Choosing a tripod can seem like a riddle with no correct answer. The lighter and smaller the tripod, the less stable it’ll be, seemingly defeating the point of even bringing one. I especially seem to run into this problem while traveling, when a bulky tripod just isn’t feasible. Travel tripods always make some tradeoffs, but one tripod from Heipi caught my eye. It’s called the Heipi travel tripod, and I’ve spent some time testing it recently. Here’s what I think about it.
Table of Contents
The Specs
The Heipi travel tripod is an interesting combination of a main tripod, a ball head, and a smaller sub-tripod that stores within the confines of the larger tripod. When stowed, it’s all a seamless package. The sub-tripod can either remain in place, or be pulled out to use separately. At $399, it’s well-priced for a high-end carbon fiber travel tripod.
The packed length is 17.5in/44.5cm, with a packed diameter of 2.7in/6.9cm. Total weight is 3lbs or 1.35kg, with the sub tripod accounting for .42lbs or .19kg of the total. There are five leg sections (four flip-lock clamps). Overall, the tripod is very portable and compact, although the small size makes it feel a bit dense.
While the legs are carbon fiber, much of the tripod is metal, including the latches, collar, and tripod head. This certainly gives a better impression of build quality compared to plastic.
With the legs fully extended, the main tripod can reach 50 inches or 126cm, while the sub tripod can be extended like a center column to boost this to 59 inches or 150cm. It’s a rather clever design trick, negating the need for a separate center column.
Interestingly, unlike some ultra-portable tripods, many things on this Heipi model feel like a “regular” tripod, from the cylindrical legs, to the tripod head’s design and interface. It’s compatible with an Arca-Swiss style plate and uses regular tripod screw sizes.
For a travel tripod, the Heipi sits right in the middle of the pack when it comes to height, weight, and number of leg sections. What sets this tripod apart are some of the smaller design decisions.
The Main Tripod Legs
While the sub-tripod is interesting, I care more about the main tripod legs working well. Fortunately, they do. While this tripod is rated for a 55lbs or 25kg weight capacity, that figure (as with all tripods) is not super relevant to real-world use. Instead, I’d consider this tripod to be a good option for lenses up to 200mm, on bodies up to pro-level mirrorless or DSLRs. And if you do more “critical” use, like stacking macro images or shooting in very windy conditions, you’ll want to consider heavier tripod setups.
One potential area of concern is the choice of flip locks over twist locks. Flip locks are less ergonomic, slower to set up and tear down, and seem to hold less securely than twist-style locks. While I didn’t run into slippage issues in my testing, I still prefer twist locks for long-term (multi-year) usage of my tripods.
The tripod legs have detents allowing you to angle them wider if you need. On my copy of the tripod, moving into these positions is a bit stiff, and it’s a bit awkward when the sub-tripod is in the stowed position. By comparison, the leg angle locks on my Gitzo are far easier to operate.
The Tripod Head
Heipi includes a very high quality tripod head with the package. While it’s compact, it still offers a 50mm diameter ball with support for a 55lbs load. Again, I don’t pay much attention to weight-rating claims, but this one does feel well-built and reassuring.
In fact, Heipi’s head is much better than a typical travel head; it offers everything I’d expect of a dedicated full-size tripod head. Starting with the plate for your camera, Heipi supports the industry standard Arca-Swiss style mounting plate. They’ve tested compatibility with a range of major brands, including Peak Design, Smallrig, Ulanzi, Sirui, and Benro. So, you should be able to use your existing L-brackets and other Arca-Swiss gear.
Interestingly, the plate locking mechanism is a twist-lock system, different from the usual flip-locks and screw-locks on most tripod heads. Still, it feels very secure to me. But I would make sure to test it with any third-party plate that you intend to use, just to be safe.
The head that comes with the Heipi travel tripod has an integrated, retractable smartphone bracket. As a pleasant surprise, this bracket is even big enough to comfortably accommodate an iPhone 14 Pro Max in a case. This combo is often beyond the range of many smartphone accessories, so it’s nice to see it fit here, and goes to show Heipi’s attention to detail.
On the head itself, there are a pair of plate retention screws, which are removable to expand compatibility with other styles of plates. Also present is a small bubble level, which can help when leveling the tripod for shooting panoramas.
