A Third Tripod

Since the Trek-Tech T-Pod had apparently been shipped to an unknown destination, Becky Owens of Werner Publishing informed me via email that a replacement was shipped on January 6.

The replacement tripod, a Manfrotto 785B arrived in two days. The Manfrotto 785B was designed to be a travel tripod. At 2.2 lbs. I found it light enough to carry on mountain trails when I first used it on 1-9-2010.

I usually carry the camera in an small, inexpensive backpack that wasn't designed specifically as a camera carrier. I found it at a Target store a couple years ago. It doesn't have any padding to protect the camera, so I'm quite careful with it. With the camera in the small pack, there isn't enough room for the Manfrotto, but I can easily carry it in my hand.

Though the Manfrotto is rated to hold up to 2.2 lbs., it seemed stable enough holding my 2.75 lb. camera/lens combination. The only downside to the tripod is instability in wind, but that is not a valid criticism, since it was out of the scope of the travel tripod design. It has simple controls, which is a good feature when standing in the darkness, setting up for a sunrise. The pistol grip-controlled ballhead is intuitive, and fairly easy to pan. Fully extended, it will reach a height of 59.2", and since the legs can be adjusted to 3 different angles, it can be configured as a tabletop tripod with a height as low as 6.9".

As it turned out, the journey of the Trek-Tech T-Pod into the void was a good thing. The Manfrotto is much better suited to my uses.

Two Tripods, Continued

Day 136. The Werner Publishing SNAFU continues.

Since "Becky Owens, Marketing Coordinator" was unresponsive to my inquiry about the tripod I had allegedly won 119 days previously, I wrote an email to the Editors at Werner Publishing on 12-17-2009. The email is shown below.
























Though my contact information consisting of my two telephone numbers and email address does not appear on the email graphic here, they were included in the email.

As of this writing, it has been 17 days since I sent the message to the Editors.

I have received no response from the editors (a response from one would have been enough).

So the employees of Werner that I have so far contacted regarding this matter are consistent. From my viewpoint, unresponsiveness appears to be a corporate policy.


I have a new tagline and subtext for Werner Publishing:

"The Customer King is dead. You are all peasants."
(We'll take your money quickly, but don't expect us to act responsibly, honor our promises, or even respond to your legitimate inquiries.)

The Other Tripod
After several months of doing without a small tripod due to the liar and the other unresponsive staff members at Werner Publishing, I recently received the Joby tripod as a present from my wife Lisa. She's not a liar.

The Joby SLR-Zoom is pictured below, supporting my Nikon. The Joby works very well for my purpose: It is small, light, and due to the flexible legs, provides adequate support on uneven boulder surfaces. Since it is also relatively inexpensive, I will recommend it to anyone who asks about small tripods for their DSLR.

A Tale of Two Tripods

In August I was giving some thought to buying a small, portable tripod for my Nikon DSLR.

I wanted a tripod that was more portable than the traditional, large Quantaray tripod that spends most it its time in my closet.

The Quantaray is a perfectly good tripod, but it is not easy to carry when I'm hiking any distance. As a consequence, I rarely pack it around Mount Rubidoux.

I've used a small Gorrilapod with my point-and-shoot camera for some time. It is small, light, and well suited for taking photos on the mountain, since its flexible legs can be adjusted to level the camera on uneven boulder surfaces.

Joby, the maker of the Gorrillapod, recently released larger models which will hold DSLRs and video cameras. I was about to order one when the Email shown above arrived in my In box.

I sent a verification of my address, as requested, then ran a search on the T-Pod. It appeared to be small enough to fit in my small backpack, and it looked like it might be useful in places on the mountain, so I put off the purchase of the Joby SLR-Zoom. Information taken from the Web on the two tripods is shown below.

I guessed that the T-Pod might work for my purposes, and I was certain that the Gorillapod would, but I was without either one while I waited for the T-Pod to arrive.

And waited.

And waited.

The postal carrier knew about the expected T-Pod. The UPS driver knew about the expected T-Pod. The location of the tripod remained a mystery.

It's always possible that a package has been re-routed, even via Tierra Del Fuego, judging by a case of apples I once received from New York State. The apples appeared to have been baked at the equator, frozen near the Antartic, baked at the equator again, then refrozen in Colorado before being delivered to me.

After two months had passed by, I sent an inquiry to Becky Owens, Marketing Coordinator, the author of the eMail shown above. Fifty-some days have passed by, but Becky Owens hasn't replied to my inquiry.

It remains a mystery...