Review on Foldio3 + Halo Bars - 25-inch Portable Foldable Product Photo Lighting Studio with Halo Bars by ORANGEMONKIE by Jason Dahlkemper

I really want to like this lightweight tent. It's fantastically easy to set up, takes a few minutes and folds up so compactly that it's easy to find storage space. The photos are very comparable to other lightweight tents on the market. My favorite lightweight tent is a bit big and takes a while to set up, so it's not great for quick photos. Sometimes I had to miss the opportunity to list an item a day early because I just didn't have time to set everything up. This fills that gap, allowing for quick setup and a smaller footprint. Halo bars provide great fill light for the front of the subject, although I've found that I still need a small reflector for some subjects depending on shape. I took some neodymium magnets to attach the halos in more positions than just the side or bottom, this worked well for my needs. However, the quality leaves a lot to be desired. The material is essentially corrugated plastic cardboard similar to the material. Mine already arrived with a few dents, luckily they are purely cosmetic but I'm sure there will be more to come. The absolute most heavenly part of this product is the dimmer that everything is connected to and the cables. The cables come loose at the slightest touch, I've started using tape to avoid the worst but it still happens. The cables are also not long enough to get out of the way, barely enough to get out the other side of the box and the 2 cables from the halo bars + the cable for the box itself is a bit much work if not long enough to be flexible and they should all connect to the same place even though they come from different realms. Which wouldn't be such a big deal if every little bump on the wires didn't cause the lights to flicker or go out entirely. It has a handle which I will most likely remove as the ends are protruding into the photo area. It's not as noticeable when using a plastic background, but with fabric I had to pull it forward a little so the bumps don't show up in the photos. The white background worked well. But black doesn't work. It's a velvety material that picks up all kinds of lint, but the most disappointing thing is that it has horizontal lines that are very visible in the photo and that require a lot of editing to remove. If I want to use the rest of the backdrops with this tent I'll need to put velcro on the back or attach something with tape or magnets to make them work. I'm not a big fan of it, but it's not the end of the world. All in all, it's not the worst, but it's not great either. When I need to take top-notch photos, I skip the folder. But for a quick and dirty job, it gets the job done with minimal setup.