I have many tripods and each one has its own drawbacks, the more stable they are the heavier they tend to be, unless you are paying a fortune for carbon fibre. Even very compact and lightweight versions can be a bit bulky when just walking around with your camera. So if possible I like to be able to pack my stuff into a single shoulder bag, so its camera, spare lens, fold up stool, tripod, bottle of water and a snack plus my mobile phone goes in, oh and I nearly forgot the pop up drinking bowl for my dog. After that I'm set up for a nice walk and hopefully take some shots along the way, I often take images of wild flowers, fungi and other close up and macro stuff that is mainly at ground level and although my other tripods will do the job they have to be set up very low down and that is where this comes into its own. So lets start with the basics, this is and never was intended to be a professional tripod, you would not want your heavy and expensive Canon or Nikon sitting unattended on the top of this in a stiff breeze. It is however a very well made small tripod for certain tasks like the ones I mention above, it is very compact and lightweight and will pack away easily into a bag or backpack. It is not particularly tall and at fully extended height will put the lens of your camera at about 42” above ground level which would be fine for most casual panoramic shots, but it works best as a small tripod for low to ground level photography and when used at up to say about 24” high even a heavy camera would be secure enough, although if used at full height I would advise staying close to the tripod just in case. Construction wise it has three alloy extruded sections with plastic snap down locking tabs to secure each section and these seem quite robust when closed. The centre post moves up or down within a 12” range and the three legs are braced between with a sliding bridge section that locks when pressed downwards. The top section has a tilt and pan locking head with a quick release lever for the camera plate, all a bit basic as you would expect for the price and although plastic it does seem to hold the camera secure enough in the horizontal position, but I would not trust it with a heavy camera or telephoto lenses. Basically it is what it is and for the price it is ideal for the purpose I will be using it for and would happily recommend it to anyone wanting one for similar use, i.e. low down and macro photography without the need for carrying a bulky tripod around with you.