Customer Reviews

Trek-Tech TrekPod GO! Monopod/Tripod/Hiking Staff with MagMount STAR Ballhead, Pan and Tilt Head, and T-Pod with Storage Pouch

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I use this for travel, and for taking photos with a remote, instead of asking strangers to take pictures for me, while I pose with my family. Imagine doing that with a huge tripod while you are traveling; you will look so silly and take up a lot of space. This thing looks nice and compact. However, it is definitely not stable as a large tripod, but it works for my purpose because I simply use high shutter speed with a VR lens. I guess if you are a professional you might disagree and insist on a giant tripod for extreme stability. I have a Nikon D90 which is a pretty heavy DSLR (plus I attach a large external flash SB600), but it holds very well and securely on this TrekPod.

The magnet for attaching the camera to the TrekPod is very strong and feels very stable, and I was tempted to solely rely on the magnetic attachment without placing the "safety pin" to lock it in place; don't do that, because my D90 did fall off the trekpod to a carpet floor when I accidentally knocked it. As long as you use the safety locking device, the magnetic adapter is very convenient and safe for attaching and detaching your camera. Sure beats screwing and unscrewing the attachment like the cheaper tripods.

Only thing I don't like about this is that it has to be disassembled to fit inside the included travel bag. It does not telescope all the way down when assembled. I'd say it will telescopes down to a staff about a foot larger than a golf umbrella. I don't know why they did that. I think that they could easily have achieved this (telescope completely down) and make it far more portable without disassembly, but they didn't.

I bought this, rather than just the TrekPod GO!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W3P9H4
.. because this kit was at the time priced considerably lower.
See the above URL for other reviews of the GO!

Amazon also bundles the STAR ballhead with the T-Pod,
and it is listed separately at B&H.
Amazon sells the T-Pod as http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NJ3VIQ
and it is quite a nice table-top tripod.
It may be sturdy enough for a DSLR,
but I already have a Novoflex minipod which is more sturdy and flexible.

The pan and tilt head seems pretty ordinary;
its pan lock thumb is a little clunky, and the camera mounting
plate clearly was not designed for Trek-Tech's mag-mount;
I would much rather they supplied a second mini ballhead,
but on the other hand we are unlikely to often switch quickly
between using the GO! and T-Pod.

I usually travel with a subcompact Fuji F30 and Velbon PD-237Q tripod with Novoflex MC-MR.
Trek-Tech's MagMount is usefully more compact than the MC-MR,
but Miniconnects are less fussy to engage and disengage,
and Novoflex's Profi is worry-free with large lenses and DSLRs,
so overall Miniconnects are a more versatile and positive quick connect system.

I bought this kit because too many places disallow tripods,
but some of those allow monopods. On hard floors,
the GO! is stable when used as a tripod with subcompact cameras, but it vibrates a lot.
Its tubes are plenty rigid; vibration results from flex in the flip-out leg hinges.
These hinges appear to be the same as those on their T Pod;
what suffices for one foot is less successful at 5 feet.

The GO! does not telescope short enough to be used as other than a walking stick,
but I doubt the small rubber feet on the 3 flip-out legs would last long if so used.
We will try to find a rubber foot of appropriate (~1.1") ID to take that abuse.

Similarly, we will try to fabricate something like a sand-filled spandex donut
to fit around the tube at the hinges for damping vibration when used as a tripod.

Overall, I expect that we will use the GO! mostly when there are doubts about tripods being permitted.

Considering how handy their VersaMount can be,
Trek-Tech's MagMount system merits consideration for compact and subcompact camera users.

I have no experience with other monopods, but expect
something with a better mount which telescopes more compactly
makes more sense for DSLRs with big lenses.

It's compact and lightweight, but unfortunately there two issues I have with it: (1) at full length, it wobbles enough to result in blurry pictures; (2) the magnetic head is just barely strong enough for holding our lightweight point-and-shoot Canon; all three of our Nikon DLSRs fell off, so it's useless for any serious photography. Luckily with the first Nikon DSLR we tried, only the lens filter was cracked (we knew better to prepare to catch the falling camera+magnetic-head during the other two tries). Can't recommend this.

I use this in my road trips. I simply love this monopod tripod. When broken down easily fits in backpack. When is windy it slightly has stability problem but otherwise it holds my Nikon d90 with 18 200 nikkor lens perfectly. The magnet is very strong and sometimes I don't even use the lock and it holds the camera .

Customer service is excellent. I had an issue with the magmount as the lock broke and the replacement was sent in no time after I sent my broken magmount.

I tried this with nikon d90 and bigma lens, but felt this is big for the tripod and am not comfortable doing that. The tripod and magmount holds this perfect. When I used the monopod tripod with manfrotto 327rc2 joystick head I was able to use it with no issue. I think they should come up with joystick head for this tripod replacing a magmount ball head.

I purchased this from Adorama using this page and they sent me just the TrekPod GO! without any of the extra stuff that this page claimed would come with it. I asked if they could please just send the extra stuff listed here and they gave me the run around and blamed Amazon and said they could not and I would have to return for a refund. So I ordered from a different company outside of Amazon and now have to wait another week to get. Do not purchase this unless you want to spend more and get just a plain Trekpod GO!, this is a scam and item needs to be removed Amazon. Thanks for making this transaction so smooth Adorama and Amazon, I made my purchase elsewhere!