Speaking of panoramas, the Heipi head supports 360 degree panning, with audible and tactile clicks at every 10 degrees (these clicks can be muted for video use). Part of the tripod makes it a bit hard to see the panorama markings at the base of the tripod head, but still, it’s a solid option for shooting tripods.
Finally, the head supports dropping your camera into portrait mode via a notch on the side. That notch is helpful when using the integrated phone mount, or a camera without an L-bracket.
One potential drawback is that the Heipi tripod isn’t really meant to use other tripod heads. You can mount a different tripod head, but if your head has a larger base diameter, you would need to physically remove part of the tripod to make it fit. If you already have a small travel head, this issue wouldn’t apply.
The Sub-Tripod
The sub-tripod pulls double duty, as both the raised center column of the main tripod and as a detached tabletop tripod. As a center column, it boosts the total height from shorter than chest level to something closer to upper chest. Raising the center column is always a move of last resort when setting up your tripod, as it’s inherently less stable, and this approach is no exception. It performed as well as a typical center column, but I’d still only use it if necessary.
With the sub-tripod removed, it’s a very functional tabletop or macro tripod. I could see getting away with using this small tripod in many areas where you wouldn’t bring a full-size tripod, like in crowded areas. Given the very lightweight design and close integration with the main tripod, I’d be happy to have this with me on a trip and just throw it in my bag for the day.
Field Testing the Heipi Travel Tripod
In real-world use, the biggest thing that stood out to me was how effective the tripod was at cutting weight, while still operating like a non-travel tripod. Some things aren’t perfect, like the use of flip-locks instead of twist-locks, but I didn’t run into major issues. My past experiences with ultra-light travel tripods left me shaking my head at design compromises or just a general lack of stability.
This tripod isn’t as rock solid as my full-size Gitzo legs, but I’d have no problem bringing it along on a trip. And considering that it’s a travel tripod by design, I can’t fault it for that. Relative to other travel tripods I’ve used, it’s clearly in the upper end of stability.
Throughout my testing, I used Nikon 14-30mm, 24-70mm, and 70-300mm lenses on my Z6 and Z7. While these aren’t particularly demanding lenses in terms of focal length, they’re a great fit for this tripod’s use case. Lenses like this are exactly what I’d bring if I were traveling light. For all three lenses, I had no issues with head sagging, shaky images, or any other manifestation of tripod instability, even at long exposures.
As for using the tripod head in practice, I was a fan of its design and stability as well. One thing that did stand out to me was the relatively high drag tension of the tripod head. Some photographers might prefer this for less sag under heavy loads, but I felt it was set too high, particularly as there is no easy way to adjust it.
Overall, I’m quite happy with my experience using Heipi’s travel tripod. While it’s easier than ever to choose lighter camera bodies and lenses that don’t compromise on quality, tripods have always felt limited by simple physics. Heipi hasn’t broken the laws of physics, but I think they’ve made a great set of smart design decisions. The Heipi travel tripod feels well-suited for today’s travel photographer using a compact DSLR or mirrorless rig.
The Heipi travel tripod is available for pre-order from the Heipi website for $399 and is scheduled to ship in June.
Heipi Travel Tripod
- Features
- Build Quality
- Handling
- Size and Weight
- Ease of Use
- Stability
- Value
Photography Life Overall Rating
Could i use a L bracket with the Heipi tripod? My L bracket is about 1-2mm wider than the peak design plate. Looks like there is zero adjustment with the Heipi’s plate retention system.
It’ll depend on the plate. They tested arca-Swiss with a number of plate models, but ymmv.
Stay as far away as possible. After a zillion months of waiting, and of course they’ve taken my money… the Heipi 3 in 1 tripod arrived. It is truly a lovely, versatile tripod. BUT, it’s not any lighter or more advantageous than the Sirui tripod I’ve had for years; so I wanted to return it. The Company advised I must pay shipping if I was to return it; back to China. The cost to return the product was $300; basically the cost of the dang tripod. Ridiculous. Heipi offered no assistance. I told them I would alert as many photographers as I could to avoid their Company and I’m doing that here.
Run far from this company. They have had my money since March, and I still have no tripod and they are refusing to refund my money or send the tripod. Total scam. I am out 339.00 at this point.
