Review on 📷 SLIK Sprint 150 Aluminum Tripod with SBH-150DQ Ball Head - Black: A Sturdy and Versatile Photography Essential by Anthony Shields

Is the SLIK Sprint 150 the perfect tripod? No (but close). Is it bloody expensive for what you get? Yes. Pros: • Flip-lock legs with enough rigidity to open and close. Twist lock design sucks. • The legs slide out very quickly and easily. • Retractable leg angle design - this design is better than many others - it should be standard. • Very strong with minimal flex. • Slanted legs provide stability on the floor. • Lightweight, especially considering its height. • Flat knobs on center post and ball head • Very well made ball head • Dual access planes (not easy to see when camera is on, tripod, but useful for initial setup.) • Very easy quick release and quick attachment to plate • Strong enough for something big Bigger than my EM1 Mk II and PL12-60. Cons - Not all are important, but I'll mention them anyway: • Can't turn it into a monopod. • The counterweight attachment method is not standard with the center post. • The only downside to the ball head is that it doesn't come with a socket mount. A NOTICE. You can twist the center column ring to give it some resistance and don't overtighten the column with the flat center column latch, but that's not accurate and I probably wouldn't recommend it unless you can afford a different head. That's it, only 3 minuses. And that may not matter to most people. Why did I buy this? I have a Zomei Z818 tripod that I paid over $110 for, but I bought it to use with a larger camera. Unfortunately one of the lenses had a focusing issue so I sent the camera and lens back and got a smaller and lighter Micro Four Thirds setup. My zomei is rated at over 20 pounds and is a large (up to 6 feet) heavy brick. After 4 years of use I've decided that while I really like the tripod head, I hate everything else about it. So I decided it was time for a new tripod. I went through many dozens of options and finally came back to the SLIK Sprint 150, it was the cheapest lightweight tripod on the market that is really usable (e.g. sturdy, rises to a decent height - at eye level). I figured it would be easy enough to swap out the SLIK SBH-150DQ ball head for the one on my current tripod and mount the SLIK ball head on my Manfroto tabletop tripod. It worked. My only caveats are: • If panoramas are the main task you will be using a tripod for, either buy a different head or tripod. • When using lenses larger than 100-400mm on a tripod. Get something bigger - SLIK makes big tripods for you. For all of us. This is the best tripod you will find for under $150, but it's under $60.