Zacuto Stinger for Scarlet/Epic (The joke is on me)

[Cesar Pujol]

Hi there, just a heads up...
I bought the Zacuto Stinger like two weeks ago and I have to say that I'm really disappointed with Zacuto right now.
We all know Zacuto is quality (well, it used to be), I had some other rigs by Zacuto, they are not cheap, but they worth it. I looked (a lot) before buy a rig for my Scarlet but at the end I decide to trust in Zacuto and, sorry to say this, but 'my bad'.
The Stinger Rig for EPIC and SCARLET IS NOT READY for Epic and Scarlet. At All.
Once you put together the rig, you realized that one of the knobs of the Zacuto Raiser blocks the Sidehandle RedVolt's door!!! It can't be open at all!! So everytime you have to change a Redvolt (only every 25 minutes) the joke's on you. You have to: A) un-attach the side handle (I do not recommend to do this every 25 min) or B) remove the Scarlet from the Stinger, wich takes me to the next point...
No quick release?? Really?? I have to put the rig upside down and unscrew the two (difficult to reach) screws that holds the Scarlet on to the rig... every 25 minutes.

Ok, everyone can make mistakes... let's contact Zacuto and tells them what is happening...
I did it.
First via their web form on April 25th... it came back "Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently: storesales@zacuto.com"
Ok, they have a problem with their PHP, let's forward the email to the sales personel directly. And I did it.
I forward the email to Mandy Rogers, Sara DePasquale and Elma Bukva... No response (this was on the 25th too)
Ok maybe they have a problem with aaaall their email addresses... let's contact them via PM on their facebook page... That was two days ago... NO RESPONSE.

So... I don't know what to say... make yourselves an opinion, I don't think they don't know about this flaw in the design of the Stinger (which is still on sale!!)... Put on the market products with design flaws, and on top of that not answering the emails... I'll keep this thread updated

Heads up!

 

[Antonio Ribeiro]

Hi there, just a heads up...
I bought the Zacuto Stinger like two weeks ago and I have to say that I'm really disappointed with Zacuto right now.
We all know Zacuto is quality (well, it used to be), I had some other rigs by Zacuto, they are not cheap, but they worth it. I looked (a lot) before buy a rig for my Scarlet but at the end I decide to trust in Zacuto and, sorry to say this, but 'my bad'.
The Stinger Rig for EPIC and SCARLET IS NOT READY for Epic and Scarlet. At All.
Once you put together the rig, you realized that one of the knobs of the Zacuto Raiser blocks the Sidehandle RedVolt's door!!! It can't be open at all!! So everytime you have to change a Redvolt (only every 25 minutes) the joke's on you. You have to: A) un-attach the side handle (I do not recommend to do this every 25 min) or B) remove the Scarlet from the Stinger, wich takes me to the next point...
No quick release?? Really?? I have to put the rig upside down and unscrew the two (difficult to reach) screws that holds the Scarlet on to the rig... every 25 minutes.

Ok, everyone can make mistakes... let's contact Zacuto and tells them what is happening...
I did it.
First via their web form on April 25th... it came back "Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently: storesales@zacuto.com"
Ok, they have a problem with their PHP, let's forward the email to the sales personel directly. And I did it.
I forward the email to Mandy Rogers, Sara DePasquale and Elma Bukva... No response (this was on the 25th too)
Ok maybe they have a problem with aaaall their email addresses... let's contact them via PM on their facebook page... That was two days ago... NO RESPONSE.

So... I don't know what to say... make yourselves an opinion, I don't think they don't know about this flaw in the design of the Stinger (which is still on sale!!)... Put on the market products with design flaws, and on top of that not answering the emails... I'll keep this thread updated

Heads up!

That stinks, man! Sorry to hear. Can you get a refund (supposedly it is under warranty) and then get a wooden camera rig?

A

 

[Cesar Pujol]

Only if they answer my emails!! :bored:

 

[Iain Philpott]

I'm really sorry to here that. Having bought a ton of Redrock gear for my 5D I bought the Zacuto EVF and bits to support it and have been really impressed by the way it all 'locks' so much better than the Redrock gear. Am about to press the order button on a Scorpion Rig to use with both the 5D and Epic. Anyone have any experience of this combo?

I'm sure Zacuto are monitoring this forum so please do keep us updated to their response. Anyone know if the 'Clutch' will work with both?

 

[Paul Schneider]

Hi there, just a heads up...
I bought the Zacuto Stinger like two weeks ago and I have to say that I'm really disappointed with Zacuto right now.
We all know Zacuto is quality (well, it used to be), I had some other rigs by Zacuto, they are not cheap, but they worth it. I looked (a lot) before buy a rig for my Scarlet but at the end I decide to trust in Zacuto and, sorry to say this, but 'my bad'.
The Stinger Rig for EPIC and SCARLET IS NOT READY for Epic and Scarlet. At All.
Once you put together the rig, you realized that one of the knobs of the Zacuto Raiser blocks the Sidehandle RedVolt's door!!! It can't be open at all!! So everytime you have to change a Redvolt (only every 25 minutes) the joke's on you. You have to: A) un-attach the side handle (I do not recommend to do this every 25 min) or B) remove the Scarlet from the Stinger, wich takes me to the next point...
No quick release?? Really?? I have to put the rig upside down and unscrew the two (difficult to reach) screws that holds the Scarlet on to the rig... every 25 minutes.

