Peak Design Travel Tripod (Carbon Fiber) Ultra-Portable, Stable and Compact Professional Camera Tripod

This is my second Peak Design Travel Tripod. The first one was apparently so nice that an unnamed TSA agent decided it would be better off in his possession than mine. That said, it was such a well designed tripod that I was willing to purchase a replacement immediately, which says a lot considering the price of this thing. It's not cheap, but its worth the cost to me.First, it's important to understand what this thing really is. It's not the most stable tripod in the work. There are much heavier sturdier tripods that are great for studio work, or if you don't mind lugging something four times heavier around with you. However, I have yet to find anything even close to as sturdy as this item is that is as easy to carry with you, or that is so well designed. This extends all the way down to the travel case for the tripod, which is a little padded fabric sleeve that keeps the tripod protected without adding an ounce more weight than necessary, and has handy attachment points for clipping to whatever other gear you have.Collapsed, the tripod is small and maybe more importantly well balanced. Its not overly top heavy or awkward to carry. It fits in water bottle pockets on backpacks (top will extend out, of course, good to have a strap too). Personally I usually clip it to the bottom of whatever pack I'm using using the reinforced loops on the travel pouch.In use the tripod is great. Its sturdy and very adjustable. Stability is greatly enhanced by hanging your backpack or other item from the hook on the center post, but even without that I had no issues and I use some pretty big lenses. Again, there are sturdier tripods, but this is meant for travel and easy carry, and considering how light it is I'm very impressed with the stability.The swivel mount is also well designed, but be aware it's different from a typical ball-mount tripod head. It has a lot of adjustability, and I really like using it once I got comfortable with it. But I'm not sure it's quite as adjustable as my Sirui. It's possible to mount a third party head on this tripod, but that requires the Universal Head Adapter from Peak Design, an additional purchase.Finally, there are a few additional nice touches with this tripod. It has a built-in mobile phone adapter. Yes, I'm guessing most people buying this tripod have "real" cameras to use with it, but it's a nice touch, and there are some uses for being able to easily mount your phone at times. It also has built in storage for the only tool you need for adjustments, a little allen wrench. The head is reversable, so you can actually mount your camera between the legs to get a really low shot.All in all, it's the best portable tripod I've found, and I've looked around a lot.

I've been using the carbon fiber model of this tripod for about 2 years now. I got it shortly after crushing the leg of my old tripod in a car door. So I recognize that while this tripod sometimes makes me feel like an idiot, I also just may be an idiot.This tripod is light. I didn't think I'd use the shoulder bag, but I almost always pack it in the bag. It deploys super fast. Flip 3 clips and the legs fly out. Camera gets locked in immediately. It's really great. I've used this tripod in variety of spots and it's proven rugged. Everything from forests and mountains in Colorado, to beaches in Portugal. It's weathered a lot of terrain... and weather.The way the camera clips in feels secure. And it's easy to do, even in the dark. It's felt secure and mostly stable. Everything from a small (but still large) 50mm 1.2 to a fully extended 100-500mm. In high winds I get shake at 500mm when filming video... But that's expected. For photos it's been plenty stable.Ok so here is what I hate.I hate closing the clips to secure the legs. 2 out of 10 times I pinch the skin on my hand. The webbing between my thumb and fore finger. I feel like an idiot closing this thing. Because I know it's going to pinch. But I still rush it and feel like an idiot.The amount of mobility of the ballhead sucks when you go vertical. I know you can spin things around a certain way which gives you a full range of motion, but it sucks figuring it out in the dark when you're trying to grab a photo. The fix for this is to buy an L-Bracket for your camera (or use a long lens with a collar and rotate there). My issue is that Peak Design doesn't sell an L-Bracket. So I bought one from a very good company, but still have to alter it slightly and add another Peak Design clip to it so that it still works (with the shoulder strap latch thing). It sucks that the solution isn't all within the Peak family. It also sucks that the ballhead has that funny little hitch.And lastly, the little wrench/hex key holder. It's that little 2 hex key thing that costs $15. Buy extras. I have lost two already because my thumb sometimes hits the bottom of the holder which ejects the hex key from the holder. I'd knocked it out dozens of times, but lost it once on the floor of my studio, and again on the beach in Portugal. I'm holding out hope that the one in my studio is still findable. But the one in Portugal is a piece of treasure you can find if you go barefoot on Nazaré's North Beach. I have hopes that Peak can refine the design so it's not so easy to eject. It's another element that makes me feel like an idiot. And I want my tripod to comfort me and tell me I'm smart. Capable. Not a loser (of hex wrenches).Lastly the phone holder attachment is 100% unnecessary. But I'm still happy it's there. I've used it a grand total of 3 times. And when I did it was a handy solution.

So out of the box it's impressive. It's really a sight to behold, and when you have it in your hands you will feel the weight of it and wonder how it feels so well built while having the weight of cheap plastic. It's bold, it's strong, its stable. The cherry on top is how easy it is to use. Setting and resetting your position is so easy. It takes minimal movement. I can go from fully loose, to tightened down without ruining my shot. There's zero sag. When you set it, it stays. I also love how compact it is. Aside from it being as light as a croissant, it's so tiny that it makes storage a breeze. I've tried inside my bag and out. I settled on outside, and thanks to a durable case strap, I can feel confident in the way I mounted it. I couldn't be happier. This is well worth the money.