BrainBox Cameras

One star here. Could be much much better. And for a professionals, we expect better.
Some examples of negatives:
I guess most importantly and recently, rented 2 C300 Mark II packages and instead of Cine Lenses took EF. As we returned their gear and lenses, a literally brand new personal Canon 70 – 200 USM II 2.8 got included in the return. I called to pick it up, and set a time. Then all of a sudden, as I’m already in Marina Del Rey, I get a notice that instead of setting it aside they rented it out for about a week. «Accidentally.» But I could come pick it up in a week. Yea! Thank you. Not very pleased about that, I had to request at great length that they deliver the lens to me in LA. And it arrived. Slightly damaged and without UV filter. My email pertaining to this, a week later, is still yet unanswered. And no subrental fee was given or offered.
Previous to that rented 2 C300 Mark II packages. When we were scheduled to pickup, it got pushed back several hours — as we found out when we picked up – they had to go out and buy a new camera body. Great, right? Well, sure, but when assembling the body they forgot to insert the watch battery that keeps time and settings. So, on set, on the day, we go to switch batteries and we lose settings and time. What? Hmm. That’s odd. We end up hot stabbing the power — having to be plugged in to change batteries. Not a huge deal, but significant time loss to troubleshoot and makes us look like amateurs on set. Upon calling they said that the camera battery was «defective». No apology or credit given.
On that same rental we were given a director’s monitor whose input was broken, and they knew it prior to our rental. No apology or credit given.
On that same rental we were given LED Panel light with no screws on the barndoors, rendering them useless (and a threat to scratching the cover which would have been… you guessed it. our fault?) No apology or credit given.
On that same rental with the lens we got Teradek and some smaller on camera monitors, that had issues on set. We tried various cables, were powering with V mount batteries, and still nothing that was consistent working.
We work with professional DP’s and camera guys and AC’s who deal with all kinds of gear and overall the feedback from the gear from Brainbox is not consistently reliable. Or maybe it’s missing something. Diffusion for LED panel… oh well. It’s not there. Sorry. The longer Canon video/​audio cables for C300 Mark II? Nah. The certified Sandisk CFast 2.0 cards? No… use Lexar, they are supposed to be good enough. And when you come back or call, there’s no real resolution to any issues. Frustrating when you’re relying on this gear… haul it or pay for it to be flown somewhere and it’s not working.
AND they make you, even with insurance, pre-​pay. Which of course is pretty much industry standard. Unless you go to a place like PRS. But, that being said, they have your money, and that’s that. Faulty equipment… they already have your money.
The up side:
They do have good pricing and try to work with budgets — though maybe it’s because they use other people’s gear, accidentally.
Travis and the guys are very, seemingly, genuinely nice. Especially while you’re getting ready to rent and during checkout. Even if it takes a long time (which is at the renter’s expense because it does cost a day…) They are otherwise communicative. Though, as I’ve mentioned, when I have an issue how they returned my gear to me… we have yet to hear from them.
Overall, would recommend you take caution when renting from Brainbox or Travis and Co. There is a disconnect with using the gear and renting the gear. I recommend them to take more manufacturer workshops to know their gear inside and out and that will help facilitate the correct and best workflow needs in the field. Additionally if they could — completely — resolve issues expeditiously and honestly either during or after that would be fantastic. We are all in this together… if you give bad gear, it’s just going to hurt the team using it. Send a backup and don’t worry about the cost. Worry about their picture. And if you give bad service during or after, it’ll just hurt the business going forward.
Just as giving consistently great service and reliable gear will make you a prince among indie filmmakers.

Renter beware. This company is close to me and has good prices, so I wanted this to work out. On my last rental, I booked a Ronin and told the rental guy the camera I was using and specifically asked if I needed to rent any other accessories. Although the monitor for the C300 doesn’t fit with the Ronin rig, Jared didn’t bother to mention that I would need an external monitor. But the real problems kicked in when we got to set and tried to assemble their kit. They didn’t include an allen wrench (although this is part of any new Ronin purchase). Then, when we were auto balancing, the Ronin would try to balance and give up. It was only when I got a tech friend to set that he discovered that wires had been dislodged from the unit. BrainBox took no responsibility for sending out an incomplete kit that was broken. Because we had fixed the electrical problem, they turned around and said the equipment worked fine. It ruined our shoot day and the owner proceeded to blame me rather than own that the gear didn’t work and he refused to refund the rental. If you want a rental house that is open to working with you and has your back, don’t rent from BrainBox.

