Bogen / Manfrotto 561B monopod

[Roger Shealy]

I use it with an XH-A1 all the time and it does fine. It's rated for 8.8 lbs.

[Robert James]

On such high praise from folks on this forum I purchased this Monopod a few months back. I attached a strap to it so I can carry it around on my back (like a guitar) or on the side.

After some time with it I am 50/50 on my enjoyment.

I LOVE that it is nice and compact, doesn't weight much, can sit up on the shoulder for shoulder-mount usage and such.

but..

You cannot, obviously, get steady shots with it making the tilting aspect of it sort of not worth the price. Panning isn't so bad but it's wobbly for tilting. You also can't get much stillness out of those legs outside and you certainly can't trust the thing to be steady enough to keep on it's own.

I bought a Pearstone video tripod this week from B&H. It is, of course, a lot more stable and weighs about the same. Though it won't fit in a tight squeeze (although, to be honest, I haven't used it with the legs together to make a quick monopod-esq feel to the thing) the tilting and panning are not wobbly.

I a split now on weather or not to sell the monopod. I know the monopod might work better taking it out on my hikes and such but the tripod is just as light. I understand the notion of ease of use for wedding shots with the monopod but also feel the 5lbs tripod could be carted around just as well and by selling the monopod I can purchase another, set it in another location for quick change overs with the quick release plates (not to mention a few other items I could purchase [ie: LCD loop]) by getting $50-300 for the monopod.

Is there something I am missing?

What makes this thing so amazing?

[Stelios Christofides]

I got my 562 monopod and really I am wondering how come I never had this before? Fantastic.

stelios

[Kyle Root]

I recently bought the 561 monopod and was having a problem...I called it 'wratcheting' and it was quite annoying. I looked up the book online for the new model and it says to loosen one of the three allen screws holding that joint together.

I did so. It helped but it was still doing it some. So, I loosened the other 2 and now it's as smooth as could be.

The online instructions specifically said NOT to loosen all 3, and I can kind of see why, but that was the only way to completely free up the motion on mine.