I needed an extremely small tripod for fitting into a motorcycle saddlebag. It only needed to handle 35mm rangefinder duties as I had situations that a camera support would have been handy and I didn't have anything along on the bike.
There was a distinct lack of selection between large table pods and something more reasonable in size and height. Disclaimer regarding my reference point: I respect and own good pods and heads from Gitzo, Manfrotto, Induro and Bogen, so I know the difference. I wanted something I could leave on the bike for very occasional duty and didn't want to invest a great deal (these are $99.99 w/free shipping). After looking over the scant selection of options, I decided to try one that I spotted on Amazon from a brand I'd not heard of but the reviews seemed favorable and I decided to give it a shot. I ended up with the Zomei Z669. It collapses down to about 15" (just fits my saddlebag style), comes in a nice case and surprised me with more quality than I expected. It's no Gitzo but for this light, sporadic duty, it appears that it will serve me well. It's about 3 pounds and made from magnesium and aluminum and converts to a monopod, too. It's not built for rugged everyday duty but certainly seems to fit the "good enough" category well.
I thought I'd share the experience as I found very little good information on this type of pod. This was an impulse purchase as I was getting tired of looking around but believe it will work out just fine.
There was a distinct lack of selection between large table pods and something more reasonable in size and height. Disclaimer regarding my reference point: I respect and own good pods and heads from Gitzo, Manfrotto, Induro and Bogen, so I know the difference. I wanted something I could leave on the bike for very occasional duty and didn't want to invest a great deal (these are $99.99 w/free shipping). After looking over the scant selection of options, I decided to try one that I spotted on Amazon from a brand I'd not heard of but the reviews seemed favorable and I decided to give it a shot. I ended up with the Zomei Z669. It collapses down to about 15" (just fits my saddlebag style), comes in a nice case and surprised me with more quality than I expected. It's no Gitzo but for this light, sporadic duty, it appears that it will serve me well. It's about 3 pounds and made from magnesium and aluminum and converts to a monopod, too. It's not built for rugged everyday duty but certainly seems to fit the "good enough" category well.
I thought I'd share the experience as I found very little good information on this type of pod. This was an impulse purchase as I was getting tired of looking around but believe it will work out just fine.