Tripod for iPad iPhone Camera Tablet,Portable Lightweight Aluminum Travel Tripod

I am rating the Zomei Z669C tripod 2/5. Zomei seems to want to satisfy their customers so here's hoping that the one I received is just a dud, and I can get a good replacement. I will try to contact Zomei and update this review thereafter.UPDATE 1/30: I would absolutely buy from Zomei again given the outstanding customer support and superb explanation to my concerns. So I am updating my rating from a 2/5 to 4/5 (minus 1 for the imperfect tripod though I would give a 6/5 for the customer support if I could). To those on the fence, I would recommend to just buy the tripod. If you receive one that isn't perfect, contact Zomei (or Amazon), and they will take care of you. I sincerely wish all companies would treat their customers with respect as Zomei has with me. Thanks, Ray! Details below...UPDATE 1/30: I have been in direct e-mail contact with Ray at Zomei and, WOW, his response is THE BEST I've ever received from any customer support team. He read my original review, answered each con that I had line by line, and provided me a method for return. In the end, I did return the tripod and Zomei refunded the full amount plus return shipping. I returned it mainly because the particular tripod I received did have some imperfections and, consider me optimistic, I have hopes that Zomei will incorporate my feature requests into their next design. May take a while but I am not in a rush at this moment.Pros:1. Overall good quality materials and construction. Carbon fiber legs are rigid while magnesium alloy fork and ball head are solid. Everything feels great except for the cons listed.2. Ball head maintains position on a Canon 5D Mark III with either EF 24-105 mm or 75-300 mm lens. There is no noticeable creep once the locking knobs are tightened.3. Versatile tripod with inverted and monopod configurations. I had no trouble changing among the different configurations.4. Generally smooth operation and adjustments. Ball head adjustment/locking and leg extension/retraction is good. Ball head panning and leg twist locks need improvement (see cons).5. Horizontal bubble level is completely visible with the Canon 5D Mark III as long as it is mounted with the QR locking knob at front and bubble level in back.Cons:1. Ball head panning is incredibly stiff in both directions. Makes clockwise panning slow and difficult. In the counter-clockwise direction, it will loosen the head right off the tripod. This is with the locking knob loose and unlocked. Because of this, panning is just not usable.UPDATE 1/30: Zomei recommended I loosen the locking knob but my ball head panning remained stiff. Other reviews I read were mixed: some were smooth and panned nicely; others had the head rotating right off like mine. Luck of the draw with this one but if you are unhappy, I'm sure Zomei would do what they can to make it right.2. Twist locks for the legs bind (does not affect leg extension/retraction, which are smooth). The cause is excessive amounts of epoxy on the threads. This makes the rotation rough (see image).UPDATE 1/30: What I thought was epoxy is actually lubrication. Sorry for the mistake! Zomei explained that this should not be wiped off, otherwise, it could cause binding over time. Despite the lubrication, the twist locks on my tripod were a bit rough.3. Vertical bubble level and 2nd pan(?) knob is missing. Vertical bubble level is available in Marbl Productions' 5/28/15, Rick Taylor's 9/12/15, Levi80's 7/30/15, and Eunoia's 9/13/15 reviews. 2nd pan(?) knob is seen in Rick Taylor's 9/12/15 and Levi80's 7/30/15 reviews. These are all Z669C tripods since they have 4 leg twist locks (Q666C, Z668, Z668C have 3). Did I receive an older version?UPDATE 1/30: The tripod I received was the new version. The vertical bubble level was removed following feedback indicating that it was useless (refer to my reference to it in Pros #5, image, Feature Request #2, as well as other reviews). The new version was designed in 8/2015 but only started selling on Amazon on 10/2015.4. Attention to detail during manufacturing is poor. Twist grip for attaching/removing the monopod leg is poorly aligned (see image). This is epoxied on so I can't change it. Twist lock grips to extend/retract the leg sections are also misaligned but not as badly. Does it impact functionality? No. Does it make the tripod look ugly and cheap? Unfortunately, yes. At $150, I expect the tripod to at least look decent.5. Fully retracted storage height is advertised at 35 cm (13.8 in). Actual height is 37.1 cm (14.625 in). 2 cm (0.8 in) taller isn't much but the tripod shouldn't be advertised at the shorter height. I was looking for a compact tripod and was swayed heavily by the short height. For those interested, maximum operational height of 151 cm is accurate. 1.51 kg is also accurate (I measured slightly lighter at 1.49 kg or 3 lbs 4.4 oz).Feature request:1. I wish there was an additional bubble level on the tripod fork so I can tell whether the legs are level. This would allow me to set the legs level, then the ball head level, and ensure the pan is level.2. The vertical bubble level and QR knob would need to be oriented left or right of the camera for it to be useful. This would result in the horizontal bubble level to be obscured. If the horizontal bubble level could be moved to an adjacent side to the QR knob both vertical and horizontal bubble levels could be used.UPDATE 1/30: Here is the reply from Ray at Zomei for those who are interested. You may judge for yourself (I for one was impressed that every con was addressed, that he was forthright and honest about the flaws, and provided a return method--I've dealt with many customer support individuals giving canned responses, the run-around, or incomplete answers requiring me to write them multiple times):[From Ray at Zomei]Thank you so much for your review, I'm Ray from zomei customer service team. I'm gonna answer the questions(cons) you mentioned in your message:1.Stiff ballhead panning? There's a knob(see the attached picture) for you to fine tuning rotating damper.2.Excessive amounts of epoxy on the threads? No, it's not epoxy, it's just lube to make your screw & unscrew more smooth. You can just wipe it out if you don't like it, but this may cause the screws abrased more quickly.3.Did I receive an older version? Please read the product description, we've clearly made it clear that this model was upgraded on Aug. 2015. New version started to sell after Chinese National Day(Oct.1). That's why you can't find a review with vertical level after Oct 2015. So yes, your tripod is definitely a new version.4.We have nothing to say with this problem, yes, it a flaw of this tripod. We take the responsibility for this. You can send it back if this problem bothered you.5.Retracted storage height is not accurate? Sorry we don't make the description accurate, we'll change the descrition to "hight is approx. 35cm".For the feature request:Yes, thank you for your advice & we'll bring your advice to our R&D department to make some improvements on this tripod. Once it's re-designed, we'll inform you firstly.Our suggest for your order:We know that each customer has his/her quality standards for the same product, we can't deny that our tripod has some flaws. And the flaws may caused some inconvenience to you, we apologize.We would like you to return your tripod to the following address:(postage for return is on us)[Return instructions here]Sorry for all the disappointments & thank you for all your advices.

