Best travel tripod

[satans worm]

So going on holiday next week and so have to conundrum of fitting my camera gear in a hand carry on, including all my clothes.
So the tripod needs to be light and small, so the question is what do you guys use?
I was thinking either the gorilla pod or the monfoto backpacker.
Has anyone used either of these, any draw backs or other suggestions to consider.
Small and light is obviously the big criteria
Thanks

[NNH]

Pretty happy with my Gorilla. It can hold my 450 with a Sigma 28-200 solidly.

[Du1point8]

I have 3... (1 left by a tenant).

1st is a Joby Gorilla grip is good for the small tripod type stuff, but annoying if you want to take landscape photos and no places to put it.

2nd is a sherpa 200R like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Velbon-200R-Sherpa-Tripod-...

for a bit less than the £65, with free travel case and its excellent for what I needed (northern lights pictures).

3rd one is VF WT3150 that was left in my flat and never used so I can't comment on that one.

[ian in lancs]

I have a Manfrotto befree for sale - £60. In the interests of fair play I should point out it is utter ste!

[DavidY]

Have a look at Three Legged Thing - Punks, lightweight and very compact when folded

[markmullen]

I've got a Redged like this, http://shop.outdoorsphotography.co.uk/redged-tsc-5... for travelling.

It folds up tiny, it's sturdy enough that I've used it with my medium format camera and the head is Arca swiss compatible which means no need to change quick release plates.

[satans worm]

Sorry, I meant I was looking at the mefoto backpacker tripod.

Can I ask what was bad about monffoto pod?

Apart from size and weight, what should I look out for?

[ian in lancs]

satans worm said:

Sorry, I meant I was looking at the mefoto backpacker tripod.

Can I ask what was bad about monffoto pod?

Apart from size and weight, what should I look out for?

Manfrotto - not particularly light and the head can't be operated with gloves and pinches the skin of the forefinger. A real pain in the artic circle. Remove glove, operate release pinch finger and repeat. Secondly the leg splay is operated by a rotary lever which is loose, can't be tightened and gets flicked in use. Cue toppling / collapsing tripod. Why they couldn't use the lever design from their full size tripods is beyond me. Speaking as a professional engineer it hasn't been thought through, field tested and is utter ste. Tempted to toss in the artic ocean many times but decided to bring home and sell. Wanna buy it? One careful, but scarred owner!

Edited by ian in lancs on Monday 9th March 19:09