Ok, everyone can make mistakes... let's contact Zacuto and tells them what is happening...
I did it.
First via their web form on April 25th... it came back "Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently: storesales@zacuto.com"
Ok, they have a problem with their PHP, let's forward the email to the sales personel directly. And I did it.
I forward the email to Mandy Rogers, Sara DePasquale and Elma Bukva... No response (this was on the 25th too)
Ok maybe they have a problem with aaaall their email addresses... let's contact them via PM on their facebook page... That was two days ago... NO RESPONSE.

So... I don't know what to say... make yourselves an opinion, I don't think they don't know about this flaw in the design of the Stinger (which is still on sale!!)... Put on the market products with design flaws, and on top of that not answering the emails... I'll keep this thread updated

Heads up!

Hey man.
I was in Zacuto the other day and they are completely aware of the problem and are developing a fix. I had a similar problem with the lever blocking the door on my Scarlet and in the mean time I was able to just replace the lever with an allen bolt. Its actually the lever thats in the way and just the bolt head will not block it.

They told me they are working on a redesign that will solve this issue and I would imagine they'll send you the new part without issue.

They are also working on a quick release for the plate.

It definitely sucks that this plate isn't quite ready. Totally agree, but they seemed very committed to getting it right and their local manufacturing generally means that they can address these things fairly quickly.

Keep trying them, but in the mean time just remove that lever and replace with a bolt...at least you'll be able to shoot.

 

[Paul Schneider]

btw.

If you're wondering why the lever was put in the wrong position in the first place its because they had an Epic in the shop when they were designing it, but because the side-handle only caught up in production recently they couldn't beg, borrow or steal one from anywhere. Not having used it, I believe they made an assumption that the battery ejected from the bottom...similar to a DSLR. It was definitely a mistake for sure, but they'll fix it.

 

[Cesar Pujol]

Thanks Paul,
As I said, everyone can make mistakes, I get that, no big deal. But trying to contact them for days in every possible way and not having an answer is very frustrating and not very reassuring...
You have read my problem and answered, and what did it take you, two minutes? Some words from them would have been nice.
As I said I'm not pissed off about the Stinger's design, I'm pissed off about they not answering.

Thanks again Paul

 

[Darius Lyles]

I understand they didn't have access to a side handle but does that mean they couldn't call RED and fact check?

 

[Paul Schneider]

I understand they didn't have access to a side handle but does that mean they couldn't call RED and fact check?

Oh certainly not making excuses for them, they probably should've

I've helped them design a few things in the past and all I can say is that when you are designing products for multiple cameras (in this case Epic/Scarlet, C300 and the various Sony options) you're trying to make something that works well across the board and occasionally something slips past. In the case of this plate the c300 and Scarlet were in a race to ship and manufacturers all wanted to be the first to market with a solid solution. Zacuto has a pretty good track record of covering the details, but in this case they missed something...which sucks for sure.

They are a very hardworking group and not out to screw anyone over. They'll fix it and make it right with those that bought the part.
At issue is a single lever. Its not a deal breaker. Temporarily taking that lever off and leaving/replacing it with just the bolt will allow owners to mount their rods and open the side handle. Again, not optimal, but I've seen worse.

As far as the discourse goes, I don't work there so I don't know whats up. Thats not normal. Keep trying and I will bring the issue up to them early next week as I need to stop by to grab a few things.

 

[Mike Halper]

If email isn't working why not just call them? And if you still don't get a proper response there's always disputing the charge on your credit card, which you'll win since they won't respond at all to your concerns. I agree with the earlier post to get a Wooden Camera rig. Wooden Camera's gear is very high quality.

 

[Cesar Pujol]

Thanks Mike but is not that easy.
First, I'm in Madrid, Spain so it's a seven hours time difference with Chicago and second, I think my english it's not good enough to have a conversation like that.

But I really do think that the three ways that I've tried to contact Zacuto are proper ways. Now the ball is on their court...
It's been eleven days today from the email and four since the fb message (they post something almost every day).

No contact from them yet.

 

[Mike Halper]

Ah, didn't notice you were in Spain. You are right that Zacuto should have responded by now, even after the first email. I bad sign of their customer service. I say call your credit card company and dispute the charge. I don't know how it goes in Spain, but here the credit card companies really stand behind the consumer in these types of situations. Good luck.

 

[Demetri Zuev]

They've announced a quick released system on NAB but it's not currently in the store.

This situation with the Sidehandle is an obvious design flaw caused mainly because (and this is only my thoughts) of the whole system being created for use with C300 first and everything else second.

Strange that they don't respond to your messages, I never had any communication problems with them. I'm sure they will resolve this in a best possible way.

 

[Paul Schneider]

Cesar. I'm heading into Zacuto sometime before Wednesday. PM me your email and I'll see if I can get it in the hands of the right person.

 

[Cesar Pujol]

Thanks Paul!

 

[Cesar Pujol]

Patrick Fee from Zacuto just contact me (Thanks Paul), he nicely apologizes for this communication issue, inform me of the design flaw situation with the Riser and offer to send me some bolts to solve the problem until the new design is ready.
Happy with Zacuto again