3 Legged Thing Punks Brian Carbon Fibre Compact Travel Tripod System … (Brian)

Much like the perfect travel photography bag, I feel like I was always searching for the perfect travel tripod. After purchasing several cheaper carbon fiber tripods over the year, and having them fail at the worst times, I decided to find a good reliable tripod. I literally had a tripod practically fall apart on a trip to Costa Rica and have another with a leg that came off (and would not stay on) on a trip to Hawaii. After doing some research, I found that I had narrowed it down to a tripod that was in the $1200 range to this one in the $300 range. Yeah, that is one heck of a price range! But I will say that the cost was not the main aspect that steered me to buy the Three Legged Thing (TLT) Brian travel tripod. This thing collapses down to 16 inches, yet extends to 74 inches. That is really nice, as I do a lot of traveling, and I had not brought my tripod on trips simply because it took up too much space. I also really liked the look of the TLT tripods. The British company has done a great job marketing their products and what great looking color schemes. After using this on a couple of trips, I have to say I really like it. I had a full frame camera with a 70-200mm f2.8 Lens on it and had it extended to about 70 inches taking some landscape / sunset pictures. There was a good 10 mph wind blowing and it felt like a rock. Also hiking with this thing is great. A quick quarter turn and the legs come out or in and since it collapses down to 16 inches it is easy to slide into any tripod or water bottle pocket on a backpack. I am now a fan of the Three Legged Thing products and will be purchasing more.

I've heard so many good things about this tripod. So many people saying how great it was, and how sturdy, etc. Well I have to say that I was not impressed at all. Sure, the specs are impressive. But when I actually got it in my hands, it was a different story. Granted, I did not actually take it out and shoot with it. But I've used enough tripods to know that this one was not going to cut it. And yes, I realize that this is a travel tripod, not a studio tripod, so you have to make some compromises. However, there are plenty of travel tripods on the market, for around the same price, that are much sturdier and built from better materials. I've compiled a list of pros and cons below to summarize my assessment of this tripod.PROS:- Very light weight.- Very tall when fully extended and the perfect height for me (I'm 5'9") without the center column.- Twist knobs are machined aluminum.- Not terribly expensive for a carbon finer tripod with head.CONS:- Not sturdy at all.- Extremely thin legs. The thickest parts are about 7/8" and the thinnest parts are only about 3/8". That's ridiculous!- Leg knobs didn't work smoothly and the legs were hard to pull out. It's almost as if they were gummed up with something gritty. The center column was like that too, and even caused the carbon fiber to scuff up with big streaks all down the length of each part.- Ballhead is junk. Fully tightened and you can still move the camera around without that much force. And I only had a mirrorless on there with a 24-105. There is no way this thing holds as much as it's rated for.- Ballhead is not machined aluminum. Instead it's some sort of mystery cast metal with a cheap powder coated finish. Feels cheap, looks cheap...is cheap.- Carrying case it comes in is cheap vinyl and feels disposable.All in all, I would not recommend this tripod. It doesn't hold a candle to the build quality and value of my Sirui travel tripod that costs about the same. The only thing it can boast about is that it goes a little past 6'. But I wouldn't trust a disposable camera on this thing at that hight. The slightest breeze would send it toppling over in a heartbeat. Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.

This tipod is exactly what I have been wanting for the past few years - and now I found it. First time I have had a lightweight tripod that I could stand erect and look in the viewfinder. I plan to leave my other 2 tripods in the closet from now one. This is not just a travel gear - its a real nice all-time tripod. This comes with a cover/bag - and when its inside there you would never believe that a full 6' sturdy tripod could be tucked inside. Extremely compact. Everything works as they claim. Everything is precision made and very nice quality. I found it to be very stable with my equipment, but I have nothing where the camera and lens combined are over 6 lbs. It would likely woble a bit with 20 lbs of gear. As some reviews noted the bottom section of legs is fairly narrow - about the diameter of my pinky. I tested for stability with the bottom section retracted - which makes it about 10 in shorter. Maybe a bit less flex in the legs this way - and I can still get it up to my eye level with the 2 section center post, but I found the fully extended center post has some flex that is more noticable than any flex in the bottom section of the legs. So I just use it with legs fully extended and center post almost all the way down. A lot of quality and functionality here. Great value for the $. I am extremely happy with this "thing".

This is, after all, a travel tripod, so it isn't as stable or as sturdy as a heavy tripod, but I'm very pleased with it. I bought it primarily for the ability to invert the column to take staked macros close to the ground and it will be great for that purpose. It folds to a shorter length and extends to a greater height than my original backpack tripod and it's lighter, so the original is out. The ball head is small, but supports my heavy dslr's well enough that I'm not worried about them.

Purchased this due to the good brand name hoping for a small, lightweight sturdy tripod for an upcoming trip to the Lake District so I purchased the "Brian" instead of using my big heavy Manfrotto 055pro.I could have went with another brand (Sirui) which was around half the price but chose this one and boy did I make a mistake.First off, one of the legs refuses to go back in when you open the twist lock fully (one of the reasons im returning it and going to go with the Sirui instead). The tripod is so flimsy you would only get a good shot on a calm day with a throwaway disposable camera on top. It really is that flimsy!!. Ballhead is rubbish. Tightened fully you still get a lot of creeping.CON OF THE TRIPODS:- Not sturdy at all.- Extremely thin legs. The thickest parts are about 7/8" and the thinnest parts are only about 3/8". That's ridiculous!- Leg knobs didn't work smoothly and the legs were hard to pull out. It's almost as if they were gummed up with something gritty. The center column was like that too.- Ballhead is complete junk. Fully tightened and you can still move the camera around without that much force. And I only had a Nikon Z7 mirrorless on there with the Z 24-70mm (very light setup). There is no way this thing holds as much as it's rated for, I attached my 70-200mm lens to the Z7 and when on the tripod it wobbled all over the place.- Ballhead is not machined aluminum. Instead it's some sort of mystery cast metal with a cheap powder coated finish. Feels cheap, looks cheap...is cheap and rubbish.- Carrying case it comes in is cheap vinyl and feels disposable.All in all, I would not recommend this tripod, All the positive reviewers must be using it with a disposable camera!! Do yourself a favour and look elsewhere. You will come home with a lot of blurry shots using this, even on a calm day.

This is the perfect light weight, travel tripod. The legs invert to collapse into the centre column for carrying and folds out in use so even I (at over 6’ tall) can use with minimal stoop. It is beautifully made, and feels strong and sturdy even at full extension. I would use the Winston model if you want a sturdy but less portable option.

Love it. Does everything I need it to do. Lightweight for walking with and sturdy when out photographing landscapes. It fitted neatly into my cabin baggage when flying on my recent holiday. The monopod also worked a treat when photographing puffins on the saltee island.

This tripod is quite expensive but the value for it is really good product compared to some other brands that cost double the price, if you are thinking about buying this I w recommend not using it in strong winds as it could easily get blown over or be fully prepared to weight it down

Loving this tripod, works well with my Nikon D750 and Tamron 24-70mm lens. Very sturdy, lightweight and goes ridiculously tall. Very well made.