Libec Tripod slider (2 of 3)

At first look the Libec Allex S slider kit seemed like a pretty decent package. You get a heavy duty tripod with a 31 inch slider and a nice solid fluid head for around $600, making it an attractive starter kit. Libec makes some decent tripods and fluid heads a so I was expecting the slider to be as nice as their normal kit, but the demo models they had at NAB were pretty disappointing.

Libec Tripod slider (3 of 3)

The tripod stand was nice and solid and the motion from the fluid head felt pretty good but then there’s the slider. The demo model was brand new and had only been out on the show floor at NAB for 2 days when I stopped by to test it out. If you loo at the slider track where I have my fingers (in the shot above), you’ll see that it’s turning a grayish silver. The track actually started out life completely black, but as people stopped by to test out the slider and play around with it, the roller bearings began to distro the finish and mangle the sliding surface.

By the time I got there, the track was rough to the touch and camera slides were filled with lots of micro vibration from the damaged slider rail. I’ve seen a lot of positive posts about this slider but everyone seems to be missing the fact that the models Libec had at NAB were defective.

I spoke with the reps at the booth about it and at first they denied the problem, but when I walked over and showed them the problem they admitted that yes there was actually a problem with the slider. Apparently the surface material used on the sliders track wasn’t meeting their design spec and the metal roller bearings used on the carriage ended up being tougher than the track itself.

The rep from Libec said that “they have an engineering team working on it” and hopefully that’s why we haven’t started to see any of the Libec Allex kits for sale yet. If they don’t fix this problem this slider kit could end up being a disappointing buy. I thought I’d post this quick warning for those of you interested in the slider, if I were you, I’d wait unit they’ve been road tested by someone else before I pulled the trigger on this guy.

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