Peak Design Travel Tripod on Kickstarter

I was looking at that earlier. Definitely an interesting design. It's hard to tell from the video and photos but it looks like you must extend the center column to make full use of the ball head. And that center column looks as thin as a matchstick with a huge ball head balanced on top. I don't know, I have my doubts about how resistant to vibration it will be.

For those in the market for a travel tripod, what is the most important feature? Is it the collapsed size or the weight? For me, as long as it can fit in my carry on luggage and in the pocket on the side of my backpack, it is small enough. The trips that I reach for my travel tripod over my full size tripod are typically backpacking trips where weight is the most important factor. This tripod (carbon fiber) weighs 2.81 lb. My Gitzo tripod with RRS BH-40 ball head weighs 2.68 lb. The Peak Design has 5 leg segments versus 4 on my Gitzo and I can remove the center column and still have full use of the ball head. The Gitzo also has a higher maximum height with a center column that looks to have two to three times the diameter of the Peak Design center column.

This is from the video. It looks like the leg on the right is flexing at the juncture of the leg and the leg socket.

Bcaps wrote in post #18864970
I was looking at that earlier. Definitely an interesting design. It's hard to tell from the video and photos but it looks like you must extend the center column to make full use of the ball head. And that center column looks as thin as a matchstick with a huge ball head balanced on top. I don't know, I have my doubts about how resistant to vibration it will be.

For those in the market for a travel tripod, what is the most important feature? Is it the collapsed size or the weight? For me, as long as it can fit in my carry on luggage and in the pocket on the side of my backpack, it is small enough. The trips that I reach for my travel tripod over my full size tripod are typically backpacking trips where weight is the most important factor. This tripod (carbon fiber) weighs 2.81 lb. My Gitzo tripod with RRS BH-40 ball head weighs 2.68 lb. The Peak Design has 5 leg segments versus 4 on my Gitzo and I can remove the center column and still have full use of the ball head. The Gitzo also has a higher maximum height with a center column that looks to have two to three times the diameter of the Peak Design center column.

This is from the video. It looks like the leg on the right is flexing at the juncture of the leg and the leg socket.

Hosted photo: posted by Bcaps in
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forum: Tripods, Monopods & Other Camera Support

Another question I have is how easy it is to disassemble and clean. Some tripods can be a real bear to clean and then reassemble.

It will be interesting to see the reviews and how it performs.

I see what you mean about the flex. Could be the angle or distortion from the video? The products that they have and used are still pre-production.

The center column does look really thin but its supposedly able to hold a decent amount of weight and can technically be used like a selfie stick for vloggers.

As for disassembling and cleaning. Looks to be fairly easy. It includes a hex tool and the parts are replaceable if needed.

It may be that the leg design has that angle built in to again, maximum compactness, with that relatively extreme angle at the top where the connectors are bring fitted around the "spider". that angle gets the legs closer together when folded than would be possible otherwise.

It's not as dramatic looking here, but it seems possible this is what we are seeing,

NOTE the legs appear to be dead parallel,. not tapering in towards the bottom as with all other tripods.

This thing does look pretty slick, I want to see if any of these YouTube guys get their hands on one and review it. It would be handy for me if it does turn out to be stable, I'd like something a little bit lighter and smaller than what I have for my hikes I take around here in the mountains. What exactly does the Kickstarter part of this thing mean?

patrick j wrote in post #18865078
This thing does look pretty slick, I want to see if any of these YouTube guys get their hands on one and review it. It would be handy for me if it does turn out to be stable, I'd like something a little bit lighter and smaller than what I have for my hikes I take around here in the mountains. What exactly does the Kickstarter part of this thing mean?

There are a few videos from influencers on YouTube. Looking to see if I can get my hands on it.

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site. It's meant to help smaller companies kickstart their product where they don't have the conventional way of getting money for production. Backers help start the process of getting the funds to help with production and in return, they get the product at a discounted price.

One of the things people question is why Peak Design continues to use Kickstarter. They have 8 other successful campaigns with their last one (Travel Line) bringing in over $5 million. This is their response on the FAQ on the KS campaign:

This is a question that we get asked frequently, as we've exceeded our funding goal in all of our 8 Kickstarter campaigns to date. The short answer is that most goes to inventory and the rest goes into future product development, marketing, and other business related stuff.

