MeFoto RoadTrip Lightweight 61.6" Carbon Fiber Tripod/Monopod, w/Case, Twist Locks, Triple Action Ballhead w/Arca Swiss Plate - Green (C1350Q1G)

I was in the market for a decent travel tripod that I could stuff in my suitcase when I travel and actually provide me with some stability and function without sacrificing space. I must have read a dozen reviews on this tripod and its bigger brother, the Mefoto Globetrotter. I usually use a Canon 5DmkII, and I wanted a tripod that could support that body and a 70-200mm lens if needed.After using this tripod for the better part of a month, I'm sold! I took this out on a wedding shoot, half a dozen hikes, brought it to a studio rental, and did a fair share of urban shooting. This tripod is solid, even when extended all the way up and supporting that big zoom lens. I was shooting some static video shots as well and this tripod held my 5DmkII perfectly still, even in some strong winds and questionable terrain (hanging off a cliff :P).The legs extend fast and have two angles you can set them to. With some practice, you can get this tripod setup and level within 20 seconds. I'm not sure how well they will hold up after years of abuse, but for the price and abuse I've put my tripod through already I'm betting it'll last a while.The ball head was questionable when I bought it, and I almost elected to use one of my trigger heads or put on a fluid head (the included head screws off and has a universal mount). However, most of the time I just keep this one attached. It folds up nicely and I've never been in a position where it was advantageous to change it out for a bigger trigger head.I do carry a Manfrotto fluid head with me so that I can get some panning shots. If you are planning to do some video with this tripod, make sure you hang some weight on the center column (there's a hook under it) for some additional stabilization. If I was doing only video, I would probably get the more expensive Globetrotter just to have something beefier. This wasn't designed for video in mind, but it beats carrying around a bulky video tripod around.The monopod is definitely a cool feature, and you can get it assembled pretty quickly if you want to switch between the two. It's quite sturdy.The tripod comes with a nylon case, some adjustment tools, and a set of spikes if you want to change out the feet. It really folds up under 16 inches, and with the nylon case I am able to tuck it in the back of my luggage when I travel. That size is a God-send when you're hauling a camera up the side of a cliff face. I barely noticed it strapped on my bag.For a tripod in the hobby class, the Roadtrip is well worth the price. My professional photography friends even went ahead and picked up a Roadtrip for their weekend/hobby kits. Plus...colors. Who says your awesome gear can't come in colors other than black/grey?One last thing: make sure you register the tripod on Mefoto's website, too! You get 5 years in total, which is crazy for a consumer-class tripod.

First impressions:These are my first impressions. Hopefully after using the tripod a few times in the field I will fine tune this review.I had a hard time deciding between the Roadtrip and the larger heavier GlobeTrotter. In the end I bought the Roadtrip because it is one pound lighter and I have no camera or lenses that would, when combined, exceed the 17 pound plus capacity of the tripod. Not even close.Materials and Construction-The tripod seems well made. The controls for the ball head as well as the leg locks are wrapped in a soft material that makes the controls very pleasant to operate. Nothing about this tripod feels cheap. You can unlock each leg section five at a time quite easily. Try doing that with lever locks. I prefer the twist locks and these seem very nice. The level is a little small for my aging eyes. That’s about my only complaint on the materials. The ball head is very nicely made and machined. There is a tension control for panning and although this tripod is not designed for video, you could do an occasional pan quite smoothly. All if this is in a sub 4 pound package. Very nice!Operation-Very easy to open and setup. If you practice this, you can do it quite rapidly. After the wrap, the fun drops considerably, but the nice tiny package you end up with is well worth the small amount of work you put into collapsing this thing and putting it away. One or more have complained about the quick release plate not gripping a DSLR tight enough. I would suggest mounting the plate horizontally across the camera bottom. This has two advantages. First it covers more surface area and the grip is considerably better. If you tighten up the plate occasionally, your camera will stay put in the vertical position. At least mine (Nikon D7100) does. The other advantage is that you can see the tripod level, if your eyes are good enough. The tripod does vibrate a good bit. It is very light weight and this should be expected. Using the included self-retracting (spring loaded) hook and some weight would help with this as would something other than the shutter button to fire the camera off. If you want something a bit sturdier, get the GlobeTrotter. Get the carbon fiber version if you want to have the weight of the Roadtrip, but you are going to spend close to $400 on it. I've got a Bogen 3021 for my rock solid needs. I've also got a pickup truck to haul it around. I think the Roadtrip will suit me just fine.Value-Exceptional is the only word I have to describe the value of this tripod. Yes it is made in China, but those who think everything coming out of China is junk are fooling themselves. You usually get what you pay for, but in this case you are getting a tripod that could be sold by someone else for a lot more than you pay for it. The main reason why I picked this tripod was the great reviews at Amazon. The fact that there was a well-designed web site with contact numbers and addresses impressed me. I had a chance to try out their customer service a few days ago. The warranty for this thing is 3 years, but if you fill in the registration they give you an extra 2 years. This can all be done on their web site. The problem I had was I couldn't find a serial number on the tripod to put in the registration. Last Saturday, I emailed them and asked where it was. On Monday at 9:44 AM I received a reply and they told me where to look for it. That’s a .75 business hour response time. You don’t get much better than that. I feel confident that should I need a part or warranty service on this thing, I will be able to. By the way the serial number on my tripod was located at the top of the sticker on one of the legs in dark ink on a dark background. You have to look for it harder than I originally did.Summary: So far I have only tested this thing in my home, but my impressions are very positive. I really don’t have anything negative to say about this tripod.

