Hands-on with the new Peak Design Travel Tripod

As usual, DPReview commenters don't disappoint with their curmudgeonly knee-jerk negative reactions to a new product.

When I use a tripod its very often windy. Pretty much any tripod can keep a camera stable on level ground in a dead calm on a hard surface. I do wonder about the conditions that these tripods get tested in. Maybe there should be some sort of standard conditions- say 20mph breeze, ten degree slope on grass, or wet sand. I suspect most consumer grade tripods would fail to keep a camera consistently steady for a few seconds in these conditions.

“Piece of mind?”

It's not that small, not that light, load capacity is on the low side, and it's very expensive. The design is very good though and the integrated smartphone holder is a very cool addition. I wonder if it has any sag with an actually heavy combo on it (10lbs+ or so) - that would be the test. Too spendy for what it is in my personal opinion, but maybe I'd feel different with a hands-on. Products like this are usually better on the second iteration as well after all the customer feedback.

$600 for the unseen product? I better stick to the company that have designed and manufactured the small, light, sturdy tripod for over FORTY years.

The Cullmann Tripod. The Nanomax. Simply THE BEST.

My 200T is only 28cm (13") when being stored. It may not be "streamline" when out of the bag. But who cares. The most important duty of the tripod is to SAFELY support the camera, not to be the ornament.

Can't fathom paying $600 for this.

It's heavier than my Sirui carbon fibre tripod with Photo Clam ballhead, which only cost half as much.

I guess it's worth it for well heeled enthusiasts, people doing a lot of hiking, semi-pro and the like. But personally I don't use tripods a lot. Maybe I will buy the Chinese clone in a couple of years.

The adjustable ring of ball head seems hard to use, need to check the real tripod with 70-200mm lens

Apart from having a center column that might reduce stability, I came across TN's review of the tripod and it definitely has some weaknesses (for instance going from landscape to portrait) that will make me pass on this one. I also think PD should have allowed the hex tool to slide into the tripod somewhere (like the hex tool on the new RRS plates) so that it was easily accessible. I think it is cleverly designed and hopefully PD addresses these weaknesses in the next iteration.

In summary - great looking tripod, but functionally a little deficient.

https://youtu.be/EAbytL3almE

Generally I find these news articles quite good, but this one is disappointing.

1 No explanation for how this travel tripod mechanism is different from other conventional ones. What is it claim to do better ? How does it accomplish what it does well (locks down with greater stability than the reviewer expected). ?

2 No link to the Kickstarter web page.

So does the center column have to be up a little in order to articulate the head? Since it seems it's locked in place when fully retracted...

That might compromise overall stability a little vs legs where you can have it all the way down. Am I missing something? I know they're selling an adapter to use other heads but that would bulk up the overall package and leave you with a folded length that's several inches longer (well beyond travel tripod range)...

I would've liked to see them do something even smaller for mirrorless (folding to 12-13") and a larger model (folding down to say 17-18") for heavy duty gear, but I'm probably just biased cause I have two pairs of legs at either end of that spectrum. Maybe they'll iterate and expand the line like with their bags tho...

It's interesting that travel tripod stories, and comments, always note the same suspects: Sirui, MeFoto and of course the ever-standard Manfrotto, then a few other notables. But almost never a review or comment about Velbon, who have an interesting line of very compact travel tripods.

What gives DPR?

I'll be sticking with my Gitzo Traveler and their small ballhead. Supports more than I'll ever need but is so nice, compact, light and rigid and doesn't transmit vibrations. This Peak model is clever in some regards but not without it's faults. The price is a bit more than what it commands in my opinion as well. Oh well.......yet another product that will fall into obscurity.

Check the Tony Northrup hands on of this tripod, he found some unforgivable weaknesses.

600 USD ... won't bring me "piece of mind". My 120 USD Manfrotto get the job done.

And you have to use a hex wrench to install and remove the quick release plate ? No thanks...I got enough stuff to forget to pack.

Still trying to figure out how tripods can be so $$$.

Yes it’s compact, but way to low. Anybody higher than 5 feet will get a back-injury after one day with this tripod.

Light. Strong. Cheap. Pick two.

It seems this cycle adage holds for tripods as well.

"To test their claims I went to our gear closet and brought out one of the heaviest setups I could find: a Nikon D5 with a 70-200mm F2.8 lens"

Minor nitpick but fhat's not a very good test because the heavy lens will balance the heavy camera. You should use a heavy lens and a light camera, or vice versa, if you want to test for sag.

German company Cullmann had for, I'd say, about three decades another approach for a compact tripod: Fold it such that the three legs and the centre column end up side by side (it looks like this: https://www.cullmann.de/fileadmin/Produkte/Stative/MAGIC/CULLMANN_53550_MACIG_COMPACTPOD_D01_Web.jpg).

However, once you add a decent head, it's not quite as flat anymore: https://www.cullmann.de/fileadmin/Produkte/Stative/MAGIC/CULLMANN_53555_magic_edition50_D01_Web.jpg

Here are the details on one of their current models: https://www.cullmann.de/detail/id/magic-5.html

Great design, but OVERPRICED. No... thank you.

Kudos to PD, innovations drives the world ahead.

I bought the be free last year for £90, it's lighter than the PD (over a kilo); granted it doesn't go as high and is only rated to 4Kg so is the PD worth over double the price, I think not.

PD make some great stuff but it's so overpriced

their bag and accessory is a little overprice but this eye-watering expensive :-(

Finally, they came up with something I do not feel the urge to buy.
The design is beautiful. the lines would match the Batis (which is still in the customs).
The legs remind me of the Asian actresses...very slender and slim.
In the movies, a 40-kg lady kicks the daylights out of a 110-kg gangster. In the movies, a lot of things happen...
I do not see a tripod like that carrying a 100-400 x 1.4 steadily.
I got a Sirui T2205 quite recently. It goes down! With the Markins head, it is a bit too much to carry everywhere. You need to think ahead.
I was interested in the RRS travel head but the price was too much...ad freight and 'Octroi de Mer' (a local tax) and you use the money to take a round trip to Paris instead.
Now, I could have been the target client but thank you, I pass.

For those involved in the hands-on "test" of this product, did it feel durable or robust?

Has anyone seen what the weight of each of these is?

impressive, really impressive!
talking about the marketing reach of PD and the media coverage they get for all their kickstarter launch. must be a bunch of geniuses or their overpriced products are paying for all this PR and product placements handsomly...

Man... $600 and $350... :O

I'd bet this Peak tripod is better, but for $65.95 on Amazon, the Slik Mini II is pretty flippin' awesome and I use it more than all my other tripods combined...

https://www.amazon.com/Slik-43-3IN-Compact-Section-Tripod/dp/B0029QGQ5Q

I have an Oben travel tripod and it is decidedly fiddly. Small, light, but sort of difficult to use. I use a small travel tripod just for waterfalls so I just ordered the aluminum Peak Design. If I need a larger tripod, I'll use my 35 year old Bogen 3020.

Here's a fairly well covered video and article.
https://www.imaging-resource.com/articles/the-peak-design-tripod-is-the-most-innovative-tripod-ever

Ball head doesn't pan separately. Wasted pano opportunity with the upside down design, a la Arca-Swiss P0. (Surely you can't patent a ball head that simply works upside down?)

Dan, how you would you compare PD tripod vs MeFoto Globetrotter, half the price?

Looks good, but I am going to sit out on this one (have bought 3 of their previous PD products and found them useful). It's very expensive for a travel tripod ($150 more expensive even on the kick starter price). But yeah, I am sure it will be very good for many of them.

How sturdy is it though?