Benro X-Series Gimbals Announced

benro gear has just announced their new Benro X-Series of five gimbals. These are ranging from the 3XS Lite ($99) and 3XS ($119) smartphone gimbals to the 3XM ($399) and 3XD ($499) DSLR and all the way from these mirrorless single-handed gimbals to the 3XD Pro ($699) dual-handle professional gimbal.

Benro X-Series: Lineup (product images, © 2019 Benro)

With this product range, Benro tries to attack the whole market of gimbals, which is currently occupied by other well-established brands such as DJI, Zhiyun, TILTA and others. The most critical question for our readers probably is: Do we need more gimbals within that range and why?

Unfortunately, this is only an news post, and we cannot make a statement on the quality of those newly announced products. But the question we can take a look at is, “So many different gimbals, what’s the difference”?

One of the things mentioning upfront: In terms of payload, there are only three different categories among those five gimbals.

1) The smartphone gimbals 3XS Lite and 3XS carry only regular iPhone, Android or similar smartphones.

2) The 3XM gimbal carries up to 3.9 lbs (ca. 1,77 kg).

3) The other gimbals ( 3XD and 3XD Pro) each hold up to 8.3 lbs (ca. 3,76 kg).

Just for reference: In comparison, the DJI Ronin S has a payload of about 3,6 kg, and the DJI Ronin SC  up to approx. 2 kg (according to specs).

Smartphone Gimbals: 3XS Lite ($99) and 3XS ($119)

The 3XS and 3XS Lite are very similar. Their key features are:

• foldability (easy to bring along, stow away and travel with)
• automatic rotation (one click)
• various filming modes
• a mic jack connector (built-in)
• battery life (in use): 24 hrs (manufacturer claim! This would be especially interesting to test independently)
• 3-axis gimbal (additional Z-axis not available with any of the Benro products)
• custom keys (the user may choose their functionality)
• Benro companion application
• universal adapter (worldwide use)
• comes with a pouch to stow away the product
• ¼” hole on the bottom to attach to tripods or monopods

These are the differences between the two products:

• Benro 3XS allows wireless charging in addition to wired charging
• Benro 3XS Lite only comes with a drawstring bag and mini tripod, while the 3XS comes with an additional audio cable, iPhone charging cable (lightning) and android charging cable (micro-USB).

The weight they can carry is just a phone, and it seems to be the same for both products, although the company does not explicitly state that the payload is identical.

DSLR and Mirrorless Gimbals: Benro 3XM ($399) and 3XD ($499)

When just looking at the specifications of the products, both  of these gimbals seem to be very similar as well.

Specs for the 3XM and 3XD:

• automatic rotation
• 45 deg offset (just 3XD)
• various filming modes
• 12 hr battery life
• carry-weight: ideal carry-weight of up to 3.9 lbs (ca. 1,77 kg) for the 3XM and up to 8.3 lbs (ca. 3,76 kg) for the 3XD
• foldability
• 3-axis gimbal
• custom keys
• universal adapter
• Benro app
• carrying-case
• audio cables
• two carry positions
• directional control
• ¼” hole ( 3XM) and 3/8″ hole ( 3XD)

The real difference here lies within the accessories package that comes with each product.

The cheaper 3XM gimbal ships with the following content: two batteries, Sony camera cable, Panasonic camera cable, charger, a USB cable and a lens support adapter.

For $100 more with the 3XD, in addition to these accessories, you will receive a carrying case, a Canon camera cable and a small direct connect tripod stand. The tripod stand only comes with the 3XD.

The website confusingly presents the tripod stand in the picture next to the list of included components for the 3XM as well, while the bullet point list doesn’t mention the tripod stand. The images above on the 3XM one-pager show that there wouldn’t be  enough space to fit the tripod stand properly in this set.

It is also worth noting that the 3XD seemingly comes with a different carrying-case than the 3XM.

Benro X-Series: 3XM and 3XD (product images, source: Benro)

Dual-handle DSLR Gimbal: 3XD Pro ($699)

Now let’s take a look at what you can get with their top-of-the-line gimbal.

All of these features are practically the same as with the 3XD and 3XM above:

• automatic rotation
• various filming modes
• 45 deg offset
• up to 8.3 lbs (ca. 3,76 kg) ( 3XD only!)
• 3-axis gimbal
• custom keys
• universal adapter
• Benro app
• carrying-case (looks like the 3XD case but will come with the dual handle additionally inside)

Aspects that are different/enhanced characteristics:

• internal audio cabling
• 13 hr battery life
• dual handle / adjustable swivel handle tripod
• three batteries
• 3x Mini HDMI cables to Mini, Micro, and Full HDMI

The app features include such aspects as motion lapse, panorama function and remote start/stop of the camera (depending on whether the camera is supported and of course connected or not).

Benro X-Series Gimbals: Final Notes

The Benro products websites did include several evident errors as of the writing of this article. These made it tough to find out and delineate the exact differences and features of the devices. The mistakes include seemingly copy & paste errors of some of the attributes of their products, which makes their specialities less distinguishable. Some of our colleagues from other news sites have – as far as I can see – also included some of the errors.

Author’s note: Due to several mistakes on the company website and product subsites, I’d like to highlight that we tried our best not to include any of the errors in the article. If you still find anything worthy of remark, please let us know. We highly encourage everyone willing to buy any of the gimbals to check their particular specs according to their own needs. We will update this post if any information changes.