mickspixels wrote:Just for info, here’s a link below to a New York Times review article on best smartphone gimbals in 2024 which is where I heard about the Flow Pro gimbal. It can be difficult to discern what reviews are sponsored or biased but this one seemed pretty honest and trustworthy.
These smartphone gimbals are fine for people who are prepared to risk their phone’s security on a magnet and who don’t care about maintaining a constant frame rate or recording to an external SSD. They have their place.
It’s unclear what the status of the Insta360 Flow Pro is in the U.S. The Wirecutter link on Amazon says that it’s no longer available. B&H says that it’s “discontinued”. Adorama doesn’t have it either.
The NY Times is my local newspaper. Its theatre, film, book and restaurant critics work for the newspaper and are subject to its editorial standards. The NY Times company owns Wirecutter, but it operates independently of the newspaper. It has its own website. In the newspaper, Wirecutter doesn’t even have “Section” status. The newspaper doesn’t publish its content.
Like YouTubers, Wirecutter makes at least part of its money from a cut from vendors of sales to people who have visited the Wirecutter site. The NYT does not get a cut from theatre, film, book or restaurant sales to people who have read its critics’ reviews. Maybe because that would destroy the paper’s reputation, and if that was going on the Times couldn’t find anybody reputable to write its reviews?
I imagine that Wirecutter writers try to be objective. That said, I don’t know how one can write a serious review about gimbals without even mentioning the use of a magnet for attachment and the inability to carry a load other than the phone and maybe a basic case. Wirecutter is certainly not in the mold of the Consumer Reports of my youth.