Update: Zeke from The Aviator offered useful feedback on the differences between the two in the comments. I sum it up at the end of the post.
If there’s one thing people love more than their DSLRs, it’s putting Kickstarter campaigns for accessories for said DSLR astronomically over their goal. Take The Aviator Travel Jib. It’s a portable, low-cost jib that seemed like a clever design and a good price, at $399, US shipping included. So I backed it.
Yesterday, I stumbled on this pretty handy camera accessory blog called CheesyCam. Digging through the archives, one of the posts was about another, identical looking jib called Trapezist, priced $100 less at $299. No Kickstarter campaign waiting period, just a slight 2 week backorder. And unlike The Aviator, Trapezist has mounting points on the fulcrum and includes a magic arm for mounting a monitor. Sorry Aviator, but I had to jump ship. Even with the $50 shipping, Trepezist remains a really good deal.
I’d be curious to know if the Trapezist’s sales have come anywhere near the pre-sales of The Aviator, which is currently at $140,000. Is there some sort of Kickstarter Effect? Do people equate Kickstarter with a good bargain, even though there’s obviously better deals out there if you just do some research (which I will now be doing from now on). On the flip side, if you have a product that’s just been sitting around on the web, would launching a Kickstarter campaign give your sales a boost?
As Zeke pointed out, there are a few differences. The Aviator will have monitor mounts, their picture is just of an older prototype. It also includes a fluid head build in, so you don’t have to mount it to a tripod head. Plus, The Aviator has an additional foot of reach. I actually think these features are well worth the extra $50. But is it worth the nearly $200 extra when it retails for $525?
Here’s the videos for both:
