Slik 444 Sport -- Is it any good?

[Kevin Smith]

I'm looking for a tripod that is light enough that I will actually take it
with me that doesn't cost more than my camera! I've seen the SLIK 444
Sport (and Sport 2) advertised for about $70-$80... Is this worth pursuing
or should I look elsewhere?

Thanks,
Kevin

--
"Leave only footprints, take only photographs..."

[Stacey Campbell]

In article <Smith_Kevin-...@156.80.107.24> Smith...@BAH.COM (Kevin Smith) writes:
>I'm looking for a tripod that is light enough that I will actually take it
>with me that doesn't cost more than my camera! I've seen the SLIK 444
>Sport (and Sport 2) advertised for about $70-$80... Is this worth pursuing
>or should I look elsewhere?

I ended up buying one of these (the original Sport 444). The major
drawbacks of the 444 are;

1. At full extension I need to stoop to frame the shot (I'm about 5'10).
2. Funky twiddling required to move from horizontal to vertical, takes some
getting used to.

The benefits are;

1. Very stable tripod for the money (I use Olympus OM bodies which are
fairly small and light).
2. Light, I've lugged mine on bike trips and short hikes with no major
grief.
3. Folds up reasonably small, and sets up reasonably fast.
4. Takes a beating and keeps on ticking; mine's been dragged accross 2
fairly big continents and has sustained quite a few dings but is the
same functionally as when I took it out of the box.

The bottom line for me was I didn't have any more than about $70 to spend
on a tripod, so it was either something like the 444 or nothing. If you
have about double this amount to spend then you may want to look elsewhere...
--
Stacey Campbell - Stacey....@Eng.Sun.COM

[Todd Hitt]

Kevin Smith (Smith...@BAH.COM) wrote:
: I'm looking for a tripod that is light enough that I will actually take it

: with me that doesn't cost more than my camera! I've seen the SLIK 444
: Sport (and Sport 2) advertised for about $70-$80... Is this worth pursuing
: or should I look elsewhere?

I'm trying to remember, but I think the 444 Sport has sort of a funky
head. If that's the right model (and not the 333 Sport), I returned
mine as it was short - full extension is probably around 4 feet, and
the head was too cumbersome to use. The head made it difficult to
flip from horizontal to verticle format on my 35mm (the Sport2
progably fixes this). Also, the 333 Sport has a four section legs
which aren't particularly steady.

I currently own a 333 Sport, which is taller, has three section legs, and
comes with a normal pan-tilt head. It's also a little unsteady. I replaced
the head with a ball head. The down side of this tripod is it doesn't fold
down as small as the 444 Sport.

My bottom-line advice - get a small bogen. You'll pay more but they
are still reasonably priced, sturdier, you can get your choice of heads, etc.
I'm going to two tripods, a Gitzo 126 (about the size of the 444 Sport but
much steadier and way more expensive) and a bigger Bogen, still TBD.

-Todd