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Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 June 2024I've just taken delivery of this tripod. I bought it to replace a Manfrotto Pixi Pro that I've lost somewhere (or it's been nicked whilst I'd put it down at a wedding a few months ago).
My first impressions are as follows:-
1. Amazing build quality. This tripod is an over engineered, very robust looking and feeling item. It is the perfect weight, machined from some kind of alloy, with reassuringly stiff resistance to the legs (so it feels like it wouldn't collapse under the weight of say a large DSLR and kit lens or wide angle prime).
2. High quality feel on the moving parts. The swivel/panning mechanism feels very well dampened. Very smooth, no grittiness at all. The panning action can be adjusted regarding the resistance by a twist bolt on the size. That bolt is of a size that is easily adjusted even with gloved hands. Or you can lock it out by nipping it up to full tightness.
The legs splay all the way out to almost flat to get the camera really low to the ground if required. The resistance is stiff and adjustable with an included Allen key. It's reassuring at it's supplied setting and I placed a 7.5kg kettle bell on top of it with the ball head attached and it didn't budge. Obviously that's a centered directly downward force. If you had a large heavy lens like a long zoom mounted to the camera it would pull to one side, simply due to physics and the leverage applied by such a large heavy lens (and it's rated to 2kg max for the ball head joint). The silicon rubber feet do a great job of gripping on a shiny table surface that I tried it on with the aforementioned kettle bell sat on it.
3. It's got a spirit level in the arca plate adjustment bolt. This is going to be useful when you flip the ball head into portrait position but no use if in landscape mode. But this is no Biggie to me as I have an electronic level built into my camera if I need it.
The ball head joint has a standard tripod thread and so I could use this with other standard tripods if I want.
My initial impressions are that this is a super high quality item that far exceeds that of the Manfrotto Pixi Pro with additional functionality and a more useful and more 'pro' style ball joint head for only a little extra money. I have several small rig items and I've been using those and Manfrotto for over ten years now. I'm always impressed with their quality.
At the £34 I paid for this item I don't think there is anything at this level of quality and price point to beat it. I'll update this review as I use it over the coming weeks and months.
My main use will be for hand held vlogging, which is feels the perfect size and ergonomics for in my large hands. Some landscape shots when I'm out hiking each week (where I'll use a Fujifilm XT2 and XF18-55mm lens, which are a moderately heavy combo) and probably my Vanguard 8x32mm monocular for wildlife and mobile phone digi scoping, where I use my mobile phone for identifying birds when I'm out in the great outdoors.
I'm looking forward to putting it through it's paces in all conditions and some hard use. Watch this space.
I've just taken delivery of this tripod. I bought it to replace a Manfrotto Pixi Pro that I've lost somewhere (or it's been nicked whilst I'd put it down at a wedding a few months ago).
My first impressions are as follows:-
1. Amazing build quality. This tripod is an over engineered, very robust looking and feeling item. It is the perfect weight, machined from some kind of alloy, with reassuringly stiff resistance to the legs (so it feels like it wouldn't collapse under the weight of say a large DSLR and kit lens or wide angle prime).
2. High quality feel on the moving parts. The swivel/panning mechanism feels very well dampened. Very smooth, no grittiness at all. The panning action can be adjusted regarding the resistance by a twist bolt on the size. That bolt is of a size that is easily adjusted even with gloved hands. Or you can lock it out by nipping it up to full tightness.
The legs splay all the way out to almost flat to get the camera really low to the ground if required. The resistance is stiff and adjustable with an included Allen key. It's reassuring at it's supplied setting and I placed a 7.5kg kettle bell on top of it with the ball head attached and it didn't budge. Obviously that's a centered directly downward force. If you had a large heavy lens like a long zoom mounted to the camera it would pull to one side, simply due to physics and the leverage applied by such a large heavy lens (and it's rated to 2kg max for the ball head joint). The silicon rubber feet do a great job of gripping on a shiny table surface that I tried it on with the aforementioned kettle bell sat on it.
3. It's got a spirit level in the arca plate adjustment bolt. This is going to be useful when you flip the ball head into portrait position but no use if in landscape mode. But this is no Biggie to me as I have an electronic level built into my camera if I need it.
The ball head joint has a standard tripod thread and so I could use this with other standard tripods if I want.
My initial impressions are that this is a super high quality item that far exceeds that of the Manfrotto Pixi Pro with additional functionality and a more useful and more 'pro' style ball joint head for only a little extra money. I have several small rig items and I've been using those and Manfrotto for over ten years now. I'm always impressed with their quality.
At the £34 I paid for this item I don't think there is anything at this level of quality and price point to beat it. I'll update this review as I use it over the coming weeks and months.
My main use will be for hand held vlogging, which is feels the perfect size and ergonomics for in my large hands. Some landscape shots when I'm out hiking each week (where I'll use a Fujifilm XT2 and XF18-55mm lens, which are a moderately heavy combo) and probably my Vanguard 8x32mm monocular for wildlife and mobile phone digi scoping, where I use my mobile phone for identifying birds when I'm out in the great outdoors.
I'm looking forward to putting it through it's paces in all conditions and some hard use. Watch this space.Images in this review
