Small but sturdy, lightweight, small-footprint lightstands

I originally bought several of the Impact air-cushioned lightstands because they are lightweight and portable, collapse to something like 28", have a 36" footprint, height of something like 7-8', and they'd support either a speedlite or one of my Elinchrom Dlite-4's with a reflector or small softbox or stripbox reasonably well. I use then for background and hairlights. And the price was right at the time.

But I keep breaking them and am still using them in some cobbled-up fashion. I want to replace them now with something similar...but better quality. I'd like the footprint to be about the same, max height of 7-9 feet, support in the 8-10 pound range, and be fairly lightweight and portable. Basically, I want something just like the Impact stand only higher quality and sturdier.

I've looked at the Cheetah C8 and a few of the Manfrotto stands. The Manfrotto stands either have a wider footprint or shorter height. The C8 might not be sturdy enough with a Dlite-4 and strip box mounted on it (but I'm not sure).

So I'd like to know if the C8 would be a good option for this or if there are other stands I should consider as well. I'm all set with the heavier-duty stands that support my main and fill lights. Thanks.

I got the Bogen 3363 13' Master Light Stands based upon comments of others on this forum. They're not cheap, but I don't think real expensive. They're taller than what you want. They're quite light and fold down to about 42". They also come with wheels, but I don't use them as the stands are so light. In fact, I hang a 15 pound Boa bag on them when using large modifiers.

Calumet has a nice range of stands.
I think the 10 ft stand just about exactly matches the specs you mentioned.
Mine have held up well.

I would not recommend the Cheetah stand for the Monos. I have three of them and they are great for speedlights but the legs are a bit on the small side and don't spread very wide.
They also tend to snag on carpet or grass which would make them more unwieldy with a heavier light on top.

The larger Cheetah stand will hold a mono but its a big heavy stand in its own right.

While you were investigating Manfrotto stands did you look at the stackers:

http://www.adorama.com​/BG1052BAC3.html

I have a set of three of the prior model (306B) and have been very happy with them.

Dave F.

Yes, I have the larger Cheetah stand, it's not really what I want for this. You answered my question about the C8 though. Thanks. Yes, I did look at the stackers from Manfrotto. They're one of the options I've been considering for this.