The guys at TeamRebelDesign.com was kind enough to send me a review copy of their new "Beholder Lite" brushless gimbal. To save shipping cost the gimbal arrive in a few parts which you can assemble in less than 30 minutes. The build-quality is outstanding and the packaging the nicest I have seen on a brushless gimbal so far. My initial impressions are sky high, but only building the gimbal and taking it for a test flight will reveal the truth.. is its beauty for real or only skin deep? Read on for the gory details.
NEWSFLASH August 15th - I just recieved the Walkera QR X350 and will be posting unboxing sometime Friday. and probably a flight test with the Beholder gimbal over the weekend.
QUICK LINK - Beholder Lite build PART TWO
Opening the box reveal a beautifully packaged and finished set of gimbal parts. from the first moment on, it is clearn the creators of this gimbal wanted to apeal to a wide group of people. presentation is beautiful.
So feeling good about this gimbal just from opening the box. I set turned on my iPhone camera and started building while rambeling away by opinions about the gimbal and also details of the build.
The "review" is broken into two parts. part one is the mechanical build. putting all the parts together. Part two will be installing the cables for the motors, installing and pluggin in the IMU, and connecting the pitch control before going flying and seeing if the result is as good as the initial impressions.
UPDATE - I just got the officially released Beholder Lite manual.
The motors feels well made, and have hollow-shaft to run the pitch motor cable through the roll motor shaft. this create a very clean cable organisation. Overall the motor quality feel good, the bearings on the ones I have here is firm yet free turning.
After running the cable I used some clear tape to keep everything in place, in the future I will probably pull some schrinkwrap tube over the bracket arms and heat for a snug fit. (maybe a suggestion for the next batch of beholder lite's?)
All up weight incl GoPro Hero3 black and GoPro Battery is only 267.1 grams quite reasonable weight.
Empty is about 195grams, not that I really think about that number, who actually fly a empty gimbal?
One of the details I am particularly happy about is the raised bracket arm mount plate attaching to the part with the control board, this part was domed, so the gimbal is lifted up another 10cm (roughly) from the ground. this is a great move, because the biggest problems I have flying any of these gimbals on a Phantom is the lengs on the phantom is too short to operate the gimbal without extentions of some sorts.
Nuf said. Check the video, ask some questions and give me some links to your cool Beholder Lite videos.
It is important to remember, this gimbal is made to match the install requirements of the Phantom, BUT it will work equally good on any other quad with suficient leg space. particularly coming to mind is the two Phantom competitors we have heard about lately. The Walkera QR350 (which I hopefully will have a separate review for shortly) and the 350QX from Horizon Hobby, BOTH of these will have RTF box options, offering a competent GPS supported quad ready-to-fly out of the box with radio and everything required to start shooting video.. they BOTH will come with a hard-mount bracker for the a GoPro camera. and BOTH can be upgraded with a brushless gimbal like the Beholder Lite. Gentelmen Game ON!
Stay tunded for part two - hooking it all up and test-flying the Beholder Lite gimbal later this week.
While you wait, check out FLYcam's awesome power climbs and test flights here. I think this pretty much tell you everything you need to know about the Beholder Lite brushless gimbal, I notice a little roll after his power climb with constant spinning of the quad.. seriously that is very very good.
The Beholder Lite Brushless gimbal is available at:
CNC Helicopter - USA distributor roughly $175
Mounted on a ADS400Q by Scott in Arizona GREAT VIDEO
Boosted's monster climb test.. yes it shakes at top.. but hey what ya expect when climbing that hard.
HDflyer.com put up a teaser for a longer test video.. more great stuff.
INTERESTING NEWS - DJI create FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS - areas you can NOT fly.!
Hello Ariel, You need to contact James at Beholder ;-) he can help you with tech-support.
My gut feeling is that the gimbal is not balanced correctly, maybe take a moment to check the balancing before calling them :-)
Bo
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 01/22/2015 at 11:33 AM
Hi lorentzen
I got the beholder lite gimbal,
I flew it few times but unfortunatly the pitch motor is making vibrations which affect the image.
I guess this vibrations are not related to the quad motors nor ether to the propellers cuz you can see the vibrations even while the quad is on the ground befor taking off.
I disconnect the beholder from the flight controller (APM) (I conected it for changing the pitch/tilt angle by the radio transmitter, must say the control of pitch angle worked well)
So I disconnect the beloder from the flight controller to see is the vibrations related to this connection but it still vibrate.
I thought maybe the pitch motor itself is not well so I switched between the two motors (and ofcourse the motors conectors)
But the vibration is still on the pitch motor, witch says, Iguss, that the problem is not by the motor but somthing else.
Could you please help me???
Posted by: Ariel | 01/22/2015 at 09:50 AM
Hey Roger, do a quick test, swap the pitch cable to the other out port. ;-) check if that works.
