Cheap, stable and extending tripod

The tripod in its bag with a PS3 controller used
 as a comparison

I recently ordered the following Tripod from Amazon to use with my camcorder to record badminton, the thing is great and read more of my review. 

When the box arrived I thought "hmm this seems a bit small" Still I opened the box and though the product looked pretty solid, light and compact and it was just left down to the user test to see how good it actually was at standing up.

This is an extending tripod so you can raise it up and so the first thing to work out was how to extend it, this is really easy, all you have to do it unclip the clips on the bottom of the legs. 

The three clips used to release the extensions.

Fully extended unit,
ready to record. 

There are 3 clips per leg, this allows you to extend it to differently lengths really easily and just close the clips back up to secure the unit. 

The unit once it is standing is actually really solid and although my aim is not to use it outside I have no doubt that should I wanted to use it outside it would be fine as long as the wind was not too strong.  (Video of how to do it all is shown in the below footage).






The stand also has a little level on it so that you can make sure you are (or maybe aren't?) recording at an angle. Attaching the camcorder is really easy as you just line up the screw with the slot on the camcorder and screw it in. The unit is then ready to go, there is another screw on the side so that you can move the aim up and down and you can use the handle on the side to move the angle left and right, this means if you are panning around.

Needless to say that the footage that I got using this was much more stable than recording by hand and it was much easier to get it to the right height and angle than using a table.

Summary:

This is a great little unit which for the price is a steal, it extends to a good height (around a meter) and is solid enough for my uses, if you are more serious about recording outside then get something more expensive, though with little wind or indoors this is perfect. It is compact enough to fit into my badminton bag but makes a world of different to the footage I obtain. 5/5 - To find the exact product I got follow the link below to Amazon.