You all know this scenario: the guitarist and the bass player are already leaving the venue with the two pretties girls tonight, while you are still pulling down the cymbals. Well, one day I said: "enough". I started with little, rubber grommets you insert into the cymbal hole that eliminate the need for felts and wing nuts - not available in Europe, I'll have to drop Thomann a line and encourage them to import them. But I had no solution for the hi-hat. Unscrewing the nut, then dropping it under the drumset on a poorly lit backstage after the concert and crawling on all fours looking for it... Finally somebody thought of a quick release clutch.
There are 2 models out there and I now have both. The first one disappointed, because it requires pulling the end nut in the direction of the cymbal, which assumes using felts - I don't, I use little rubber hemispheres by Pearl. So it's a struggle.
Now I got this model by Gibraltar and it's brilliant. One touch cymbal release, but at the same time very secure, no chance of the bottom nut loosening while playing, like in traditional hi-hat clutches.
When you first examine it it may seem like the bottom nut comes off TOO easy. But it doesn't while playing - it's rock solid. A really, really clever design.
PROS: super easy to use, cuts down the tear-down time, eliminates the lost nut rolling under the set, eliminates the bottom nut loosening while playing.
CONS: felts. I hate felts. They compress unevenly and you can't maintain your perfectly parallel hi-hat cymbals for a perfect "chick" (if that's your thing). But that's a common thing with most clutches and fortunately replacing them with a rubber equivalent is cheap and easy.
In short: get it, if you gig, and get it fast - I waited 30 years (until they invent the thing) and now the guitarists still disappear with the 2 prettiest girls, because I'm 51 and they are much younger...