A Hiking Stick? A Tripod? Yes, It’s Both!

Mrs_Go has had a lot of inquiries regarding her new TrekPod Go! walking stick since she bought it a few months ago. It seems to generate a lot of interest wherever she goes and it’s easy to see why – not only is it a walking stick but it’s also a camera tripod!

The TrekPod Go! from Trek-Tech is a monopod/tripod/hiking stick which converts from hiking stick to a tripod within seconds. It also uses a neat magnetic mount for quick camera setup.

The TrekPod is made out of “aircraft grade aluminum alloys and high strength polymers” and only weighs 28 ounces (793 grams). The tripod mode has a height range of 39″ to 57.5″ (99 to 146 cm) and the hiking staff/monopod mode has a height range of 42.5″ to 62.5″ (106.7 cm to 158.8 cm). It can be quickly taken apart with a maximum piece length of 23″ (59cm) which will easily fit into carry-on luggage.

Attaching the camera is rather slick. It uses what is called the “MagMount AR/i Anti-Rotation magnetic quick release camera and optical device mounting system”. Simply put, it uses a strong rare earth magnet for mounting your camera. This allows your camera to be attached instantly. The Anti-Rotation feature locks your portrait shots in place, and indexing every 30° aids with panorama photos. A “MagAdapter” screws directly to your camera in the mount hole. It comes with two MagAdapters, one for light cameras and a stronger one for heavier cameras. This worked out well for us since we each have a camera.

It’s was a bit pricey at $180. and it was a hard decision to make, considering that my stick is a fine piece of birch that only cost a couple of hours of whittling time. 🙂 However, when compared with quality tripods it is quite reasonable… and with ‘money’ shots like this we feel that it already paid for itself: 🙂

Last month while Geocaching in California we also found that it worked out well at checking for ‘critters’ in caches. In fact, Mrs_Go now calls the TrekPod her ‘rattlesnake prodder’! 🙂

We found that we would seldom carry a traditional tripod when out Geocaching or hiking even though there were many times when we wished we had one. We found them to be too heavy, they took too long to setup for quick shots and we just didn’t need to carry around something else. The TrekPod Go! is the solution that we were looking for. We’re very happy with it.

If you’re interested in the TrekPod Go! you can find out more here and you can get one for yourself here.

Keep on cachin’!