Me and my business partner will probably be dropping some $$$$ soon on 2 of the Panasonic HVX-200's.

Perhaps a meeting this summer would be good to look at each other's gear.....

DVX100a. (I would love a chance to look at the HVX200 if you get it Matt.)

It took a little while at first to get the hang of balancing it. After some encouraging words from steadicam operators on another thread I stuck with it and I'm better at it now. The slower your movements the easier it is, but I think that's not Merin specific. And the whole thing was new to me really so I don't know if it was any more or less challenging than the Glidecam would be.

I bit the bullet and ordered a Merlin. I can't wait to compare the two. I shoot a lot of children videos for parents and I've enjoyed the performance of my Glidecam 2000 with my forearm brace - smooth shots of kids running and climbing stuff, and they never seem to stop! But as you can imagine with its design, my biceps and shoulder muscles really burn after a while and I have to set it down periodically to rest. I'm hoping the Merlin will cause less fatigue.

Loving the Merlin. I still like the Glidecam 2000, but if anyone is interested in buying it locally, let me know. You can email me at srtred@gmail.com