I have gone through 6+ gimbals in search of the best solution for livestreaming from a cell phone. Many of the dedicated phone gimbals, such as those from DJI, do work with minimal setup and balancing. However, they do not have any easy way to charge the phone (the ones that do tend to have very slow charging rates and the phone still discharges, just slower), and have trouble with accessories.Ideally, I would like the ability to stream for as long as possible without fidgeting and plugging in wires halfway through. With dedicated phone gimbals, a USB cable coming from the phone to a charging brick in your pocket, for example, would be enough to destabilize the unit and introduce a bit of a judder. When you start to add additional accessories such as rode wireless microphones and adapters (to allow mic and charging at the same time), many phone-only gimbals are significantly overwhelmed.My first "end-stage" gimbal was the Zhiyun Crane M2. It checked all my boxes to handle large phones + all the accessories I need for livestreaming. I was very excited to hear the M3 was being released and purchased it as soon as I was able. It did not disappoint! I probably did not need to upgrade, but this seems to handle my livestreaming components much better. I'll just break it down into some pros/caveats for my use case, as it is very specific and does not cover all of the possibilities of this gimba.Pros:- High payload. I am not going to use this for anything other than cellphones, but it is nice to have that versatility. Handles large iPhones, + adapters, + extra cables without issue- Charges quickly- Built in fill light!- Large, sturdy levers for balancing.- Zhiyun reached out to me on WhatsApp and was very helpful in providing additional accessories and support.Caveats:- Cannot fold down to compact size without compromising last balance.- May be heavy for some during prolonged use- It SOMETIMES deviates from the horizon - usually auto-calibration fixes that, however I think this may have to do with the extra cables I have that it has to account for.- Mini tripod not included in the more expensive bundles (you get a bigger tripod, but being a large gimbal already it's nice to have something smaller
