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HEIPI W28S 3-in-1 Travel Tripod Review | Improving My Favorite Tripod
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May 15, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a review of the innovative HEIPI W28 3-in-1 Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod and how it compares to the Peak Design Travel tripod he's been using for years. | Purchase the HEIPI W28S here at Heipi https://tinyurl.com/BuyHeipiW28S or at B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/4jTJRZO | View the text review: Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.link/nt4zdz1goa7ql Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro
View Video Transcript
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hi I'm Dustin Abbott the
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HPW28 has been my go-to basically daily
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use tripod since I reviewed it back in
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2023 now in what is fairly rare for me I
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actually reached out to comp to the
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company to see if they had anything new
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not only because I've enjoyed it so much
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but I've seen from the feedback on my
0:31
original review and subsequent people
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that are wanting them and buying them
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that there continues to be interest so I
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wanted to see if they had something new
0:41
because this has been good enough that
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it actually has essentially completely
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replaced my use of a tripod like the
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Peak Design carbon fiber travel tripod
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so in fact they do have a new model but
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it's really more of an upgraded updated
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version of the original W28 in the form
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of the HP
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W28S so today I'm going to do this video
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in two parts first part I I'm going to
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break down what has actually been
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changed and improved from the original
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version and then in the second half of
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the review for those of you that have
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never seen the tripod reviewed I'm going
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to go through some of the other details
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about it and so the first section will
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be for those of you that just looking
1:20
for the update and then you can move on
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for those of you that want a little bit
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of a deeper dive into the overall
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performance that'll be the second half
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of the video now to give you a little
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bit of a disclosure before I jump into
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the video this tripod was sent to me by
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HP for evaluation they have had no input
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in the video itself they will not see it
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before its release my conclusions are my
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own now when I did my original review
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the the main thing that I complained
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about was actually when it came to the
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leg locks which I felt at the time they
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were really quite stiff there was no
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ability to uh to adjust them the actual
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leverage on them and so over time using
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it I've obviously gotten accustomed to
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the action on it and it has loosened up
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a little bit more one of the main things
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that they have done here is that they
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have redesigned the leg locks altogether
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they have a more ergonomic design that
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is easier to grasp easily uh easier to
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hang on to now as you can see it does
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add just a tiny bit of bulk to the
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overall tripod and as we'll see it adds
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just a tiny bit of weight 30 g no big
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deal but that is they've beefed up that
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but they're also now uh they're
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adjustable and they are even removable
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and so that you can clean them on that
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same note they've actually changed the
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function of the locks on the side that
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allow you to ratchet them into different
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positions and so they've got a little
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bit more of a functional design there a
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little bit better of a ratcheting design
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but also just a little bit easier to
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access my only complaint there is I do
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think it's overall a a better design
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however this feels like it's a little
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bit more of a one-handed operation i can
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put it with my thumb and grab here here
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I feel like I have to pull it out here
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my other both hands need to be kind of
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close to pull it out however I've seen
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this as a triedand-true type design on
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other tripods it works so really no
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complaints at all when it comes to that
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one of the other improvements here I do
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like the fact that on the ball head but
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then also on the tripod itself there is
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a spirit level in both cases however the
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original spirit level that was on the
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the W28 first it was it's quite small
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not all that easy to to read they've
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moved up to an 18 mm it's probably close
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to three times as big much easier to see
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and thus more useful and so great to
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have that functionality upgraded as well
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one other uh complaint that I did have
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about the original is that I I actually
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love the integrated tabletop uh tripod
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design which is is awesome however what
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I have found is that it's a little bit
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of a clunky operation in uh attaching
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and removing it so they've tightened up
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the machining here and so that this is
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just it's it's a better design and so
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it's it comes in and out of there more
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easily and it just feels like you're not
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trying to have to maggyver it in there
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to actually make it work and so
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definitely an improvement on that front
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now perhaps less of a big deal for a lot
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of people but uh in specific
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applications this could be useful they
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have expanded the actual spikes that are
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in the feet you unscrew those you can
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add them on as you can see here in the
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photo they've extended that out to where
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it is significantly longer and so that
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you can get a much better dig into the
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ground or sand whatever you're working
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on to get a more stable base and so
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maybe more of a minor thing but
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definitely something that is an
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improvement if you're looking for that i
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will also note that while they haven't
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necessarily highlighted it they've
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changed the design whereas before they
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just had these screwin locks that I
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actually removed because they got in the
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way they've actually got a better design
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now where these can actually depress and
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so I can put say for example a big uh uh
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telephoto lens that has an Arca
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compatible foot i can slide it in there
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without having to remove these but if
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I'm just using a smaller plate and
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locking it on there with the camera
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they're still there and they're still
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going to provide some function and some
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security on that so another uh small but
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significant improvement when it comes to
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that another thing that I like here is
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that we have the option to either have a
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um a clicked or decllicked panning
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action here and so you can actually turn
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a screw here uh with an Allen key and
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you can set whether or not you want it
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to be in a clicked or decllicked type
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position and so when it's decllicked
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obviously it's just going to smoothly
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rotate and it's got not going to tell
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you where those 10 degree marks are if
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you have it clicked it will give you
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just a little bit of a click action when
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you actually are hitting those uh
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various points and so uh just an
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interesting I don't think it's
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necessarily a new design but it's
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something that I do like in in the kind
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of same spirit of the ergonomics of this
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they've actually also redesigned the
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adjustment knob for the ball head here
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and just given it a little bit more of
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an ergonomic feel again there's just
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small tweaks to improve the overall
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performance of the tripod itself now
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what's interesting to me uh that is also
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a benefit and it's probably just more of
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a market force thing when I did the
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original review of the
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W28 it retailed at the time for
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$549 that was right coming off of a
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Kickstarter where they had gotten over a
