Peak Design – Travel 60″ Tripod Carbon Fiber

BESTBUY sold me a used tripod with missing accessories. It wasnt just used, it was heavily used, with sand and grit stuck in the legs, missing parts, and heavy wear on the head…Returned immediately upon opening. Pointed all this our to a the Best Buy employee and she didnt seem too interested and handed me a return receipt without saying much else… Not happy as a long time customer…

Excellent tripod. Best I’ve ever owned! It goes great with all my other peak design accessories

I love peake design products, and this tripod is amazing but the price is very expensive, if you travel a lot and you are looking for something good quality and your job is photography and the money is not a problem. I absolutely recommend it

For 10+ years, I have been using a Dolica tripod that has traveled with me on many domestic and international trips. Over these years, it has done its job well which is to provide stability to the camera while taking pictures. At the same time, it has been a giant pain to carry during travels due to its size and weight. After returning from many trips, I have spent days researching good lightweight tripods that are easy to travel with and not cost a small fortune but nothing ever really sparked my interest.
Then earlier this year, I heard about Peak Design’s travel tripod and was immediately intrigued by its innovative design and small size. After weeks of researching and looking at tons of early adopter reviews, I knew this was the right tripod for me. As of the writing of this review, I have had it for a couple weeks and used it enough to form an opinion. Although I haven’t traveled with it just yet (thanks COVID-19 lockdown!).
So let’s get into the nitty gritty.
– Size and weight: Compared to my Dolica, this tripod closed down is literally one-third smaller in height (see attached pics) and roughly 40% less in weight (4.4 lbs for Dolica and 2.8 lbs for Peak Design). For me, both of those aspects will make a huge difference when I travel with it.
– Height: When the legs are deployed, it stands almost as tall as my Dolica. With the center column raised, it is only about 3-4″ shorter which is not a big deal for me (see attached pics for comparison).
– Innovative design: There are many big and little innovations packed in this tripod. The biggest innovation is in the hexagonal shape of the legs which minimizes the empty/dead space in the middle when all legs are closed down. This makes the tripod very small in circumference and easy to wrap your hands almost fully around. It is truly a joy to hold in your hand.
– Ball head: The top plate is locked in place using a unique circular locking mechanism that is very easy to use. On the top plate, you can use the included standard PD plate. There are two removable pins on the top that, when removed, will allow wider arca plates to be used. While the overall ball head design is good, there are two quirks I don’t like: (a) panning is extremely difficult because as soon as you loosen the top plate, it moves and rotates freely in all directions and (b) panning in portrait mode is impossible because of how the three “legs” on the top late lock into the ball head. I personally don’t use pan/tilt features too often so I’d still give this a 9 out of 10.
– Mobile adapter: To me, this is the most genius little feature of the whole tripod. At the base of the center column, if you twist-unlock the weight hook, a little mobile phone adapter drops out just a little bit but doesn’t completely fall out on the ground. There are built-in magnets that “catch” it and prevent from fully coming out of the center column until you pull it out completely. Brilliant! I know I have had many situations where I have forgotten to pack my mobile adapter on trips. With this, if I have my tripod, I have a mobile adapter handy.
– Carrying case: For a compact tripod, the carrying case is equally small and compact. It doesn’t make the whole package any bulkier so very easy to fit in the water bottle pockets on the side of most travel backpacks (see attached pics). It also fits easily inside a smaller suitcase.
– Serviceability: Another thing I absolutely love is that the tripod is designed to be user serviceable which means I can take the whole thing apart at home and service/clean it myself when needed. There is a very detailed youtube video that walks you through the whole process in easy-to-follow steps.
There are many other things that are simply amazing about this travel tripod. If you can justify the price, I’d totally recommend getting it!