It does not appear that the Heipi is compatible with all Arca-Swiss plates. I use a BlackRapid strap and ahead of getting my tripod I bought a set of Black Rapid Arca-Swiss plates. They do not work with the Heipi tripod.
The problem is that the plate that came with the tripod has an edge that goes down to a thin point whereas the BlackRapid Arca-Swiss plates thin to about a 1/16th inch stub. This prevents the BlackRapid plate from sliding under the clamps from the HEIPI head.
I have looked at a bunch of Arca-Swiss plates on Amazon and it appears that many of them do not thin to the very thin edge that appears necessary to work with the Heipi tripod head. It is not clear which company failed to strictly follow the Arca-Swiss standard but I want a solution that lets me detach from my camera strap and put the camera on the tripod without having to install a plate to do it.
I purchased mine through Kickstarter. I may sell it.
There are three components: the main legs, the sub tripod, and the head.
I like the sub tripod. It’s useful for wildflower photography close to the ground.
The more I use the head, the less I like it. Using a 600 g lens such as my Sony 90mm macro, the camera is front heavy. Making fine adjustments in the ball position is too difficult because friction and locking are governed by a tiny short throw lever with little mechanical advantage. Loosen it slightly and the camera moves too easily and too far. When the tilting notch faces away from the photographer, as it will when aiming downwards, this tiny lever is on the left side of the head. My non-dominant left thumb is not powerful enough to clamp the ball firmly enough to prevent camera drift. So this head may have a large ball, but for me it’s less stable than heads I own with smaller balls. Even with the collar around the sub tripod forcefully tightened there is some give and horizontal motion when the camera is handled, disconcerting and detrimental.
The main legs are sufficiently stable. The flintlock clamps were initially very stiff but are breaking in (will they loosen too much with normal wear?).
The tripod with its sub tripod and head weights 1.05 kg
My Sirui AM 284 legs + my Arca p0 ballhead + Novoflex Q-Mount clamp also weighs exactly 1.05 kg. (Thanks Spencer Cox for introducing me to the Arca p0.) Its maximum height is about that of the Heipi with its sub tripod 25% extended. It can go low, within 20mm as low as does the Heipi sub tripod, and works just as well (or better) for those tiny flowers. It is more stable, much easier and faster to set up and take down, and when the legs are extended and splayed, as would be used over a brook, it is far more rigid than is the Heipi. (If someone wished less weight they could use the Sirui AM 254 legs instead of the 284.) And the Arca p0 has a wonderful friction control + an ovoid ball which gets tighter as the camera is tilted.
So what is the advantage of the Heipi? It does have a center column which taller photographers might wish and which is useful to clear high obstructing railings. The Heipi takes less room in my carry on bag, but my Sirui AM 284 also fits. Both tripods are of equal weight when added to my camera backpack, and if I mount my Arca p0 head the Heipi becomes heavier than the Sirui.
So when I am going to travel and and walk with 1.05 kg of tripod, I’ll choose my Sirui AM 284 with the Arca p0.
I purchased mine through Kickstarter. I may sell it.
There are three components: the main legs, the sub tripod, and the head.
I like the sub tripod. It’s useful for wildflower photography close to the ground.
The more I use the head, the less I like it. Using a 600 g lens such as my Sony 90mm macro, the camera is front heavy. Making fine adjustments in the ball position is too difficult because friction and locking are governed by a tiny short throw lever with little mechanical advantage. Loosen it slightly and the camera moves too easily and too far. When the tilting notch faces away from the photographer, as it will when aiming downwards, this tiny lever is on the left side of the head. My non-dominant left thumb is not powerful enough to clamp the ball firmly enough to prevent camera drift. So this head may have a large ball, but for me it’s less stable than heads I own with smaller balls.
The main legs are sufficiently stable. The flintlock clamps were initially very stiff but are breaking in.
The tripod with its sub tripod and head weights 1.05 kg
My Sirui AM 284 legs + my Arca p0 also weighs exactly 1.05 kg. (Thanks Spencer Cox for introducing me to the Arca p0.) Its maximum height is about that of the Heipi with its sub tripod 25% extended. It can go low, within 20mm as low as does the Heipi sub tripod, and works just as well (or better) for those tiny flowers. It is more stable, much easier and faster to set up and take down, and when the legs are extended and splayed, as would be used over a brook, it is far more rigid than is the Heipi. (If someone wished less weight they could use the Sirui AM 254 legs instead of the 284.) And the Arca p0 has a wonderful friction control + an ovoid ball which gets tighter as the camera is tilted.
