GorillaPod or something else

End of January my family and I will be headed to Disneyland (2nd trip). I am looking forward to taking pictures like I do on all trips, but am also slimming my bag way down so I can still do some rides with them. We will rent a locker, with 7 of us total we all have things we will want to stash during the day, to put my full size tripod in, in case I have a need for it. But I am thinking I want something smaller to put in my bag to use, and if I can leave the full size in the locker or better yet the hotel room.

Was looking at GorillaPod's but they cost a decent amount with their ball head. I am shooting a T3, and Canon 15-85 or Sigma 35mm 1.4

What would your recommendation be. I liked the idea of a flexible tripod since there are a lot of different surfaces, railing, trees, trash cans .... all around the parks.

Has anyone tried any of the other less expensive brands of flexible tripods?

I bought a cheapo version (without the ball head) to take traveling round southeast Asia for the occasional shot. I have a T3 and a sigma 18-200 and didnt have any problems with stability as long as your a bit creative with setting the legs.

The build is not quite as good as i would expect the 'real' one to be as some of the sockets have started to crack, though it doesnt seem to have affected the tripod. For less than a 10th of the price of the actual GorillaPod I cant complain.

sneakywhale wrote in post #16370774
I bought a cheapo version (without the ball head) to take traveling round southeast Asia for the occasional shot. I have a T3 and a sigma 18-200 and didnt have any problems with stability as long as your a bit creative with setting the legs.

The build is not quite as good as i would expect the 'real' one to be as some of the sockets have started to crack, though it doesnt seem to have affected the tripod. For less than a 10th of the price of the actual GorillaPod I cant complain.

Do you have a link to the one you purchased.

http://www.ebay.co.uk …opods&hash=item​336d6107f4
I think this is the one

I ended up getting veho Duopod/Mini Monopod and Tripod after went to disney world few times for my coming new trip. It is small and light weight so can have it in the bag all the time, not good for use it as tripod for the DSLR even the light weight one, but could use it as monopod (kind of short though) and use it for videoing the shows while sitting. For the time that needs tripod, it will be used with my canon S110

I've take the gorilla pod with ball head to Disneyland a few times. It's pretty convinient, because usually there are tons of people and a tripod isn't always easy to put down, plus other people aren't careful. So ice found I can go off to the side and mount the gorilla pod on a rail and take a nice shot.

NManuel01 wrote in post #16375474
I've take the gorilla pod with ball head to Disneyland a few times. It's pretty convinient, because usually there are tons of people and a tripod isn't always easy to put down, plus other people aren't careful. So ice found I can go off to the side and mount the gorilla pod on a rail and take a nice shot.

That was my thoughts as well. Last time there I could not imagine trying to put out a traditional tripod.

Aside from that I hardly ever use it though. I'm an annual pass holder so I use it pretty often though. I've put it around my daughters stroller and got some nice shots. It's pretty versatile, I use it with a canon 6D and Tamron 24-70mm lens. I do find that sometimes I have to make sure the ball head clamps down well on my camera plate. It's gotten loose a few times but I am not using the plate that came with the gorilla pod. I'm using a custom slr m plate. But once it clamps on, it's on. I just always double check it. The plate is to big I think because it just slides into place.

Thanks everyone I just picked up a SLR zoom with ball head from a member on here. Very excited to mess around with it around home before the trip.

I have the gurrilapod focus, its a bit overkill, it holds up a gripped 7D with 70-200 2.8 =) It's perfect for Disneyland

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …a5forfighing/10​258692155/

I was undecided on the purchase until I got it. I use the ball head from my main tripod kit so I got the basic slr zoom. The GP is always with me now.

Consider an ~ 8"x8" bean bag. I made one from a pair of old jeans, and filled it with rice. If you don't want to travel with it full, sew in a zipper for one side and fill it with $1 of rice when you arrive at your destination. It's easy to find places to use the bean bag. Rocks, car roof, benches, fence rails, tree forks, etc.

waterrockets wrote in post #16392553
Consider an ~ 8"x8" bean bag. I made one from a pair of old jeans, and filled it with rice. If you don't want to travel with it full, sew in a zipper for one side and fill it with $1 of rice when you arrive at your destination. It's easy to find places to use the bean bag. Rocks, car roof, benches, fence rails, tree forks, etc.

Sounds like that could get heavy if I'm out and about for days in a row.

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #16392589
Sounds like that could get heavy if I'm out and about for days in a row.

It stays about the same weight no matter how long you carry it

At ~2 lbs, while it's maybe 1/4 lb. heavier than a GorillaPod Focus with the ballhead, that's really not much more weight, it will cost you about a dollar, and you don't have to wait for shipping

It will also fit into any shape needed in your pack. Maybe get the GorillaPod and bring a rice bag too. You can always leave it in the room or swap out on different days. If you just want to try it, go buy a bag of rice and use the plastic for a day and see what you think -- not too durable, but will give you an idea of use cases.