Recently we'd been made aware of the so called "Rabbit Cage" available from Chinese marketplaces. These "cineback expansion kits", or "rabbit cages" as they have been called, are cheap and there's a few reasons for that.
Unlike small boutique manufacturers like us, these things are mass-produced in a Chinese print-farm factory. There's nothing wrong with that, per se. However, wanting to investigate for ourselves, we purchased one and immediately took it apart.
What was immediately concerning was the low quality, and in particular the poor standards of workmanship when it comes to the electronics and wiring. Rigid.PRO rigs are wired "point-to-point" and hand soldered. This means there are no additional connection points. The Rabbit Cage rigs from China simply buy the components off the shelf, which come with wire "tails". These manufacturers are simply twisting these together and using a wire crimp on the connection - these are terrible connections and we experimented with them ourselves in the early prototype stage, before rejecting them. These are known for convenient, temporary connections with low quality and high resistance - certain to be a point of failure at some point.
Every single Rigid.Pro CineRig Base is powered up and tested before being packaged.
The V-mount is also plastic, as opposed to Rigid.PRO CineRig Bases which use a metal V-mount mounting point that won't wear out or break from repeated battery changes.
Additionally, the D-tap outlet has had the rear of the casing removed leaving the electronics completely exposed, and they are using small little plastic tabs to secure it in place with tiny self-tapping screws. If you've used D-tap before, you'd know they are a tightly fitting connection, and often require a little force to insert or remove them. The Rabbit Cage method of mounting this is almost certain to break. The Rigid.PRO D-tap component is kept completely sealed and in-tact, and is captive mounted with additional bracing.
Further, we've found the accuracy of the screw holes for mounting to cages misaligned. The Rabbit Cages are just a typically poor, Chinese replica hoping to cash in on the popularity of the Rigid.PRO CineRig Base.
They come with no instructions, and from what we can tell, absolutely no customer support or returns process. In this economy we all want to save a few dollars (and we're only talking about a few dollars), and we appreciate that. But you've invested thousands of dollars into your gear. Like us, the gear is essential for your income! Whether you're on a client's job, or capturing memories that are priceless and should last a life time, is a "Rabbit Cage" a good investment? Absolutely not. Rigid.PRO stands by its product, and its customers.