.

All this info came through my dealer. I told them to place an order, instructions are overrated.

As far as the price...yeah, seemed kinda steep, and I have no info about the final price, but I do know that this is so totally worth it.

I've invested none of my own time (aside from "installing" the new buckles) and it takes me less than 60 seconds to unzip the bag, pull out my vest and have it fully adjusted. Took a couple of minutes with the velcro setup before.

And the way it's rigged now, there's no exposed hook velcro (only loop side) so there is ZERO snagging of clothing, curtains, etc.

And...there's no loud ripping sound taking it off. Very nice.

So if you're like me and want these now, it's worth paying the current price. If I had to guess, I'd say they'll be available for general sale in about 1-2 months from now.

Received my buckle upgrade.

Very nice with lots of room for adjustment.

Still trying to figure out exactly how to put the whole thing together but slowly getting there.

Doesn't make it as nice as a flyer vest but it definitely makes things a lot nicer.

I had issues figuring out how to assemble the straps, I e-mailed Michael and he sent me a set of instructions and pictures to assist me.

I was confused by some spare parts that didn't seem to go anywhere. Turned out there's a spare strip of velcro for more husky operators (I'm a bit on the slender side, so I didn't need it).

Strange there still isn't any kind of announcment or general availability of these kits. Guess there's no rush.

I already bought the buckle kit upgrade to my Pilot vest, it's be OK better than the old one. Here some picture I took it from Steadicam boot at NAB2010. Hope the pictures can help you guy.

thanks Guys, I was at the stand for most of NAB but for some reason forgot to look at the setup.

It looks a lot like mine has ended up, I have however managed to use all the straps supplied.. and it amazingly works.

Im very tempted to get the scissors out and cut some of the straps down to size..

I emailed Michael.. no response like my last email.. i think there might be a spam filter somewhere playing its part. Going to try from a different address.

If you send me your e-mail address, I'll forward you the e-mail Michael sent to me about setup for the buckle kit.

Please send to me too. My email info@cuongdinhvideo.com

Thanks.

Same here; my e-mail is WG25@aol.com.

Thanks!

P.S. how and where do I order this buckle upgrade; it's rather elusive finding it.