Ken, can you help me out here.

I believe you (or someone else) mentioned that your VZ-ROCK "skipped" with the GL2. When I first got it about two weeks ago I gave it a short "run-thru" and thought it was good.

Well... this past weekend I was taping up at the "Northwest (CT) Balloon Festival" with my entire rig. Not long into my shooting I noticed that the ROCK was skipping at random on pull-outs and zoom-ins (more on backing out). If I stopped and zoomed in a bit then pulled back out it would go away -- it was totally random.

Needless to say, this is VERY disappointing and ruined a healthy portion of my shots with the "herky-jerky" zooming.

What to do?

IMHO - [ i'm not Ken . . . ]

1 - Get one that works

OR

2 - Get your money back

AND

3 - Buy the Canon ZR1000

Canon is plastic - ROCK is ALI - yeah?

I've been using the ZR for over a month now - done a wedding & a pub/rock band; did a live community arts event here in London yesterday. No skip. 5 speed settings from very slow creep to rapid PLUS a variable setting. Its got focus; Lock-Off for power conservation; focus IN/OUT; of course RED button; + - Rec Search; and on screen button - easily thumb screws onto tripod arm - works for me.

Grazie

When I first got my GL2 I was planning on the ZR1000. Then I caught a glimpse of the Zoe LANC and fell in love with its compact, sweet looks (at nearly $400 it should!).

Well, I then read Ken T's review of both the Zoe and the ROCK. The Zoe didn't fare so well for the price, but the ROCK seemed like the real unit to have for a few less bucks.

Unfortunately my ROCK is sucking wind -- bigtime. Naturally, for $320 this is utterly unacceptable (for $10 it would be too, but I could toss it ;-)

I'll contact B&H. I bought a truckload of stuff from them and tacked the ROCK onto the order. Since it comes from Varizoom anyway I figured it was indirectly supporting one of Chris' vendors, otherwise I would've ordered directly.

Brendan,
When you say it "skips" do you mean that the zoom starts and stops erratically?

This did not happen to me in any of my tests on either the GL-2 or XL1s. (Nor did it happen with the Zoe.) It does sound like you may have gotten a lemon. I would definitely recommend exchanging it.

Brendan,

I'm sorry to hear about the problem. It sounds like your rocker is out of adjustment. Please give VariZoom a call at 888-826-3399. Either Tom Smith or myself can tell you how to adjust it or we can exchange it for a new one.

Best regards,

Tom McKay

OK, I spoke with Tom McKay at VariZoom a few moments ago.

Let me first start off by saying that Chris has selected his vendors well. Tom really took a sincere interest in correcting the problem. While on the phone with him I wasn't able to duplicate the problem I was experiencing Saturday at the fairgrounds -- such is the case with randomly occurring problems (not to mention Murphy's law). Tom feels that it may be the LANC interface on the camera since it is truly an intermittent problem, and I can't argue with his reasoning. If it persists VariZoom is more than happy to provide me with a replacement, as they definitely want to know if it is a faulty unit or not.

All in all I will be keeping an eye on it for the next couple of weeks and will check the connection to the camera. I'll also try it on my VX2000 if it does happen again on the GL2 so I can verify whether it's the camera or the ROCK. So at this point I can't say whether it is camera or controller-related and therefore my experience should only reflect positively on VariZoom and the ROCK.

I do like the controller, very much. It has that nice satin stainless finish and has a nice, smooth rocker and the full array of camera controls that I want. I don't want my questionable experience to dampen anyone's consideration of the ROCK, as it's an awesome controller and I'm even more elated now than when I first got it last week because of the extreme level of support that VariZoom has provided to a small, one-unit purchaser such as myself. Most companies would've written me off or told me to go back to my dealer.

VariZoom is top-notch.

Brilliant! - I'm glad you got what you want.

Grazie

VariZoom has a solid history of dedicated customer service and support. If they can't fix the problem over the phone, or by sending it in for repair, they will replace, exchange or refund the unit.