Peak Design is a 100% crowdfunded company. That means that we've never taken outside investment from equity investors. Instead, we've been fortunate enough to raise the money we need to run and grow our business through Kickstarter campaigns, as well as the direct and wholesale sales we do.

While on paper we are an employee-owned business, we consider our Kickstarter backers to be our unofficial investors and board of directors. When we run a Kickstarter campaign, our hope is to raise the cash we need to mass-produce new products, not just for backers, but for subsequent direct and wholesale orders. We also hope to generate a lot of buzz and awareness (a.k.a. marketing stuffs). In exchange, our backers are the first to receive our new products and they are able to pre-order them at an exclusive discount (often 20-30%). Furthermore, we also take every opportunity to plug backers directly into our product development process via surveys, live hangouts, and general feedback. The result is that our future product development is (in part) funded by backers, and our product roadmap is (in part) written by backers. Case in point: in our past 2 big customer/backer surveys, a "travel backpack" was the most-requested new product. And, here we are.

In conclusion, we believe crowdfunding gives us the best customers in the world and lets us focus on doing what we love the most: designing really really good stuff. Thank you for being a part of this!

I really like this design and what PD does generally but just wish the PD price premium had a lower entry point.

really hard to say. here's a video with the reviewer saying that it is stable, but from what I see it is wobbly.
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=Owo4rkTqOlo

another video showing stability.
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=CSzvyxy3IYA

Im hoping to see more videos that will show the tripod being put into real use and abused. I really like the design, would be nice if the height was smaller when folded but it being slimmer is well considered.

iazybandit wrote in post #18865130
There are a few videos from influencers on YouTube. Looking to see if I can get my hands on it.

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site. It's meant to help smaller companies kickstart their product where they don't have the conventional way of getting money for production. Backers help start the process of getting the funds to help with production and in return, they get the product at a discounted price.

That's what I thought, except whenever I've seen a Kickstarter deal, it seems like it's someone looking for money to write a book or make a movie, didn't know companies used it. Seems a little odd that they wouldn't have money in the way of financial backers who get a stake in the company.

Tony got his hands on one, he has a few complaints already, but he is going to use it for a while. I'd agree with him about the required hex wrench. Just uploaded today.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=EAbytL3almE

patrick j wrote in post #18865168
That's what I thought, except whenever I've seen a Kickstarter deal, it seems like it's someone looking for money to write a book or make a movie, didn't know companies used it. Seems a little odd that they wouldn't have money in the way of financial backers who get a stake in the company.

There are a few reputable companies who started off on Kickstarter that keep going back.

If you're familiar with the Pebble watch, they started off on Kickstarter and went back a few times before they were purchased by Fitbit. Others who have had 3+ successful campaigns go back on Kickstarter. It seems that there are followers and it is the easiest way to get them to go back. No money spent on advertising. Just spread the word and they'll flock.

I guess with no financial backers who get a piece of the company, its all PD. This allows them to control the costs and do things freely I guess. This also gives backers/followers the chance to get the products at a discounted price by helping PD secure the funds for production and covering R&D costs.

It's almost 1lb heavier than the lightest RRS / Gitzo offerings, but looks to be far less stable and with a proprietary ball head that will pinch your fingers. Abort! Abort!

The head is reminiscent of this one;
https://www.ebay.com …d0cbd6:g:iRgAAO​SwE9hcZ5ZB

As for tripod legs that aren't round, I guess it could be seen as an innovation, but all those super el cheapo aluminum tripods you can get at the box stores with no names and plastic heads have oddly shaped extrusions for legs too..

This is a really innovative jump from the norm. I like it a lot. Gen2 will work out the kinks. I'll wait. RRS and Gitzo (and everyone else) will now we pushed to innovate. This is good for everyone.

Fondled the new line of Sirui tripods this past weekend and they are really nice... and half the price of this as well.

Most videos are positive. I think the camera plate needing constant attention or adjustment is my main concern because a hex wrench is just not something I am mindful to carry around.