VDB boom poles

[henrimic]

Hi everyone,

 

I am looking for a new medium boom for doc shooting. 
 

I know well the old VDB ones, but am interested to know your real world experiences with their (quite) new quarter turn system. 
 

Is this system working well ? Not too loose, or too stiff ?

 

Unfortunately I am a bit far from any dealer to try it myself. 
 

Many thanks for your help.

 

Henri 
 

 

[igomarsound]

I like them very much. quarter turn is great. send me a message if you wanna try mine (internally cabled tho)

[drpro]

I have a 12' (365cm) 1/4 turn pole for many years.  Overall a good pole.  Fairly stiff, though there are some stiffer poles out there.  Not a huge fan of the 1/4 turn.  I prefer a full rotation locking collar.

I have other poles that I used, it just happens to be the one in this length I have.

[Fred Salles]

I had one of my L size vdb boom reworked by vdb to replace the collars with the quarter turn new ones. I like it very much. It does not prompt to blocking itself from dust or water as the previous full turn system was. Actually the new collars are not simply quarter turn: the all locking system is totally different. No more dreaded screw thread but a clever locking system. Much more efficient imho.

they charged 150 € if i remember correctly to change all the collars.

it definitely was worth it.

[Carlos Maeda]

I currently own the S-QT and M-QT, and will likely buy an XL-QT at some point later this year. VdB currently has the best "collapsed-to-extended" ratio of any boom pole on the market. My S-QT fits into a 1535 Pelican upright along the lid's edge, not even diagonally. The quarter turn collars are ok; sometimes you need more force to keep the sections from collapsing. They work as advertised for the most part. If your mic setups are lightweight, then there's almost zero flex. Here's a shot of my friend using my M-QT with a 4017C in a Cinela and a ZMT transmitter, and it's pretty flat. Not sure how they'd hold up if you have a heavier setup at the business end.

 

I will say that the sections are noisy when extending/collapsing, so if you do that mid-take often, the VdB might not be the best for you. They also advertise the removable tips can be used as a mic quick-release mount, nut this is only true of the most recent models that have a small set screw to keep the topmost collar from falling off if no tip is installed. The QT poles I bought in late 2019 did not and recently had to order them through Gotham.

 

 

[Trey LaCroix]

I absolutely love my vDb poles. I have 3 of them. The plexiglass bottom section works wonders for handling noise, the markers on the other sections are super handy, and it’s awesome being able to add/change/remove cable quickly.

 

also fairly stiff if you like that. A little more arc than an ambient, but not as much as K-Tek.

[CineStrega]

I've had my Vdb for over 10 years now, and it's been great, but I don't really like it for documentary work. I feel like it's more of an ergonomic pain (for lack of better words) to extend or retract if you're really moving fast since the collars can be finicky. For that type of work I really like my PSC Elite pole, which is a little more robust. 

[henrimic]

Thank you all for these invaluable tips and experiences.

I am interested by the light weight and the small collapsed size. 
But definitely the collars has to be smooth.

So I’ll borrow and try one before placing the order. 

H

[renaud82]

Just go with it, they work great.