Great tripod! it's not for the traveler or someone who wants to carry it around all the time, it's heavy but only really heavy in comparison to a cheap tripod. I needed something sturdy for some long exposure/ time lapse stuff, plus with a 5D + battery pack + lens on top of it. It compacts to a decent size but the pan head sticks out so it would be awkward to pack between stuff in a bag, you would probably want to remove the head for any serious traveling, but I again this tripod isn't exactly for a traveling photographer. The big perk for me was its maximum height, i'm 6'2 and always breaking my back to set up the shot, now its at a much better height and still sturdy. One thing I didn't notice prior to purchase was that there is a hook at the bottom of the middle stem, for putting a weight bag to hold it down and make it even more sturdy, this was a huge bonus and I feel they didn't really mention that. When i'm doing a timelapse of the night sky for example, I want to be able to leave the camera for a few hours and not have to worry about it, so to weigh it down with a sandbag is a huge bonus.