The Ultimate Feiyu A2000 vs AK2000 Comparison!

We have seen countless people reaching out about the Feiyutech range of gimbal stabilizers over the last few months and in all fairness, we are definatley able to see the confusion due to the naming convention of their gimbal range. The majority of people who reach out seem to be asking for a Feiyu A2000 vs AK2000 comparison so that is what we will be focusing on for this article.

Essentially, the Feiyutech A2000 was the initial gimbal release from Feiyutech designed to compete in the mirrorless camera weight class. Although it was a slow starter and had a few issues, it did manage to carve out a core customer base that seemed to like it. Then the Feiyutech AK2000 was released as an upgrade to the A2000 to try and fix its issues but in our opinion, Feiyutech dropped the ball with the AK2000 and although it has a decent reputation, we would NOT recommend you purchase either of these gimbals!

In our opinion, something like the Zhiyun Weebill Lab is a much better option. It is usually cheaper than both of the Feiyutech gimbals even though they are both much older than the Weebill Lab and the outperforms them in every single way. It is not surprising that the Zhiyun gimbal quickly managed to earn the excellent reputation that it has within the community and become the dominant mirrorless camera handheld gimbal stabilizer.

Now, the Feiyutech AK2000 has a number of issues with it and in all honesty, for its price tag, none of them should have even made it out of initial testing, never mind into the live production model! The first problem is the vibration issues the gimbal has that we will cover in more detail under the balancing section but essentially, the gimbal head can randomly vibrate uncontrollably and ruin your image quality.

The second issue is that in time-lapse mode, the gimbal head will slowly pan to the right uncontrollably making static timelapse a total nightmare. Although this is a confirmed issue, Feiyutech still hasn’t released a firmware update to correct the issue and at the time of writing, the AK2000 has been on the market for over a year!

The final main issue with the AK2000 is that the gimbal handle can slide up during use and eventually hits buttons on the control interface of the gimbal. This causes random movements on the gimbal head and again ruins your picture quality. Unfortunately, due to this being a physical issue, there is nothing Feiyutech can do remotely. We have seen users try to fix it with glue but eventually, it starts happening again making your experience a total pain.

The A2000 is an old gimbal by modern standards and should be avoided simply due to its price tag and the level of technology you get with it. We really can’t stress the fact that you should seriously consider the Zhiyun Weebill Lab over both the Feiyutech A2000 and Feiyutech AK2000. Trust us, it will make your life much easier and depending on the retailer getting this latest gimbal from the Zhiyun range can be cheaper than getting the much older Feiyutech stabilizers. Now, due to seeing so many people reaching out for a Feiyu A2000 vs AK2000 comparison, we are still going to be going over the gimbals in-depth below.

Performance And Functionality

When it comes to both the performance and functionality of the gimbals, the main upgrade for the AK2000 over the A2000 is the maximum load capacity. The AK2000 can support camera payloads of up to 6.17 pounds while the A2000 is able to support payloads of 4.4 pounds with both being respectable for the time each gimbal was released onto the market. The issue is that realistically, the AK2000 can only manage around 4.9 pounds and the A2000 3.5 pounds with ideal image stabilization.

If your camera weight comes in at over these ideal load capacities then the image stabilization that either of these gimbals is able to provide you drop off dramatically, especially with the A2000. Although the actual gimbal motors in the AK2000 do have more power than the ones used in the A2000, they don’t even compete with the motors in the Zhiyun Weebill Lab or the DJI Ronin SC that target the same market at the same price points.

When it comes to the maximum battery life of the gimbals, they both use the same power and battery system. This means that both gimbals come in with around twelve hours of battery life with each full charge of the battery. That said, the gimbal motors on the AK2000 definatley eat much more battery when using over eighty percent of the available load capacity.

When it comes to recharging the battery on both units the official recharge time is “over five hours” and that’s not a typo. We have seen reports from people saying that each time they recharge their Feiyu A2000 or Feiyu AK2000 it seems to just randomly decide how long it will take to charge. Although the average time frame does seem to be between five and six hours, we have seen reports of up to eight hours! Just to put this in comparison to the competing gimbals on the market, both the  DJI Ronin SC and Zhiyun Weebill Lab have quick charge tech taking just over two hours and just over three hours recharge time respectively.

The sample cinematic video above has been recorded using the Feiyutech AK2000 and does a decent job of showing off exactly what the Feiyu AK2000 is able to provide for you in ideal conditions and we can’t stress the ideal conditions part enough. Even if the AK2000 performed as well as shown in the video above all of the time, the various issues with the gimbal that we covered earlier and will go into more detail later prevent it from being a serious option for any professional level videographer.

Both the AK2000 and the A2000 use the same balancing algorithm that is decent in all fairness to it and it is able to provide some rapid movement detection. The higher torque gimbal motors on the AK2000 definatley offer better and quicker stabilization than the ones on the A2000 though as seen below.

The clips in the video above have been captured using the Feiyutech A2000 and as you can see, it is able to provide some decent image stabilization, especially for back when it was initially released. Our main issue with the A2000 is the fact that it still has the same price tag it had on release. You can click here to check the current price but at the time of writing it is still over $400! The Zhiyun Weebill Lab is from the latest generation of Zhiyun gimbals and is cheaper than the A2000 that is years old.

