Vanguard MP-15 Lightweight Monopod

I love my monopod, folded it's only 23" yet for someone who's over 6' this is great as it scopes out to 68". Lightweight yet sturdy, nice smooth fluid panhead and...the must have quick shoe.
The cushion-foam hand grip and spiked foot allow this to double as a walking stick which can be adjusted to any height for both climbing and coming down steep paths. It handles my digital SLR with no problem,even with my biggest lens on. Quick release leg locks are great and they are nice and firm not like flimsy ones I've had in the past. Can't say enough.

Bought this mono-pod to use with my camcorder. This is a well made, sturdy, and easy to use mono-pod. I found the quick release shoe easy to use in every respect and its a nice feature to have with a camcorder. Im very happy with my purchase.

I love this accessory! I use it all the time with my Rebel XT. I also have the tripod that shares the same quick-connect and I like the way I can move the camera from the momopod to the tripod.

Nice and sturdy. Exactly what you need when you want to steady a shot without the mess of a full tripod. Well made and easy to use.

I really wanted to like this monopod. I have a Nikon Digital SLR, so I wanted something better and more rugged than the flimsy low-end monopods, and this sure looked like it would do the trick.

This monopod is very sturdy, rigid, and well-made. The flip-to-lock tabs set the leg length securely wherever you want, and they don't slip. It's quite impressive.

This model has a so-called "quick-disconnect shoe": you attach the camera to the shoe, then attach the shoe with camera to the monopod. Be warned: this is the ONLY way to attach a camera to this monopod; you can't just screw it on.

"Quick-shoes" are a professional standby, but you should consider whether one really fits your needs or not. A good pro quick-shoe system is above all stable and secure; it's quick and easy to attach and remove the shoe from the camera, and also to attach and remove the camera with shoe from the monopod/tripod.

Unfortunately, I found that this model has problems in all these areas. Maybe because just the little shoe of a pro system costs as much as this whole monopod.

To use it, you first remove the quick shoe from the monopod, flipping a spring-loaded release lever while pulling the shoe in a particular direction and lifting up. It took a little doing, but I finally got it off. Then, you need to find a quarter or something similar to turn the screw which attaches the shoe to the bottom of the camera; you can't do it with your fingers since there's no knob. Then, line up the screw with the hole in the bottom of the camera and screw it in as tightly as possible.

Then, you drop the camera with quick shoe attached back into the recess in the top of the monopod, while pulling the release lever. I thought it would just neatly drop right in. Silly me. Unless it's lined up quite carefully, it won't. But after a while, and some futzing, it does. Of course, while doing this, you're balancing the monopod with your left hand and the SLR with your right, while pulling on that release lever with your other hand.

Unfortunately, Vanguard doesn't give you much help: there are no index marks to show which way the shoe, camera, and monopod attach to each other, and the instructions provided only talk about tripods, not monopods.

But now (whew!) you're ready to take a picture. Hope it wasn't something moving, because it'd be gone by now.

Well, maybe I just need more practice with this thing, because some people love it. And I was willing to do that, until I picked up the monopod, and my camera swung sharply to the right. No, it didn't come off, fortunately, the screw just loosened. Guess I didn't tighten it enough. So I reversed the procedure above, removed the quick shoe and camera, re-tightened the screw as tight as I could get it with the quarter, and put it back together again. I picked up the monopod, and the camera swung sharply to the right. It was loose again.

I CANNOT tighten that screw enough with the quarter to hold my camera securely, and I've got pretty strong fingers. Obviously, my camera and lens are too heavy for this monopod, or rather, for its quick-shoe system.

But besides the insecurity, for me it's just too much time and hassle to put together, which keeps me from using it for spontaneous shots which still need some stability. I can get my camera on and off my ancient Sony non-quick-shoe tripod in a fraction of the time it takes with this monopod, and I don't need a quarter, and it doesn't come loose, either.

I considered leaving the quick shoe on the camera all the time, as the pros do. You can, but it adds a 5/8" high lump to the bottom center of the camera, so it's unstable when you put it down, the lens now carries part of the camera's weight, and it could mar some surfaces you set it on. I guess I could just leave the camera on the monopod all the time, but I don't really need it that much.

If you have a smaller, lighter, point-and-shoot camera, this monopod may work fine for you -- as long as you're more patient than I am, not interested in spontaneous shots, have strong fingers, and always have a quarter handy.