Can anyone give me some advice on how to balance this thing. I have been working on it for probably 3 hours and cannot get it balanced.

Every time I actually get it balanced, I tighten the screws and then it becomes unbalanced again. I absolutely cannot figure it out. It's maddening. I've watched every single video on the internet about balancing it and nothing is helping me

Any advice would be great.

What camera have you mounted and is there a mike or anything else mounted onto the camera?

It's a GH4 with a 12-35mm lens on it. No mic

I have a beholder ms1 and while I can quickly get it balanced with a gh4 and a 12mm or 9-18mm as soon as I place a small microphone on top of the camera for a unclear reason I cannot get it balanced anymore, that's why I asked.

You say that after balancing the camera becomes unbalanced again as soon as you tighten the screws, if you then switch on the gimbal, what happens then? Is there vibration or does it not level out?

I think I actually may have it close to balanced (as close as I am going to get at the moment). That said, They say you are supposed to turn it sideways and if it rotates, then you need to adjust it a bit more. So I adjusted it far one direction and that was way off, so I adjusted it about halfway and it was closer, and then I adjusted it all the way the other direction and it's closer, but its still off. It won't go any farther and it's still rotating when I turn it sideways.

Not sure if this makes a difference, but I have the camera as back as far as I can on the plate so that I always know where it was when I go to balance it again. Wonder if that is making a difference.

To answer your question though, yea if I turn it on, it seems to balance itself, but I want to make sure it's right on before I go and start filming

Here is a video in Spanish (first one at the bottom of the page,) but there are subtitles. At the end of the video he tames some pretty wild balance problems, see if this can help you.
http://copter-rc.com/en/catalog/68-pilotfly-h1-handheld-3aixs-stabilizer-for-mirrorless-camera.html

I think if you get it that close to balancing, even if it does seem to be unbalanced again just by tightening the screws, and if it doesn't vibrate when you activate it it should be just fine to use it in that way as long as you don't notice any other weird behavior.

https://youtu.be/mp_ZHn27L48
See if this helps

I've actually watched that video and it helped a little, but not much.

I ended up contacting Pilotfly directly and they told me (after a week of me trying to get it working) that my unit was faulty and that I needed to return it (something with one of the motors was bad). So I just sent it back and exchanged it for the Came Single. Should be here in a week

Brock, can you let me know how you get on with the Came single? I've been thinking of this for my gh4 but wasn't sure about the weight it could carry.
Peter

Just got the Came TV Single in and I was able to balance my GH4 and 12-35 on it in probably 6 or 7 minutes. Within 20 minutes of opening the box, I was walking around getting really smooth footage. At least for me, this is a HUGE step up from the Pilotfly. Like Dave Dougdale said in his review, it takes a 1/3 of the time to balance. The toolless design is fantastic and really helpful.

Only downside is it is a little bit heavy so my arms did get a little tired, but the ease of use completely covers that up. I'm so glad I sent the Pilotfly back. Not that there is anything wrong with the Pilotfly, but it's not for me.

Glad you got it sorted. I was seriously considering this but feel that the Mini2 might be best. You can hold it in two hands and it has the ability to be used one handed for low down shots.