So what is the advantage of the Heipi? It does have a center column which taller photographers might wish and which is useful to clear high obstructing railings. The Heipi takes less room in my carry on bag, but my Sirui AM 284 also fits. Both tripods are of equal weight when added to my camera backpack, and if I mount my Arca p0 head the Heipi becomes heavier than the Sirui.
So when I am going to travel and and walk with 1.05 kg of tripod, I’ll choose my Sirui AM 284 with the Arca p0.
Can’t say anything about Sirui. Once I had one and sold it after I was told, the legs are only sealed against water as long as you don’t extend them while in the water.
Got the Heipi this week and agree with your findings.
Some additional thoughts: There are “spikes” included in the less than optimal rubber feet. Little bonsai spikes which don’t help in soft grounds. The rubber feet can slip away on smooth floors.
I like the quick release of the ball head as it works with all my “Arca”-type plates I had to make smaller to fit into FLM quick releases. The carrying bag is a clever design.
The mini-tripod/center column leaves a lot to wish: It’s rather sticky when I want to move it. Meaning: no fine adjustments in height (for macro work i.e.) are possible. And the ring to clamp it, at least the inner part with it’s three 1mm ‘thickness’ plastic flaps, leaves me in doubt about its long term durability.
Setting up the tripod takes roughly double time as setting up my new Rogeti which also has a center column serving as mini tripod. The Rogeti is part of a very clever system and an excellent choice for architectural work. And their geared head works also very well as 2 way head.
I think the Heipi is not bad for lightweight mirrorless cameras and lenses. Heipi doesn’t give specs about max. payload though. I estimate it not higher than 3-4 kg. And front heavy lenses are not pleasant to use with the Heipi.
What a brilliant design.
I take some issue with the “it performed as well as a typical centre column” comment. Heipi’s selling point is that their centre column design is supposed to be significantly more stable than a conventional column design, so I expect to see that statement addressed (either for or against) in a review. As it stands right now, it sounds more like a negative comment. A vibration-dampening test against some similar-sized tripods like the Peak Design would be appreciated.
The stiffness comment is interesting and reminds me of my experience with the Ulanzi. If it’s anything useful, I have seen some backers saying on KS that the locks become less stiff with use – to the point that their legs can be deployed as quickly as in the video.
Can you elaborate on which part of the tripod needs to be removed to use wider heads? And did you get to test the spikes too? I usually abhor models with built-in spikes because they are often too small (relative to the tripod) and unremovable, but Heipi’s unique method of storing the spikes may mean that the spikes are of a more adequate size.
Thanks Alex,
I ordered one on the Kickstarter campaign ($299) based on Matt Granger’s review (Get Your Gear Out). It’s been shipped; I expect it by the end of April. I also own the PD carbon fiber and am anxious to compare the two (The Heipi is supposedly more stable.) I own many pods (mono and tri); I don’t expect a travel tripod to be as stable as my big Gitzo or my RRS. Actually, I don’t use the big Gitzo anymore because I’ve ‘downsized’ to Olympus and it is both relatively heavy and bulky. My ‘collection’ has both flip-locks and twist-locks; I don’t have a strong preference, although I do catch myself not completely tightening the twist-locks. Neither B&H or Adorama carry Heipi (at least not yet); Amazon does but the new Travel Tripod is not shown, although several other Heipi products are.
“…and is scheduled to ship in June.” Haha. I was one of the backers who paid a share on the 1.3 million (?) $. In November it was scheduled for March, then April, now May, and they still didn’t mention the year.
What they mentioned were “quality problems need to be solved”. This can be true (or a believable excuse?), but why did they deliver 100 tripods beforehand – and after them the “quality issues” started?
So, in a way I envy you, Alex, as you were one of the lucky early receivers (just watch out for surprising quality issues…).