Since this review I gave them another try to see if what I first encountered was just a fluke accident.
They did a much better job than the first. It is a small company that have great packages that are comparable to other rental houses. They gave me a good discount to recoup what happened my first try with them and we only really had one hiccup once we got the equipment. Overall I would say if you have a smaller budget and smaller shoots they are good to try.

Instead of being an honest business man, Travis spends his time trying to put out fires on the internet where people, like me, complain. My other negative review that went into detail, as well as someone else’s, was erased because he cries to Unilocal every time someone posts a real review. I will continue to post new ones FOREVER to try and warn the production community about this crook. This guy has a bad reputation already on places like Reduser where he has burned more than one bridge.
I will keep this review shorter but to sum it up, he stole money from clients in the form of not-​returned deposits and he rents cameras that often look like a car ran over them. This is MY experience with this «company»
Look this guy up and make sure to read John’s and Alan’s reviews below if they are still there. He has been to court over bad camera deals before and even had to finally change his business name from HD Pioneers to this new name, which is a weird one btw. Keep it up Travis, keep having your girl make up reviews on here and I will keep telling it like it is.
Oh and LOL at your «friend» Amyn and his wonderful review… good one. This Travis guy needs to move into fast food instead; the stakes aren’t so serious with a $ 2 cheeseburger.

Great rental house. Were able to handle a last-​minute rental request at the end of the day. Professional, equipment worked great. No muss, no fuss.

I have rented from Travis & Brainbox (formerly HD Pioneers) for many years. I have always had a good experience and the staff has always been extremely knowledgeable and helpful. The best thing about this rental house is it’s attention to detail and personal service. I’m always happy to recommend them to anyone and everyone I have recommended has also had an excellent experience. Great prices, Great gear, and easy to work with.
You won’t be disappointed. I’ve been working in production in LA for 15 years and never had a problem with this outfit.

Had an awesone experiences with this company. They always offer good advice, reasonable prices, top products. I haven’t had any disaapointment since I worked with
Travis. Friendly, honest guy u can trust.

I’ve been renting from HDPioneers/​BrainBox for several years now and have been immensely satisfied with their service and equipment. Travis is always there to help me out, answer any questions, or show me what equipment I should be using to make the best project possible. He always has the latest cameras (somehow before anyone else sometimes!) And their prices are really good.
I’d disregard the complaints here if I were you. They sound more like some B2B disagreements or personal rivalries. Do your homework, take care of your gear, know the fine print, have insurance if you are renting really pricey gear, and know that you’re getting a really good deal compared to the bigger equipment places.
I think Travis is a straight shooter and an honest businessman and I’m going to keep working with him…

Do not take any chances consigning your gear here. There are many reasons why, and I will list a few that I dealt with:
The owner took an additional 30% off of my gear for a 2 month rental (meaning I was renting it to him at over 55% off the list rate). When I invoiced him with the standard 25% consignment discount, he told me that I would have to talk to production about getting the rest of the rental fee. At this point, my gear was already working out of the country.
Travis (the owner of HDPioneers) even went as far as to tell me that instead of paying the 30% to me, he would buy my gear from me, and the rental fee he had already paid would go toward the final sale (meaning no rental fee at all). I would consider this extortion.
I’m lucky that the production was willing to make up that 30% directly to me, or otherwise I would have never seen it. I then told the production that they should ship the gear directly back to me as to avoid any other shady business from Travis.
When I did get the gear back, there was some damage. I sent Travis another invoice, but he would NOT take responsibility for loss or damage. He told me that since the production had rented it, I would have to take it up with them. No other rental house in LA would ever think of doing this.
The owner of HDPioneers is not true to his word, he is deceitful and vindictive, and I hope other will not have to go through what I have gone through!

Friendly, honest and knowledgeable guys, who will do their best to accommodate you. The prices they have listed are the prices you pay. So far I have had no surprises when asking for quotes after seeing things on the web site. Prices are very reasonable, they don’t do student pricing, because their regular prices are better than most other places student prices. The only flaw they have is the building they are in. I hate the building they are in, It is a pain in the ass to load and unload stuff from there. I will keep coming back because everything else is great.