kris wallis

Well they dont make them in black anymore and the quality isn't nearly as good, so they aren't worth spending the money on spigots etc, I'd like to have a tractor umbrella on the dolly as it is easier to get into the right position and they are better in the wind

Hey thanks they look like something I can work with

It seems there is a bit of an umbrella crisis, the manufacturer in Australia has stopped manufacturing locally and now only make junky ones in bright colors as opposed to the high quality black ones that were industry standard for decades over here, I'm disappointed to hear that the modern variant is crap as I was about to order, they owe me for their rubbish attempt at filling my previous order. Can you buy the arri ones I've seen online ?

Thanks again everyone for the input, I have also used the GFM dolly and I agree that it is the superior dolly, I haven't used the twister, the way things are here I could probably pick up a panther for the price of a GFM dolly, for some reason getting things frieghted from europe is stupidly expensive. Its a bit of personal taste thing, the thing I dont like about it is that the floor space is quite small and its not great for carting gear around, because the budgets are getting so tight I need something I can just throw an tripod and some boxes on and chuck it on the track or in the back of a ute (pick up), but I also need a good platform for heavy duty rigs, which is where the matthews looks the goods. I have just heard that a new matthews will be arriving after a long delay on the wharf in LA I should add that I am trying to fit out a truck with a 4 tonne payload, not a full size truck so I'm trying maximise the usefulness of what I can fit in.

Thanks for the reply Robert, are you saying that the modern dolly is better? I have bought quite alot of stuff from modern, maninly rigging bits and pieces, they are great manufacturers but I find them a little tricky to deal with, they have new management that promised alot but have been slow getting their website up to date, when youre on the other side of the world you need pictures, I just bought some rag bags from them that are bigger than I would have liked and a seat riser to junior adaptor that I done know what to do with, I could have called and gone through each piece like I have in the past but I needed something else urgently and I just tacked a few things on the order. The Matthews dolly is being imported by a company here in Sydney, so I can look at it and will probably get a better freight price, my plan was to build a trolley that allows me to bring the dolly to set with the track wheels on and only put the porta glide to use for long lens stuff. I'll certainly look into the modern dolly as an option

I have been looking at getting a Matthews Round d round Dolly, its like the doorway dolly but with a roundy round steering function, as a second dolly, I have a pee wee, in Australian TV they often wont pay for a second dolly and its a good option for other purposes, such as moving gear around etc, unfortunately there are none that I have been able to test over here and we dont really have rental houses, what I'm concerned about is the quality of the hot button track wheels, I have heard mixed reviews and I thought maybe I'd buy a sey of porta glides and perhaps modify them to use with the matthews dolly. Am I being overly concerned ? all my gear is in good shape I just dont want to be let down by what is perhaps 'indie' level gear Your thoughts would be appreciated I should add that we dont often use speed wheels (or centipedes etc) over here as we generally own our own track and dollies and therefore have an interest in keeping them in excellent condition.