[SML] GaffGun taping tool

[Dave Dickinson]

Long time lurker uncloaking to add to the confusion...

I have had experience with similar products but not this specific one. The drawbacks I (actually we at my place of work) have seen are:

Unless you are using very supple cables, it will jump tracking and one or more of the cables will remain partially untaped.

Unless you keep the nose of the unit very very flat to the floor it will mistrack.

If you have tape that adheres to itself stiffly on the roll, it will be very difficult to handle.

If you use it with PVC tape, the tape will stretch and after application it can curl up on the edges. Maybe not so much on Marley but definitely on carpet.  

We never had a problem with it wrapping the tape around cables.

After a couple of weeks of use, we tested the one we had against a human gaffing a 50' double run of Canare L4E6S mic cable on carpet. It ended up being close to a dead heat. Our "gaffer" was much more efficient than the one GaffGun had on their video and our machine wasn't nearly as smooth to operate as they showed on their site.

Bottom line is it might be a nice gadget for anyone that can't get on their knees at all but if you can survive that part of the job, hand work will probably be close to as efficient as the gadget.
If you have a bundle to tape down, there's no competition. Hand taping takes it.

My $.02, YMMY, insert all other appropriate and inappropriate disclaimers here.

Dave Dickinson
Supervisor, Linda W. Chapin Theater
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, FL

Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum cogito.