I bought this based on the glowing reviews of others, and I wasn't disappointed! I took this to the unforgiving climates of Iceland for 2 weeks, and a couple years later to New Zealand for 6 weeks. It took a beating and held up admirably for both trips, finally cracking a bit under the abuse near the very end of the NZ trip. It saw freezing temps, lots of rain, sleet, snow, sand, and just about everything else. Most days I just gave it a quick wipe down.After my trip to Iceland, I realized I had lost the little hook that screws on to the center mast that allows you to hang a weighted bag on it for more stability. I emailed Zomei, asking if there was a way for me to purchase another. They looked at my purchase date, saw that I was still in warranty, and simply sent the piece to me, no questions asked! I thought that was absolutely fantastic of them!During the end of the NZ trip, the plastic bits inside one of the legs cracked, allowing the leg to slide right on out if I wasnt careful about tightening things. When I got back home, I again wrote Zomei, asking if they would sell me those plastic bits separately. This time, I was WAY out of warranty, so I was not expecting a similar response to the one I got last time.After a couple of back and forth emails to clarify what I needed, they asked me if I would be okay if they simply just sent me another tripod. It would definitely be a used tripod, not a new one, but I could cannibalize the plastic pieces I needed from it, plus have plenty of leftover backup pieces in case I broke something later.That's pretty amazing customer service right there, and of course I accepted their offer. I didn't even have to pay shipping. AND it turns out (at least in this case) that "used" meant "pretty much almost new". Except for the packaging, I really couldn't tell that the tripod was ever used. Needless to say I am a very happy and satisfied customer!The tripod itself is great for the travelling amateur photographer. It's very lightweight and easy to extend open/close. Because its a lightweight tripod, it did struggle a bit in high wind areas around Iceland, but having a hook to hang stuff off it and weigh it down helped with that.In summary, it's a great tripod, especially for travel/vacations where you want to minimize the amount of weight you lug around. Zomei's after-the-sale customer service is absolutely fantastic too. I'll be looking to them again when I'm in the market for my next tripod.

I like it but I still do not know if I will use it a lot. It is light

Expensive but built well. Has held up without a problem over the last year.

Quality was not nearly as good as I thought. The QR plate rubbers are poorly glued to the plate itself - two out of four of them already fell out and I have only used this tripod twice. The monopod leg is extremely hard to unscrew and takes a very long time to switch between one another. Overall the tripod feels quite heavy, even with its carbon fiber construction. Quite disappointed with my purchase.