When I received this stand I was a bit worried"How can the stand I ordered come in such a small box?" In the assembled state is the stand however, perfectly functional height and remarkably stable on the tripod base on display. The links slide in and tighten easily, the boom also tightens securely into the desired position, albeit with a little more force than I expected. The reason for the 4 stars in "Quality" is because of 1) the slight thickness of the steel, not that you have to worry about the stand breaking, but a slightly heavier steel tube feels better in the hand, and 2) the The pivoting design for the boom arm feels stiffer and requires more effort to move than I expected. Otherwise the stand works great and the 3 section main shaft means this stand folds down into a very compact form for storage or transport between uses. The mic clamps use non-standard threads (perhaps metric?) so the supplied mic clamps are the only ones that will fit out of the box, but it looks like they already have a threaded insert screwed in, so it may be possible to unscrew it from the supplied ones Clamps if you want to use your own clamp. Overall, and for the price, a very comfortable stand.