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David,
I own both the Best Santa Fe III and the Mabef studio crank easels, and I must say that the Mabef is superior in every way. Not only does it crank up and down much more smoothly than the Best's winch system, but the Mabef grips the canvas better and moves up and down as a single gripped unit. The Best design relies upon the weight of the sliding mast to grip the canvas. This often causes problems when I lower the canvas because sometimes the mast will temporarily catch instead of sliding down, allowing pressure to build up between the winch and the mast. When the pressure releases, the mast and canvass drop abruptly and destabilize. I have even had my canvass bounce free of the top grip and bump me in the forehead - wet paint and all!
I have tried out Best's version of the studio crank easel and found it to be inferior to the Mabef. Best's crank easel has a wobbly mechanism that is also geared too slow to be practical.
The good news is that the Mabef lists between $500-600, so it's in the same price range as the Best Santa Fe line.
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