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million dollars in backing because of
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the really unique and frankly awesome
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design of the tripod and I think it was
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welld deserved however since that point
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the newer version is now available for
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429 so 5 429 versus 549 and so if you're
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looking at this today you're getting a
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better designed tripod for less money i
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kind of like that math there so that
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gives you a look at the overall
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improvements and now if you want to
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stick around I'll give you a little bit
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of a look of the specifications and the
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design and what makes this tripod so
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awesome so to give you a little bit of a
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closer look at the specifications the
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weight of this tripod is 1.38 kg that's
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just right over 3 lb so as I mentioned
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that is just 30 grams heavier than the
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older version uh which includes you know
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some of the beefed up improvements now
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they're able to achieve that very
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lightweight because it is all high-end
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carbon fiber and so a very lightweight
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design very easy to pack and to bring
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along the packed length is 45 cm or 17.7
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in that is a little bit longer than what
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for example the equivalent peak designs
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are but it's because you're getting a
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lot a much heavier duty ball head as a
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part of that the maximum height that you
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can adjust up to is 152 cmters now this
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is an area where the originally when I
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did the review it was rated at the time
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at being 150 cm and now they say 152 i
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adjusted them both up to what I consider
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to be the maximum height and they seem
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to be uh pretty much the same and so
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that doesn't seem to actually be a
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actual significant difference but uh by
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the numbers it is up to able to get you
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up to 152 cm which is just a hair under
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60 in and so as you can see getting up
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to a nice useful height the minimum
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height you can get down to is with the
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main tripod is 22 cm or 8 8.6 in however
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the cool thing about this design which
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is you know why I use it all the time is
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that you also have what they call the
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sub tripod here and and so instead of
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just having a single center column
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you've got this kind of integrated uh
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tabletop style tripod that you can get
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all the way down as you can see to to
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basically just the height of the ball
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head and so by the numbers that is 14.5
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cm or 5.7 in and because you've got a
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higherend uh ball head here then you've
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got a much higher payload uh available
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to you than what you can get off of the
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Peak Design the Peak Design um give you
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somewhere around 12 kg this will get you
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up to 20 kg or 44 lbs if you're using
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just the sub tripod obviously you're not
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getting as much stable stability in
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these legs but you can still put on 5 kg
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or 11 lbs which frankly is enough for
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just about all normal camera
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combinations anyway the other thing that
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I love about this design versus the
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typical just kind of center column
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design is that you're getting three
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stabilization points on the outside
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edges as opposed to just something in
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the middle and what you're going to find
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is that the stability of that center
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column as a byproduct is just it is so
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much better than what that single center
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column is it feels very very stable and
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I have put super heavy combinations i
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mean you know recently I did the Sigma
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300 to 600 F4 sport lens it's the
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biggest and heaviest lens that I've ever
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tested i threw it on this you know no
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problem this arrived frankly just in
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time and I was able to put it on here
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and obviously no problem there as well i
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really love the stability of this tripod
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now another thing that's really great
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about this tripod design as opposed to
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Peak Designs is that Peak Designs they
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have a really cool and innovated
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integrated ball head right here at the
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top but you cannot use it if you're
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actually without extending that center
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column up a bit in this case because
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you've got a fully independent ball head
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you can use it fully without having to
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raise the center column at all so I
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appreciate that another one of their
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really clever features that I use all
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the time which is again part of the
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reason why I've gone to this so much is
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that you have an integrated phone clamp
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that is built right into the top of the
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ball head and so it's just fantastic if
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I going to shoot some B-roll or I just
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going to grab some footage from my phone
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I can extend that up which is awesome it
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is ARCA compatible and I have found it
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to be very very versatile in its ARCA
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compatibility and so at this point over
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a couple of years I've put tons of
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lenses you know tripod feet on there
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i've put you know different plates on
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here uh including their own you know
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quick release plates peak designs others
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no problem and so it's it has broad
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compatibility and so I certainly
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appreciate that as well now one of
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another one of the cool things about
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their design is that they have on three
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sides they've got threads here
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quarterinch threads where you can add on
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accessories for example like this magic
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arm accessory that will allow you to
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have you know a secondary camera or a a
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phone that's filming as well and so it's
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you know adds some versatility when you
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can accessorize on there and add more
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function to it that's appreciated and
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then of course as opposed to the Peak
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Design which did not allow for natural
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panning as we've already seen we've got
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full panning capabilities here
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360°ree and so I obviously thoroughly
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appreciate that
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so at the end of the day you are getting
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a lot for your money here it's obviously
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it's not a cheap tripod but I can tell
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you this having now used two years I can
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give you the long-term verdict on the
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original W28 it has held up unbelievably
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well i've had zero problems with
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slippage in the legs even with heavy
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combinations i've not had to really mess
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with anything as a part of it and I
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certainly have used tripods over the
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years i've used lots of them at this
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point reviewed many of them i've had
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issues with tripods before i have not
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had any with this it remains awesome
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which is why I use it all the time and
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I'll probably switch to this as my daily
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use because of those little tweaks that
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they've made to the
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W28s so
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$429 it's a lot of money but it is money
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well spent if you want a tripod that can
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has the versatility of giving you a
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tabletop tripod travel style tripod and
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because it is so strong it can just be
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your everyday tripod as well it's able
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to support any kind of camera related
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payload that you could throw on there i
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completely recommend it because it's the
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one I use every day i'm Dustin Abbott
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and if you want more information you can
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check out uh the link to either the
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listing for the tripod i do have a
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review summary on my website that you
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can check out there are buying links
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there as always thanks for watching have
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a great day and let the light in
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