Hama4178 | Monopod Star 78 Mono Tripod | Up to 176cm | Includes Carry Bag

This is too flimsy or sturdy for anything heavy/ish. The whole top is made of plastic and nowhere near sturdy enough for my needs. First picture shows it with nothing, second with very little stress but a worrying amount of deflection, and 3 4 and 5 just show how much it isn't up to the job of supporting my Celestron astro binoculars. Anything smaller or lighter may be fine, but for me, sorry, not up to par. The only plus point for me was the height, easily adjustable to get at a comfortable position. Will be going back and I'll have to dig deeper into the coffers for something sturdier. You get what you pay for, but I expected better of a brand like Hama.

As a relative new comer, I am still learning the pro's & con's of photography. My particular interest is wildlife.birds. To achieve this I tend to use a 300mm lens most of the time. One of the recommendations on improving your shots that keeps coming up in books and articles is the use of tripods and monopods to provide stability and reduce 'camera shake'. I have a 'Hama' tripod which I am very impressed with, but it can sometimes be a bit too bulky if I am just out opportunistically taking photos in the field, so I decided to try a monopod. After some research and comparing prices and reviews the Hama Star 78 came out tops, bearing in mind that I didn't want to pay a lot of money for something I was not familiar with. I was not disappointed. This item has proved to be extremely good value. It feels sturdy, the clips make extending/reducing the length very simple, and it telescopes down to make it easy to cart about in the very good carrying case provided. The quality of my shots have improved due to the extra stability of using a monopod, which is exactly the result I wanted. I would recommend this product.

Even after all of the appropriate adjusters have been tightened, the pod wobbles where the head joins the leg, and there is no remedy for this that I can see, other than throwing it away. Not much use as a camera support then That's the product, but the packaging was even worse. The monopod was in a a nylon case, which was in a box roughly the same size as the item itself. However, this box was then placed in another box about 8 times the size of the first box and stuffed with about 60 feet of crumpled brown paper. When the item was delivered, I thought someone had sent me a 50 inch LCD TV by post. A complete waste of resources.I had another look at the monopod. Since it was junk anyway, I cut about 1/4 of an inch from the top of the rubber handgrip, to reveal the reason for the wobble. The head of the pod is fixed to the leg by - wait for it - one small self tapping screw, about 1/4 of an inch long and about 1/8 of an inch in diameter. This is only screwed into one side of the leg. An absolute disgrace. Something like a 1/4 inch diameter nut and bolt, going right through the leg should have been used. Cheap and nastier than I thought. Hama is definitely off my shopping list for the future.Update: I bored a small hole right through the leg where it joins the head, inserted a small bolt right through the leg from one side to the other, fixed an appropriate nut to the bolt and tightened it all up. It's now as solid as a rock, and does what it was meant to do in the first place. Why couldn't the manufacturer have done this? Talk about spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar. Whoever had the idea of securing the leg and the head with a tiny, self tapping screw should be fired.

For a ridiculously cheap monopod which I bought on a whim to see if I’d get on with one, this has surprised me with how useful it is. OK, it’s a bit of a toy and may not last but so far it’s done sterling work while I filmed at a local boating festival, not getting in the way like a tripod would, being much easier and quicker to pick up and move, and even doubling as a pole for overhead shots. Just a shame the mounting plate isn’t the same as a prior tripod I bought (admittedly many years ago) from the same manufacturer as that would make swapping the cam from mono to tripod much quicker. As it is I have to unscrew the monopod plate and screw on the tripod one. For reference the camcorder I’ve been using is a Sony AX53.

I actually bought this because I needed to make one of my orders over £10 to get free delivery and I just so happened to stumble upon this nifty little Monopod, I had actually never heard of Monopods before (Unbelievable I know.) and it looked quite promising, I have an almost identical Hama Tripod that I simply never use since It's too big to take anywhere, I'm a cyclist so transporting a heavy Tripod around daily is a little bit troublesome.This came promptly as I'd expect when buying from Amazon and was pleasantly surprised at it's build quality, the leg feels sturdy and strong, even the leg clips; although standard, seem durable, I bought this to use with my D5100 DSLR, when I first attached it I almost knocked my DSLR as it flimsily swung to the side, which gave me a permanent reminder that you need to ensure everything is extremely tight when using a heavy weighted camera, I should mention I wasn't using the kit lens, rather a hefty metal tamron super zoom which weighs almost heavier than the camera itself so It's perfectly understandable.The head of the Monopod seems kind of flimsy and looks very weak, but it hasn't failed me yet so I'm pleasantly surprised!The leg was surprisingly tall as well, when it's not in use outside I often extend it across my room to flip the light switch.As mentioned in the original listing, the Monopod comes with a waterproof case that can be slung over your shoulder for easy transport, when reduced to it's minimum size It comes to around 60cm or so, so unfortunately it won't fit in my backpack, but I can still sling it over my shoulder, one downside is the strap when extended to it's full length: Is still kind of short, which can make it awkward to transport on occasion, I guess it depends on your size though.Overall, I really like it, great for the price, has a few downsides as mentioned, but a solid monopod that I would heavily recommend.