You said “It (the three excentrical small tripod legs) performed as well as a typical center column, but I’d still only use it if necessary.” and that raised the question “in theory, these three single legs should be more stable than a single cylindrical center column. Because they are a kind of truss construction, the outer circle of which is much larger than the diameter of the single central column.
And now you say “It performed as well as a typical center column, but I’d still only use it if necessary.” Boo-hooo, sniff. Doesn’t sound very encouraging.
May I ask why you didn’t try the little tripod mounted upside down? Yes, it’s complicated to read the camer’s menus upside down, but for that I could use the Atoll adapters (silencecorner.net/) Another tripod with a center column to be used as min-tripod is Rogeti’s T32 Max (rogeti.com/) but thta doens’t tick my box of “travel tripod”.
I’ve not been keeping up with their delivery schedule, but that’s disappointing to hear about the delays. I will say that production at scale is different than producing a few models for press/marketing/etc, but even still, they should be getting tripods into people’s mailboxes.
As for the center column, I don’t really use a center on any tripod. This one being as good as centers on full size tripods isn’t a criticism.
Well Alex, I don’t want to split hairs and am no native speaker, but to me there’s a slight difference between “I don’t really use a center on any tripod” and “but I’d still only use it if necessary”. At that moment I read it like “I’d only use Heipi’s triple columns if necessary”, my bad.
Those statements aren’t mutually exclusive. I can dislike all center columns, while still acknowledging that this one performs as expected.
“Raising the center column is always a move of last resort… It performed as well as a typical center column, but I’d still only use it if necessary.”
For some use cases / users a center column and it’s well thought design is an important thing. You can decide to not / never use a center column. But if you’re “testing” a tripod with a couple of unique selling points – center column is split into three parts and serves as small table tripod as well, neither needing tools nor converting the ball head – then your test wil have some logical gaps if you say ” It performed as well as a typical center column”, because apparently you haven’t tried it’s use as table tripod and you also haven’t tried to use the column upside down. Your decision.
To me it reads like an incomplete test, as if a lens with VR is “tested” and the tester states “VR is always the last resort, I never use it, but I think it’s a s good as others.”
If you never use it, you simply can’t judge how good it is. Anyway, let’s keep it that way. Tripod tests are never an easy thing to do tests about. What’s important for you hasn’t to be important for me and vice versa. To me it can be easy to carry, to you it might be too heavy, too long, too bulky.
This morning I tested 5 tripods and 14 heads to see how much vibration they swallow. To find that out I used a D850 for the (not very intense) mirror slap. I could see some differences, but no head remained frozen. And now you can simply say ” so what, I use mirror up all the time on a tripod, or electronic shutter” I do so as well, I was just curious. :)
I think the uproar re: delivery delays is partially unfair to them since multiple batches were stuck in port congestions or held for inspection by customs (which was the case of the current U.S batch, and not too surprising considering this is a Chinese brand). Both cases are outside their control, and the best they can do to improve in later batches is to update the delay status more frequently.
I will be picking mine up tomorrow afternoon – quite convenient for me that this review shows up. Canada Post refused to deliver to door and required me to wait an extra half day until I could go pick it up – even though their website already notified me that the package was dropped off there earlier this evening.
A waiting time of 1/2 year is really stretching my patience. Which was the reason (that and my curiosity) to order the Rogeti RX32 together with the geared head RG1, Mark III. Arrived within a week, like to be expected from a mature product. I’m no longer waiting for a travel tripod, but I don’t want to compare a product I have in my hands with another I haven’t. Maybe I’ll do so if Heipi ever decides to deliver.
So far I only can say: I still own a couple of Gitzos, I owned Manfrotto, Berlebach and Sirui. But the Rogeti is a very different story. Modular like no tripod I used before, simple to use, easy to handle, lightweight, very sturdy, excellent manufactured. If this is the new way Chinese companies design and manufacture, Eurpoean and American companies will face serious competition in terms on ingenuinity!
The geared head beats the competiton in various ways, it’s simply the best I used so far (out of 10 different ones from Arca, Leofoto, Sunwayfoto, Manfrotto).
Of course, it won’t be recognized in a picture which tripod was used. But for me it matters a lot, how quick, safe and secure I can work. I would be very, very surprised if Heipi could top that. Being a tripod nerd (I admit…) I never had so much fun using such a device like with the Rogeti.