However I know they have updated the firmware on this gimbal a lot since I build it, so if its still giving you trouble, shoot a email to [email protected] he know what kinda settings need to be edited to make it work with the current configuration.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 04/22/2014 at 07:59 PM
I just installed the Beholder gimbal on a Phantom 1.
All the lights are on and the gimbal levels itself. Configured the transmitter with the Naza software.
The gimbal isn't responding to the transmitter.
Any suggestions ?
Thanks.
R.j.
Posted by: Roger Jones | 04/22/2014 at 07:19 PM
Hey Sean, that would be the link on top of the post pointing to "part two"
http://www.fpvguy.com/2013/08/beholder-lite-175-brushless-gimbal-build-part-2.html
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 04/14/2014 at 10:18 AM
I am curious where your follow up video with the installation and video files are?
Posted by: Sean Hunter | 04/14/2014 at 09:13 AM
@Jeff, It will not fit a GoPro2 as is, you would need to use a strap of sorts. The GoPro3 is really a great camera, its probably worth the upgrade.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 04/02/2014 at 03:03 AM
Thanks for your review. I am thinking about getting this gimbal for my phantom, but I currently have a GoPro Hero 2. Do you think there is a way to make it work with a Hero 2 or do I need to upgrade to the GoPro Hero 3 to use this gimbal?
Posted by: Jeff | 04/01/2014 at 02:08 PM
Hello Michael, Being short a power drop. buy a couple of JST pig-tails on ebay. then using a knife gently scrape the plastic away on one side of one of the power cables going to the ESC. wrap the wires from the pigtail around the ESC power cables (same as main) then solder them in place. bingo you have a power-tap. wrap some electric tape a couple of times around the attachment points to make sure they are insulated.
The naza pitch have to enabled in the NAZA assistant. the gain need to be set to zero. that way only the stick input is translated.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 11/10/2013 at 11:21 PM
Thanks for doing the Beholder Lite video's. They were instrumental during my building process! I have the Phantom 1.1.1 in which there isn't an internal power cable to use so, is there a way to solder one onto the board or is it best just to use another 3S battery? I have been unable to get the manual pitch to work with the NAZA. I tried everyway I could think of to get it to work, but in the end gave up trying. Do you have any suggestions on getting it to function?
Posted by: Michael Bender | 11/10/2013 at 09:36 PM
I should elaborate on the Blade props. there is a adaptor for traditional props, its probably beneficial to get those, then religiously balance each motor with the adaptor installed, once the motors are balanced, it is possible to install and use a traditionally balanced prop. to have reliable jello-free video the entire system need to be religiously balanced. Guess that is a subject for a video right there. ;-)
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 10/17/2013 at 09:41 AM
John, That is probably a blade problem more than the gimbal. The Blade is very shaky by nature ;-) the prop system on the blade is very hard to balance successfully.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 10/17/2013 at 09:34 AM
Well, I bought it we put it on the blade 350QX Mounted great. Hooked up nicely, no problem. The Gimbals work great. But, here is the bad news don't waste your money on it. It jello's the video really bad, If you are shooting on your go pro to see fpv cool, but if you want footage that is rock solid. Don't due it. It really blows!
Posted by: John | 10/17/2013 at 09:18 AM
I love the gimbal but as you said the rubber mounts are a pain. The other issue not thought out properly is the mount onto the Phantom, if you have to remove it, you can't get at the mount screws without disassembling everything. The main screw is under the board and the double sided tape, so you have to remove the rubber mounts and everything else. I think they should modify the board so you can have the mounting screw through the center of it and access through the gimbal as well. In part 1 I am sure you had to take it apart to install on the Phantom.
Posted by: Dino | 10/03/2013 at 11:04 AM
Looks great. Really helpful video. I just ordered one. This will be my first gimbal. I have a newbie question for you. I am actually going to be using this handheld (with a fabricated handle) while I build a multirotor. Can you recommend a 3S battery and charger? Does it come with the same connector for the beholder? Also I am wondering how I can power my gopro and gimbal from the same battery? Do I need a special cable? other than the cable that comes with the gimbal. Thanks a lot for helping me.
Sincerely,
Jake
Posted by: Jake Braitman | 08/16/2013 at 12:22 PM
Wow...they've made a bunch of improvements just since the beginning of last month.
the frame on the 'lite' is better and more stable and it's set up for Phantom which is wasn't before. and they didn't have a manual that could explain how to set it up. I sent mine back because I decided to go with the Arris. Love the site Bo. thanks for your guidance.
Posted by: Mark | 08/09/2013 at 06:22 AM
I just watched your long video.(great by the way). I got my beholder today and will put it together here in a minute. When will you have the video for the 2nd part (where the wires go)?
Posted by: Mike Littlefield | 08/07/2013 at 12:47 PM
Great intro review! Please let us know when you've flown it.
Posted by: Harry | 08/05/2013 at 07:53 AM