Considering that Feiyutech has also released the successor to the A2000 we would definatley have expected a price reduction on the A2000 to try and keep it somewhat competitive. This is one of the main reasons that Zhiyun is such a popular option as they run price reductions on their older gimbals so they serve as entry-level options to get videographers and vloggers in the Zhiyun product ecosystem for future upgrades.

When it comes to performance, both the Feiyu A2000 and Feiyu Ak2000 are definatley overprice and showing their age. In our opinion, the levels of image stabilization from each gimbal that you can realistically expect is just behind the leading gimbals from their time too. On top of this, the AK2000 has the issues with vibrations in the gimbal head that we will cover more under the balancing section.

User Interface And Control System

The user interface for the AK2000 has been totally overhauled as shown in the image above when compared to the A2000. In our opinion, Feiyutech managed to do a great job with the user interface on the AK2000 and it offers some great ease of use that is perfect for people new to using gimbal stabilizers. It is just unfortunate that the AK2000 has such a high price tag and so many other issues else it could have been a solid gimbal for its time.

The interface on the A2000 is very dated by today’s standards and although it fits the standard system of a joystick, an LCD panel, and some buttons, they just aren’t as responsive as what modern handheld gimbals offer. If you are wanting to use either of the gimbals in manual mode then this can cause issues as it has a slight delay from movements on the joystick to the corresponding movement for the gimbal head.

Smartphone App

In all honesty, the Feiyutech smartphone app is a total waste of time right now and in desperate need of a total overhaul. That said though, with all of the issues and problems that the new Feiyutech AK gimbal range is having, we doubt that they will be able to put any time or money into overhauling the app anytime soon.

Not only does the smartphone app have a number of initial syncing issues that make it a pain to actually sync the app with your gimbal, but it also has a number of issues that cause random disconnects too. On top of this, the actual navigation menu is a little confusing to follow until you are used to it.

On the flip side of this though, these issues are very common with gimbal apps and in reality, there is only really the DJI app, Zhiyun app, and Moza app that are decent. The apps from all other brands are a nightmare to use and not worth downloading so this is not just an issue exclusive to Feiyutech and their app.

Balancing

The initial balancing procedure for both the A2000 and AK2000 is simple and straight forward and we are confident that even if you are new to using a gimbal, you should be able to go through the initial balancing procedure for each gimbal without issue. The included user manual with the gimbals has an easy to follow break down of the process and there are also a number of video guides on YouTube going over the process too.

As we mentioned back at the start of the article, both the Feiyutech AK2000 and Feiyutech AK4000, the current Feiyutech “flagship” gimbals for the mirrorless and DSLR camera range respectively have an ongoing issue with vibrations. Unfortunately, these issues can totally ruin the image stabilization provided by the gimbal and due to it being a physical issue with the build of the gimbal, it can’t be remotely patched via a firmware update.

That said, Feiyutech has released the video below going over how you may be able to fix the issue yourself. Although the majority of people who have the vibration issue with their gimbal do report going over this process works for them, there are a small number of people who say that this process does not fix the issue. In our opinion, it is not worth the risk when there are gimbals like the Zhiyun Weebill Lab and DJI Ronin SC that are better and do not have these risks.

Build Quality And Design

Now, as we mentioned back at the start of the article, the Feiyutech AK2000 also has an issue with its build quality as shown in the image above. As you can see, the rubber handle grip slides up during use and flips over on itself and although it starts as shown in the image above, it continues to slip until the rubber grip is so far up the handle it is able to press buttons on the control system. This causes the gimbal head to randomly pan or tilt depending on the button that the rubber grip touches and can ruin your video footage.

This is the last thing that the apparent flagship of the Feiyutech range needs considering the other problems that it has. Additionally, this is unable to be fixed via a remote update too so you have to either return the gimbal, tolerate the issue or try to fix it. We have seen reports of people trying to glue it in place and although it is a temporary fix, the glue tends to loosen up and the issue happens again.

We have also seen a number of people say that they have simply cut the rubber grip off their gimbals handle but this lowers the comfort level of the handle. If you know that you are going to be using your gimbal for extended sessions then this can cause a problem with your hand cramping up or aching too. We hope by this stage, you are starting to see why have repeatedly told our users to avoid the AK2000 at all costs in favor for the Zhiyun Weebill Lab or DJI Ronin SC.

The actual build quality of both gimbals is decent but by the standards of modern gimbals, they are heavy and much larger than the Weebill Lab too. This can make it a total pain to travel with if you are on a luggage weight and size restriction for air travel.

Our Verdict

That brings our Feiyu A2000 vs AK2000 comparison to an end and as you can probably guess, we just can’t recommend that our readers add either of these gimbals to their collection of camera accessories. They are both too high priced with various issues when there are much better options available. In our opinion, you should always go with either the Zhiyun Weebill Lab or  DJI Ronin SC over either of these Feiyutech handheld gimbal stabilizers.