Aluminum legs on this tripod are innovative, folding upwards into a compact nylon bag which makes lugging around easier whether I'm hiking to get a panoramic shot on a mountain to simply walking outdoors. On one side it detaches turning into monopod or can even sit flat across grass to capture macro closeups on wildlife or inverting center rod. Its sturdy holding up a full size DSLR and heavy lenses and weights can be added to underside hook for capturing slow shutter speeds stabilizing further against windy weather. Ball head mechanism feels smooth and simply put handless means relying entirely on camera grip to adjust angle. Does come with 2x quick release plates, only one is full metal using 1/4" screw to fit DSLRs.

Height lifts between 14" flattened and 72" upright using 0.5" to 1" aluminum legs. Bottom feet are rubberized and seemingly grip well inside studios but using outdoors does mean I have to push into soil a bit more to keep it steady. Couple flaws however, latches are plastic knobs which degrades its otherwise durable engineering but snap close tightly enough to keep even heavy DSLRs mounted up top. Monopod requires having to manually screw on a 3/8" to 1/4" bolt and hex nut but can be quite cumbersome to loosen out. Sturdy engineering on this metal tripod does stand out for being versatile enough to take with me on adventures or even filming inside studios.