Very good price for a solid sturdy steady tripod. Folded to fit INSIDE my backpack easily. Very quick to deploy. I would trust my multi grands gear on it!

trapped de conception vraiment qualitative, moins de 1,5kg et devient vite indispensable a toutes les excursions photo. Matériaux d'excellente facture et finition irréprochable.

Good product good price and delivery.

Excellent trépied de voyage. Stable malgré sa légèreté. Il est au top

All things considered this is a really great tripod as the title of my review points out - but there are a few negatives, so let's get those out of the way first.At £150 it's not really what you call cheap compared to other options that are out there, but I have seen tripods that don't do as much as this which are more expensive so I guess it might be argued that it's 'reasonably-priced', but it's still quite expensive. The plate to mount the camera to the tripod is OK - it can be quite fiddly to fit when you're out in the middle of nowhere in the dark and sometimes you need to double check that it is actually mounted. There are two pins that stop the camera sliding off the tripod if you tilt the head too far forward and if the camera is not securely mounted, but really I'd just make sure you're careful or use a neckstrap if you're concerned about that. It comes supplied with an Allen Key to secure the plate to the bottom of the camera. This has advantages and disadvantages, the advantage is you can really tightly screw the plate to the camera so it's more secure than a screw that you can twist with your fingers, but the disadvantage is if you lose that Allen Key or forget to take it with you then you're not completely out of luck because you can actually tighten the screw yourself without the key, but it's nowhere near as tight.Now let's talk about the positives. Firstly, this tripod is so versatile. Not only is it a tripod which can stand pretty high at 61.6" (just over 5ft) but it's also a monopod that can stand just about as tall. I owned a Manfrotto monopod not long ago that was as tall as this or maybe only slightly taller when this is a monopod. This is great for somebody like me who wants a tripod for doing night photography with, but also a monopod for use with a large zoom lens like a 500mm. Now we only have to buy one product! The monopod is made up by unscrewing one of the legs and then attaching it to the centre column which can be unscrewed from the tripod body.The tripod is probably not the most stable tripod on the market, but by no means will a breath of wind knock it over. The locks on the legs can be a little confusing to operate at first but it soon becomes almost second nature, they are obviously essential for keeping the legs at the same angles but if you want each leg to be at a different angle then you can. If you own a professional-grade D-SLR and some heavy lenses don't worry because this tripod can support them. It takes my D500 with the grip and a 17-50mm f/2.8 attached with no problem. I'd quite happily sit a D5 or something as heavy as that on this. It feels well-made and sturdy - a real quality product - but also light enough and small enough (when folded) to carry with you wherever you go. You can see how small this folds compared to a cheap Hahnel Triad 30 Lite in my photos. The Hahnel is not a tall tripod, this is probably taller, but it folds down so small compared to it! If you have a large camera bag it can probably fit inside it, if not you can almost certainly attach it to the front of your bag without any problem. It comes in a really nice carrying case anyway which has a zipped pocket inside it which you can use to store the Allen Key and included printed instructions.Mine's metallic blue and it looks absolutely gorgeous. It's nice to see a tripod that comes in a range of colours, too many are black or grey so it's great to see some colours for a change! This blue one so happened to be cheaper than the other colours and really looks the part - not that it really matters but I just love the style of these tripods.So all in all if you need a professional-grade tripod for your professional-grade camera and lenses that's small and light to carry, two products in one and looks stunning, this is the tripod for you!