The Ultimate Feiyutech A2000 Review!
Feiyutech has seen a large increase in their popularity within the gimbal space over the last few years with more and more videographers and vloggers looking to add a Feiyutech gimbal to their camera accessories to serve as their primary source of image stabilization. Although the A2000 is from one of their older generations of gimbal and the newer Feiyutech AK2000 (notice the K after the A) variant of the gimbal is now available, we still see a fair few people reaching out each month for advice on the A2000.
Due to this, we have decided to publish our own Feiyutech A2000 review to share our thoughts on the gimbal as well as offer our readers some advice on how they are able to best move forward in their search for a gimbal. Now, just like the newer Feiyutech AK range, the Feiyutech A range of gimbals also has a number of issues with vibrations during use that has a direct effect on your image quality.
These are often down to the user either not balancing the gimbal perfectly or due to your camera rig having an effect on the center of gravity of the gimbal. Now, back when it was released, this was acceptable as the A2000 was more of an entry-level, budget-friendly gimbal stabilizer. That said though, times have changed and the Zhiyun Crane v2 has had multiple price reductions since then making it a much better option with a very similar price tag.
The Crane V2 has one of the best reputations within the community and even now is probably one of the most popular gimbals in use. It offers all of the benefits of the A2000 with none of its weaknesses. Additionally, the Zhiyun Weebill Lab is also an excellent gimbal and in our opinion, the best mirrorless and lightweight DSLR camera gimbal on the market right now and it is not that much more expensive.
Anyway, that said, we know that some videographers and vloggers will still want to go with the Feiyutech A2000 so we will still go over the gimbal in-depth as well as what it has to offer.
Performance And Functionality
That said though, even 4.4 pounds of payload weight should be plenty for most mirrorless cameras as well as the majority of entry-level DSLR setups too. This should also ensure that you have plenty of spare load capacity left over for you to add as many camera accessories as you need to your camera body without its total payload becoming a problem for you during use.
The AK2000 also has a decent battery life when you consider that it is from an older generation of gimbal coming in with a maximum battery of ten hours with each full charge. We would imagine that this would be plenty for the vast majority of our users to get all the video footage that they need from their session. That said, if you do need the longest battery life possible out of your gimbal then the Zhiyun Crane Plus has a maximum battery life of sixteen hours with a much quicker recharge time than the A2000.
Speaking of recharge times, Feiyutech doesn’t actually go into specifics when it comes to the A2000 and simply say that it takes over five hours to recharge. Now, we did a little digging as we thought that this could be an issue with translation into English or mean that its recharge time takes around five hours but it seems accurate. We have seen reports from people saying it has taken up to eight hours to recharge their Feiyutech A2000 but the average does seem to be between five and six hours.
When it comes to the battery life of the handheld gibal stabilizer, you also have to remember that the if your gimbal is not balanced perfectly and the vibrations start, this ends up having an effect on your battery life. Each vibration not only takes power to cause but then additional power to correct too. With the Zhiyun Crane v2 being so similar in price level, we would highly recommend that our readers just go with the Crane v2 instead and just avoid the issue all together.
Although the A2000 is from an older generation of gimbal stabilizers, it does actually have a fair few modern gimbal modes to help you get the best possible performance out of it. Both the manual and point of view modes are excellent but the inverted mode can make its vibration issues worse unless you have balanced the gimbal perfectly.
Additionally, if you are involved in the vlogging space, the gimbal has a preset button on the handle to quickly and easily turn your camera through 180 degrees to point it towards yourself. This makes it easy to switch between capturing your vlogging footage and capturing your B roll video footage.
All in all, for what it was on release, the A2000 is a solid 3 axis gimbal that performed well for its price point in the market. That said though, with other gimbals such as the Zhiyun Crane v2 having multiple price reductions since their release and now being at a very similar price point to the A2000, we feel the Crane V2 is a much better option.
It offers better performance with a quicker battery recharge time for a very similar price point. Additionally, the Crane v2 does not have any of the vibration issues that the A2000 has and as this is an entry-level gimbal for mirrorless and light DSLR setups, the last thing you want to have to do it waste time getting your balancing perfect. The Crane v2 has a much easier balancing system where provided you get it around eighty percent right, the gimbal motors will take care of the rest.
User Interface And Control System
If you are looking to pick up your first gimbal then the last thing that you want to be doing is having to put a whole bunch of time into learning a professional level interface system like the one on the Zhiyun Crane 3. Although the Crane 3 system is excellent for a professional level videographer as it offers some of the best customization of any modern gimbal going, entry-level videographers have no need for this level of customization and the simpler the control system the better.
The who interface system on the A2000 is also able to be used by using nothing but your thumb. This allows you to ensure that the rest of your hand is firmly gripping the gimbal to support its weight as well as the weight of your camera rig to help prevent it from dropping or lowering the level of performance available while you tweak the settings of the gimbal.
That said, the A2000 uses a very similar system to the Zhiyun Crane v2 and the DJI Ronin SC that both offer better performance in our opinion. Although the Ronin SC is around double the price of the A2000 at the time of writing, the Crane v2 is a similar price tag and well worth considering.
Smartphone App
This is a shame as a decent gimbal smartphone app can act as a quick and easy way to provide the user with some wireless remote control functionality. Additionally, depending on the app, it can also be a great and convenient way to tweak the settings of your gimbal quickly without having to do it via the main control interface that can be a little awkward and time-consuming.
We hope that by the time you are reading this, Feiyutech has updated their app or with any luck, totally overhauled it and that it is now a nice gimbal accessory but at the time of writing, it is basically a waste of time and effort.
Build Quality And Design
That said though, the design offers a full range of movement for mirrorless and entry-level DSLR cameras with a long lens mounted to them. It also has a pretty solid center of gravity too although if you use both a long lens and a battery grip, you will probably throw the center of gravity off and even if you balance the gimbal, chances are, you will have some bad vibrations. Our advice would be to use one or the other but in reality, there are not many people who would use a long lens with their camera while it is mounted to their gimbal anyway.
Although the A2000 is not as robust as the more modern gimbals with the latest compounds and polymers, it is still very tough and we are confident that it can take a few bumps or knocks when in transit or during use without breaking. Although it is pretty heavy too, we would still imagine that the majority of our readers are able to hold the A2000 with their camera rig mounted on it for decent periods of time without their hands cramping up to get the video footage that they require.
Feiyutech has licensed the Manfrotto quick release plate design so that you are able to quickly and easily hot-swap your camera rig between the A2000 and any tripod that uses the Manfrotto quick release plate system. Depending on what you are planning to use your gimbal for, this can actually be a pretty solid little time saver if you know you will be using your gimbal and tripod in the same sessions multiple times.
Balancing
Our Verdict
That brings our Feiyutech A2000 review to an end and we have tried to be as fair as possible to the gimbal while pointing out both its strengths and weaknesses but relative to its price point, we would not recommend that our readers purchase the A2000. If you could a second-hand version for around the $200 mark then sure, pick it up, but we feel that the Zhiyun Crane v2 is well worth the additional $30-$40 and will make a much better addition to your collection of camera accessories.
The Crane v2 has all of the strengths of the A2000 without having any of its weaknesses. It also offers superior performance, with a better build quality, a better recharging time, and the balancing procedure is easier. In our opinion, the Crane v2 will provide you with a higher level of image stabilization that is easier to achieve that results in a better overall image quality for your video footage.
