MeFoto Globetrotter Carbon Fibre Tripod Review

Hi Steeminans,

Something different here from me; a product review. My current tripod is a Gitzo G2220 which I pair up with a Manfrotto 222 pistol grip head. While this is a great, versatile tripod and head combination, it is really quite heavy at just under 5 kilos. My upcoming trip to Nepal would prove problematic with this combination - there is a luggage allowance of 10 kilos of checked baggage and 5 kilos of hand luggage each. Considering we are going for 3 weeks, that makes it difficult to get in all the clothes that we need! So, it became a necessity to get my hands on something a bit lighter and more portable. I'd also like something lighter and more portable as I am going to be trekking a lot of miles with a backpack on my back.

The MeFoto Globetrotter is a 5 leg section tripod that weighs in at a rather impressive 1.7kilos, ball head included. It comes in a nice shoulder carry bag with some extra bits; foot spikes and an allen key for adjustment

A lot of these newer more compact tripods are similar to this one in that the legs fold back on themselves to surround the head. This lets it fold up to a length of 16.5 inches. Fully extended it can stand at a height of 64 inches. The legs have two positions, the wider postition allows the tripod to sit pretty low to the ground whereas the more closed position gives the tripod quite a good height. It feels pretty stable too

The legs themselves are twist lock and are nice and easy to manipulate. You feel confident when doing them up that they are neither too tight to damage the carbon fibre, or too loose to let the legs slip. All in all a very good system. I much prefer these to the clip type that some tripods have.

In order to set the leg angle, there is a clever little clip that you just pull out and then move the legs to rest against the clip. It is really simple and makes it really quick to both set up and break down the tripod as you have full range of leg movement when you have the clip undone. The legs themselves have a nice level of resistance when you are moving them.

The other nifty trick that this tripod has up it's sleeve is that it easily turns into a monopod.

You can unscrew the bottom of the center tube which allows it to be removed completely from the tripod, and unscrew the leg that has foam on it.

Join the two together and you have a great monopod (apologies for that blurry picture)

The supplied ballhead is an arca-swiss plate compatible affair, which makes it easy to get hold of new plate for different bodies or lenses. There are a few knobs on here for adjustment. One allows the removal of the plate, one is there to free up the ball head and there is one to allow panoramic movement of the whole ball head. The final knob is a tensioner which allows you to move the camera around but stops it from moving under it's own weight. Great for a bit of smooth filming on the monopod maybe. I'll give that a go sometime.

All in all, this looks like a great bit of kit, and for the price of £300 from Bristol Cameras (im not affiliated in any way) for the carbon version or £169 for the aluminium one (which is only every so slightly heavier), you cannot really go wrong. If you are in the market for a new tripod but don't fancy spending nearly a thousand on a manfrotto, then this could be the tripod for you

Thanks for reading

Mark