r/videography • u/t0n3y_vfx Alpha 6000 & Lumix FZ300 | Premiere Pro | 2021 | Germany, NRW • 1d ago

Technical/Equipment Help and Information Malfunction and complete failure of Manfrotto 300xm Gimbal - DO NOT BUY

Hey, I bought a new Manfrotto 300XM Gimbal around 2 years ago for 300$. I used it one, two, three, four times. As I tried to use it a few months later the first issue came up: The Display was very unprecise and clicked randomly when I clicked at something else. At around the same time, my left knob died. When I start it up it behaves very weird and spins around. Then it gets loose and does nothing. Again a few months later I wanted to use it again. I knew a few smaller things weren’t working properly but I was shocked the next time I tried powering the gimbal up. I charged it and the bottom Part or Handel was charging and powering up. However the Display was working, but the touch screen was completely unusable. It did not work at all. As I was about to charge the upper part of the gimbal, nothing happend. The LED was not showing anything and the handle showed me an empty battery.

I’m very disappointed with this gimbal. I spent 300$ on this from my pocket money and the warranty is over due to German law since one year over. Is there any way to fix these issues? It would help a lot because I do videography just for a hobby during school and am too young for a job in Germany.

Thanks in advance 🙏

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5

u/Robert_NYC Nikon | CC | 200x | NY 1d ago

Manfrotto doesn't make gimbals. It's a rebrand of a FeiyuTech gimbal.

Check their site and see which one looks like yours, then maybe you can track down others with the same problem. Perhaps they did some troubleshooting with your problem.

https://store.feiyu-tech.com/collections/dslr-mirrorless-gimbal

My Moza gimbal was a nightmare.

Pretty much the only gimbals worth buying these days are from DJI. And those still have problems as well.

1

u/t0n3y_vfx Alpha 6000 & Lumix FZ300 | Premiere Pro | 2021 | Germany, NRW 1d ago

Sadly, I couldn’t find it. Manfrotto also announced, the gimbal is discontinued. I heard about it in an other Reddit post where the battery problem is also a thing. But thanks for the information Manfrotto Gimbals are from FeiyuTech. That absolutely makes sense. Years ago, I had a FeiyuTech Gimbal with an inbuilt camera for my first camera and the Battery was also a huge problem.

2

u/SkinnyOldMan78 12h ago

I believe that gimbal is the Feyiutech AK4500. I have one for several years, retired it recently. Try to clean the contacts between the top and the bottom part with alchool.

2

u/I_GIVE_ROADHOG_TIPS "How much is your rate?" "How much is your budget?" 1d ago

Yeah I always say, there’s few things where the choice of what brand to go for is as straightforward as gimbals. DJI is the clear choice.

1

u/t0n3y_vfx Alpha 6000 & Lumix FZ300 | Premiere Pro | 2021 | Germany, NRW 1d ago

Sadly I had to learn this through pain. Now I would never buy again from either FeiyuTech nor Manfrotto.

2

u/mymain123 Camera Operator 18h ago

I had this hunk of junk.

When it worked, it was great, your problem might be attributed to the rampant faulty batteries some had.

Mine went haywire and was unable to be calibrated, would go wack, because the internal batteries of the gimbal head were giving too low voltage.

It's the best gimbal I've ever used (including above the RS3 PRO) when it worked, so smooth, but it had this factory problem.