The New VDB Boom Poles

For years the Van den Bergh "VdB" boom poles (fish poles) had been far better than any others for most situations.  It looked like boom pole technology had reached its pinnacle.

OK, so they bent too much and sometimes broke when fully extended with a heavy mic fully rigged (like the 816), but that was just the laws of physics: Lighter weight equals less strength and more bend.  Right?

Well, the K-Tek pole proved that theory wrong.  Offering greater strength without adding weight, with precision metal components and some very well made modular accessories, the K-Tek definitely took boom poles to a higher plane.

So, the K-Tek is as good as it will ever be, right?  Well… have you seen the new VdB poles?

Improvements

At last count, the new VdB poles offer four undeniable improvements, and that’s not counting the lower price.

1. First, the poles are lighter still than the K-Tek (per foot) while somehow managing to be even stiffer.
2. Second, the inside diameter of the smallest element allows an XLR connector to pass through making it possible to cable and uncable the pole quickly and with no soldering at all.  You can actually go from a straight cabled pole to a coiled cabled pole in about two minutes.
3. Third, because each pole is made with six sections (as opposed to the traditional five), the VdB 18’ pole will collapse even shorter than the K-Tek 16’ pole.
4. Fourth, the new VdB has an innovative system for locking and loosening the telescoping elements.  This new locking system is a combination of improvements and drawbacks, but the end result, in my opinion, is improvement.  Utilizing extreme precision manufacturing, the new locking system requires less than a ¼ turn, with very little effort, in either direction.  Herein hides a danger, because the uninitiated may (and many have, already) attempt to loosen a section of the pole in the conventional manner by turning the collar counter clockwise when it had already been turned counter clockwise to tighten the section.  Continuing to turn it further counter clock wise can make it so tight that it cannot be loosened by hand.  The collars have white dots to indicate which direction they need to be turned to loosen them, but as Murphy says: "If it can happen it eventually will", (and it has).

The first poles of this new generation were shipped with faulty metal inserts used in the VdB tightening mechanism: They rusted.  Since all boom poles will soon find themselves wet, this is a problem that had to be fixed and has.  Now, all of these poles are fitted with stainless steel inserts.

Competition is the mother of improvement, which is why our tools are always getting better.  So, while the K-Tek boom poles remain the choice of many, the new VdB boom poles may have the edge for some operators.