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Orca OrCart


KGraham045

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I am interested in the OrCart. I am primarily looking for a large case to bring to shorter gigs instead of having multiple pelican cases etc... Anyone Use the OrCart?

I was playing around with it in a shop in London 2 days ago. It looks very nice and seems very well built, specially with the blue aluminium frame around it, its pretty solid. I really like the aluminium handles.

Takes a few minutes to setup by fixing the big tray on the top, which gives you a wider work area where you place your bag. I am not sure about having to take this tray out every time you want to access the main bag but I guess you can always leave it behind if you do not need a table like work space.

Once its set up you can actually drag it around as it is since everything is fixed somewhere, so you don't have to take it apart just to change angles on set. 

Has cool little accessories for holding your bag at 45 degrees, a hook to hang your headphones and internal LED lights.

I recently worked on a film for 3 months with a similar bag/cart setup from Bebop, it was a job where we were constantly dropped off in really remote locations on traktors because normal cars and trucks could not go, so I felt a solid cart was not a possibility but a bag alone would not be enough for 10 radios and 2 recorders. So this type of setup did the job OK, however main issues were:

- The wheels are too small for anything other than a totally flat terrain and the OrCart has even smaller wheels to what I had, similar to a suit case. So they were pretty much useless, we always had to carry it.

- If you are planning to attach and raise high standing RF antennas, they are not the most balanced things. Mine collapsed with a bit of wind which ended with a broken RF Venue antenna. Altho, I felt that the OrCart is shorter when standing up and has a wider foot print, so it seems more balanced. Or you can just carry a tripod for that.

- Your boom/windshield/RF antenna which is attached to the sides of the bag will keep bashing you in the arm and face while being dragged around on its wheels, which is a bit annoying and the OrCarts seems worse because the pole holder bits are not on the sides but on the back, so even closer to the extendable handle. 

I guess you are not meant to expect these types of bag/carts to perform like a solid cart anyway, so they work well within their limitations, specially if the job requires you to be in really rough terrains where a solid cart or multiple Peli cases would be a big pain or even impossible to drag around. 2 people can easily carry one of these to the top of a mountain and set it up in minutes. I would consider buying one in the near future. 

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  • 6 months later...

I was hoping to revive this thread to se if there were anymore users of the Orcart out there. It looks like a pretty cool product but it is has a pretty big price tag. Any thoughts or more user experiences out there?

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I got mine pretty much right when it came out. I don't use it as an actual cart... But I absolutely love it for bag gigs... It's killer to always have a table and a place to set down your boom pole and carry a light stand (I use as a C Stand for sit down interviews)... Plus I can fit everything I need in it so I only have to travel with one case... It's large it fits in my hatchback nicely. It's killer I have vary few complaints and would defiantly recommended it

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5 hours ago, KGraham045 said:

I got mine pretty much right when it came out. I don't use it as an actual cart... But I absolutely love it for bag gigs... It's killer to always have a table and a place to set down your boom pole and carry a light stand (I use as a C Stand for sit down interviews)... Plus I can fit everything I need in it so I only have to travel with one case... It's large it fits in my hatchback nicely. It's killer I have vary few complaints and would defiantly recommended it

Thanks for the info. It doesn't seem like there are too many people that have adopted the Orcart. I'm curious if the large price tag deters some people.

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I have just been using the BeBop cart on location in and around city centres in the UK for the last 3 weeks. Its very big, and the supplied wheels are too small for any kind of stability, but since I got a shakespeare fishing seat box trolley and secured it with some ratchet straps, it's been golden. It's very well made and easily holds everything I need, has securing points on the outside to strap on a c-stand for transport, and fits easily in my ford focus. I'm currently knocking up a sliding shelf for my CL-9 to turn it into a proper cart. The next few weeks will give it a more all-terrain test, so I'll let you know if there are any other points to add.

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14 hours ago, PalmerT said:

Thanks for the info. It doesn't seem like there are too many people that have adopted the Orcart. I'm curious if the large price tag deters some people.

I'm sure the large price deters people. It almost deterred me... But I'm very happy with it... 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are my initial impressions 

 

 

Since using this and the OR10 smaller wheeled case, I'll say build quality is good, mostly. One of the looped main zipper pulls has already broken and the plastic runners for pulling it onto curbs is scuffed pretty good. 

The inserts are more floppy than they should be and the soft walls won't grab them to hold a ton of weight, but for general use this is not an issue for me. 

I do think I will build out a proper, rigid mini cart with full rack system when I pursue more bigtime film stuff but for small budget film stuff it works great and looks professional on set. For any day playing on interviews and other stuff it is a godsend and is absolutely perfect. 

For reality run-n-gun stuff, it's too big if you're a one man army and is probably bigger than you'd want to work out of the back of a Town and Country anyhow. Orca makes several great medium and smaller rolling bags, so it's really a matter of how big your setup needs to be. 

The telescoping handle is rigid enough, the wheels are great, it is fairly balanced for going over uneven bumps without tipping sideways.

 

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  • 7 months later...

I've had my cart for over a year. It comes with me on every gig when I don't need my Cart. The bag itself is amazing. I never use it as a cart though. I Only really for storage/transport. It's very nice to have everything in a single case and be able to set your boom down and strap it in is excellent. Also using the lid as a portable table makes life a little easier on set.

My one complaint.... my bags feet have broken. They still work but are weakened. I looked into just ordering those parts and have had no luck... The orca rep told me to glue it... which isn't a very acceptable answer when the bag is less than a year old and is that expensive.

But overall I'm a very happy customer and if I had to I would Replace mine if I had to.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah, it's great! Still going strong with the 788t and CL9. It's now on a magliner upright trolley with a modified nose plate with heavy duty castors. I've been doing a lot of smaller doc shoots over the winter, but it'll be coming back out of the kit room next month for some hard work again over the spring.

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  • 1 month later...

Just wanted to chime in here, as I just picked up the OR-48 a couple days ago.  Frankly, I'm totally in love with this thing.  It's just perfect for the kind of work I mostly do (interviews and commercials), and is very well-made.  Every detail has clearly been well thought-out, right down to the zippers.  Even on jobs where I'm a one man band, it's so much more convenient to have this setup nearby than to have a small army of pelican cases half-opened in some corner somewhere. 

The only negative aspect of working with this bag is that it is quite large and heavy (22lbs), and therefore probably isn't appropriate for those extreme run and gun jobs where you're need to be carrying as little gear as possible and are constantly jumping into and out of a pass van with a bag and harness on. 

Incidentally, I was an early adopter of the Orca mixer bag, and I'm impressed with how well it's held up despite an inordinate amount of punishment.  I'm hopeful that this bag/cart will be similarly durable.  

(I attached a photo of my current configuration for the cart.)

IMG_1446-1.JPG

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Another option to consider for those mobile jobs and tight spaces. Definitely a better wheel base than the orca, but not as much storage. I use this for one man band in a residential house/apartment type shoots. Also small offices where they request a small footprint.

Bag Cart1.JPG

Bag Cart 2.JPG

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