- It's solid. There's no flex to it.
- It's fast! Just pull the leg down all the way - it locks itself. Then pull the trigger on the handle, push down on the grip until the monopod is at the height you want and let go of the trigger. It's set and locked!
- It's listed to support 17.6 lbs.
- The unit is relatively water. sand and dirt proof because the lowest section is the largest and the upper sections slide down into the lower section. So, if you stand it in a puddle, in sand, mud or dirt, it won't get into the workings of the unit.
- It has a nice, large rubber, non-slip foot that makes a nice base to rest the monopod on. The rubber foot slips off to expose a ball that is hiding an adjustable spike to give support on surfaces that don't work well with the rubber foot.
- I put a Manfrotto 234C Swivel Head with quick release for the RC2 Rapid Connector. I like the head. The quick release has a locking function which makes me feel much better about putting an expensive camera and lens on it.
The cons are;
- The monopod is not compact. Completely collapsed, it is 32" long with the swivel head on it.
- It is not light. It weighs 2.38 lbs, not including the swivel head. With the head, you are looking at 3 lbs. I wouldn't want to use it as a walking stick.
- It's expensive for a monopod. This unit is aluminum, not carbon fiber. I paid $123.95 plus $55.95 for the head on Amazon.
Manfrotto also makes a Neotec tripod which works the same way. Each leg just pulls down and has its own "trigger" to adjust the height. It is 5.3 lbs without the head. Maximum height, without the head, is only 61.4 inches, so most of us will have to stoop to look through the camera's viewfinder. And it closes up to 25.2 inches without the head. The unit will run you about $550.00 with a decent ball head. Frankly, it doesn't really make sense at the price, but the quick and easy setup and take down is very attractive. I hate using a tripod because of the frustration involved in setting it up, especially if I'm in a hurry. If this tripod is really that quick and easy to set up, that might be worth the price all by itself.
