Polaris, a new project from Benro, toughts
in Discussion Forum February 18, 2021, 12:03


Hello everyone, a few days ago I came across an interesting (and perhaps ambitious) project: a smart and remote-controlled tripod head. I wouldn't have cared if it wasn't for the brand name, Benro.
We are talking about a giant, a brand that has quality as a second name (at least from my experiences) and I got a bit interested in it by investigating the campaign they started on Kickstarter (you can see it here polaris-smart-electric-tripod.kckb.st/4d8e1c3e).
Seeing a Kickstarter campaign by a giant is strange, but in the Chinese tech world it is nothing new, Amazfit already did it with a smartwatch model.
I tried to investigate and tried to understand better what is behind it, the project seems on one hand in an advanced state and ready for commercialization, on the other hand they are still adding functionalities to the head, it seems as if it is a project carried out by someone in private and that the company then noticed it and decided that it had commercial potential (I'm thinking about AMD's threadripper cpu project, for those who know something).
Searching online I found only the motorized bases of bescor and other Chinese hustlers to compare. Regarding the help of AI, there is another great Kickstarter project that has been successful and therefore stands as a competitor, on this side, with the Polaris: I am talking about Arsenal (1 and 2), which is not exactly poor and will pose numerous challenges to Benro, especially since mechanics and electronics are one thing, software development quite another.
Personally I would be happy to see what they come up with, I am very confident on the remote control and on the motorized part (however they speak of 7kg of capacity, not little for a tripod head), on the software I have more fears but on the other hand they are more functionalities. for those who do not have all the skills to make certain shots.
The price is not a small thing, but when we do the math between Benro quality, functionality and what's around, I would almost say that they were honest.
I would be interested to know what someone with maybe more knowledge thinks, see you soon!


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