V-Lock is V-Lock the same way any Anton Bauer or other brand Gold Mount battery will work on any Anton Bauer mount.

this is the kind of tough question that has no real perfect answer. there is a lot of info out there about the merits of one mount over the other. in the end, try and look ahead 2 yeas and evaluate the kinds of things youll be doing then. look at all the accessories you may use and try to plan accordingly. a lot of people are moving to v-mounts because they have a lot more manufacturers in these li-ion days. do a search about the technology and youll quickly find that theres a LOT more to batteries than you once thought. the life of your batts also has a ton to do with your chargers...to a point. Li-ion has a finite life thats lot shorter than other competing chemistries. you get 150-200 charge cycles, period. but, you get a lot more watt-hours for the weight, so for many people its worth the short lifespan.

in manu cases, v-mt batts are compatible with different lithium chargers. sony, idx, and many of the other cell packagers CAN sometimes work on eachothers chargrs. this is mostly because they often use the same cells and circuits within. ab uses their own control circuis, so their lithiums are completely incompatible with other brand chargers, even if you find adapters or chargers that physically fit the mount. but, their other batteries do charge on specific other units, which can be a good thing. pag makes the best chargers, period, and some units can charge all non-lithium ab's and all other brand lithiums. keep this in mind if at some point you start really chugging through your batts, and need a great charger that can anylize and save overdischarged batts.

for now, yes, the idx system can save you cash. beware that the 7s batteries are VERY light, and you may find yourself wishing you had something bigger simply to balance larger loads on the stage. the 10s are still very light, but heavy enough to help get a full load balanced.

last thing - only the top (or rear... depending on how its oriented) battery mount actually draws power. if your rear battery dies, remember that the inside one is still fresh. this can be modified to parallel the battries for high-draw cams...but this is how the flyer is wired from the factory.

I found this article on chemistries (plus pages with details on each type) that makes the tradeoffs pretty clear:

http://www.buchmann.ca/chap2-page2.asp

None of the types seems to stand out from the others in terms of tradeoffs. Just a matter of which combination of problems and benefits you want.

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BTW, I can't find anything on the difference between standard and compact Flyer vests. In fact, I only saw the compact one mentioned in the official price list. Any info/advice?

The compact vest is quite simply smaller. I'm not sure about actual dimensions, but according to Tiffen, it is a smaller vest to fit smaller operators.

Well, I'm about 5'9" and 170lbs. Probably would take the regular?

Also, how much of a problem is it to run an HDV camera with the regular Flyer and SD monitor? Moving up to the 24SE is a bigger investment than I can make, nice as the HD monitor would be.

Thanks.

All HDV cameras I know of have SD outputs for monitoring, so it is really a non-issue. Plus, the standard Flyer's monitor is Hi-Brite, so it's better outside. The HD monitor isn't as bright.

Yes, mine definitely has lots of monitoring options. So I won't lose sleep over that issue.

I've also determined, after studying all the pluses and minuses of the different battery technologies, that lithium is the way I should go. I guess that means AB Dionic or IDX 7 or 10.