The SLIK Sprint Pro II: A Bargain Travel Tripod Review

This little tripod fits in a backpack, costs less than ninety dollars, and has squats down to 170mm height.

Is the SLIK Sprint Pro II capable of handling professional photography? Let's examine this tripod and answer that question.



PROS:

1. Affordable price. This Sprint Pro II rings up at about $90, so cost is no question here.
2. Compact. I took it to Las Vegas, and I carried in a laptop backpack, a pack that had 3 camera bodies and six lenses. It is slightly more than 18 inches with ballhead.
3. Efficient. The travel tripod is lightweight, yet sturdy. It handles large lenses, as I have had the 7D and EF 70-300mm on the quick-release ballhead. The instructions do say, however, that the tripod is limited to about 5 pounds of load.
4. Legs are adjustable to three angles with locks. 
5. 3-year warranty is awesome.
6. Fairly sturdy for a lightweight tripod. 
7. Center column can be inverted, particularly useful for macro photography.
8. Low height of six inches(17cm) is capable.
9. Verticle & Pan capable.
10. Solid grips. The tripod handles well and the grips are nicely sized and spongy.

CONS:

1. Ballhead is horrible. Although capable, any lens of weight, such as the EF 28-135mm, will give you headaches framing a shot.
2. Footgrips have fallen off. Once, at McDowell Creek Falls, I managed to find one of the fallen-off feet, down in the creek itself. I was lucky.
3. Windblown. Although sturdy, wind will affect this tripod.
4. Quick-release plate is horrible as well. Mine is less than a year old, and made of cork, it has disintegrated.
5. Ballhead knobs are for stronger hands and smaller fingers. Enough said.
6. Variable-angle locks on legs are just okay.
7. Quick-release plate lock is also mediocre.
8. The tripod came with a practically useless carrybag.
9. Maximum height is another concern at 63 inches. This is partially due to the lightweight nature of this travel-pod. It is adequate however.
10. It is simply not a professional tripod.

When we consider the positive aspects of the SLIK Sprint Pro II, we can conclude that for the money, it is a not-bad-at-all tripod and coming in under a hundred bucks is high praise.

But, in regard to the suspect angles of this travel tripod, I can only give it 3 out of 5 stars. For professional tripod photos, invest in a bigger and better tripod.