I don?t know many people who would call having to ship gimbals back and forth for four times (as well as assembling/disassembling and pulling their hair out trying to find what?s going on) as ?a few problems?.
Do you understand what you?re saying ? You are admitting that Flemming was offered a product which was not as good as it should be (despite the fact that you were advertising otherwise), and anyway his complaints and troubles are not important or worth mentioning ,because you are offering a much better product now. Are you going to sing the same tune and disown the V2 the same way, when you eventually come up with the V3 ?
Far from it. Despite how aggressively CP tried to badmouth the PRO, claiming that you couldn?t dynamically balance it properly, and advertising the Master as safer (!) among others, it was the operators themselves who embraced the PRO and made it the industry?s standard. Very soon, every top operator (except Larry, Jeff and very few others) was flying the PRO, spreading the word, supported by an infinitely better customer service.
George actually listened to the operators and their needs, and designed (and improved) his system accordingly. You, Howard, work the other way around, by simply telling the operators how to work around your products.
When George designed the VZ gimbal, he was excited to offer a no-tools adjustment by simply twisting a ring, and he thought it was unique and advertised it as a breakthrough. But the moment he was informed that the Master featured the same adjustment since ?95, he immediately corrected his web site and actually apologized (although he didn?t have to) ! George is a gentleman.
You, Howard, still advertise your gimbal as ?the world?s first modular professional? one, able to fit on all systems, despite the fact that XCS was offering the same modularity and compatibility since 1999.
Nobody embraced your promise for ?change? more than the operators who have now turned against you publicly. Nobody wanted the AR to succeed more than the early adopters, only to discover that it didn?t live up to its hype. You cultivated a dream in this community?s heart (and many of us spent countless hours dreaming up shots), but you didn?t deliver. Some MK-V owners won?t speak, afraid that they?ll be denied support in case they need something from you. Other MK-V owners won?t badmouth their gear as they hope to sell it, and when they do, they have no need to advertise their discontent publicly (why scratch old wounds?).
Nobody plunged into this adventure with more desire for ?change? than Will Arnot. He was the AR?s stronger supporter, the guy who put it in the ASC magazine, for the entire film world to see. And I doubt if he knows how lucky he has been with his set-up as opposed to others. Because he is using his AR on an Ultimate sled, he is spared from some very serious problems that the Nexus owners face, such as video noise on the monitor and the transmitted image, as well as power issues (spending a day on a commercial with the AR and a 435@75fps or more, will get you in a world of pain). After three years, after having spent so much money and energy, after putting his faith in the AR for so long, why do you think he is giving up ? Perhaps "the learning curve" of dealing with you, proved to be too steep for him.
