HEIPI Travel Tripod on Kickstarter – Compact 3-in-1 Tripod

Accessory News

by Olaf von VossOctober 25^th, 2022

While we’ve seen quite a few versatile travel tripods over the years, with the most innovative probably being the original Peak Design Travel Tripod (article here), there’s still room for practical and useful improvement. HEIPI is currently running a pretty successful Kickstarter campaign for its idea of what a good tripod should look like: meet the HEIPI Travel Tripod.

If you are on the road a lot, you know what it’s like to lug around a huge bag of gear. Therefore, a decent tripod for such a job should be reasonably lightweight plus it should be super versatile as well as easy and quick to use, right?

HEIPI aims to do just that, as their new HEIPI Travel Tripod is basically a modular tripod that consists of three different parts that can be used individually or together to create a pretty cool tripod with a lot of features. Check out the campaign video below:

HEIPI Travel Tripod

Although it looks quite similar to the aforementioned Peak Design Travel Tripod as well as the Ulanzi & Coman (article here), this new HEIPI Travel Tripod also has a few extra tricks up its sleeve.

Basically, the HEIPI tripod consists of three parts, the base tripod, a so-called inner tripod (aka 3-pillar center column), and the ball head. Together they make a complete tripod, but you can also use just the small inner tripod and the ball head for a minimalist setup. Or you can simply use the ball head with your existing slider or other equipment.

In addition, the inner tripod can be used as an extension of the base tripod, but with three legs instead of just one column (for improved rigidity) or in under-slung mode for shooting close to the ground.

An included phone holder allows you to attach a regular smartphone to the tripod (or to the smaller inner tripod, of course). If you want to weigh down the whole setup, the integrated hook can be used to hang your equipment bag on it, for example.

With the ball head, you can also align your camera vertically if needed. A nice feature is the click-pan function. In this mode, the ball head clicks every 10º (but you can also mute it) for perfect panoramic shots.

The whole HEIPI Travel Tripod is made of carbon fiber and metal, so it is seemingly pretty sturdy while being relatively lightweight at the same time (3 lbs / 1.35 kg – w/o inner tripod: 2.6 lbs / 1.2 kg). Its size is 17.5″ / 44.5 cm in its packed form, with a diameter of 2.7″ / 6.9 cm.

According to HEIPI, the maximum height is 59″ / 150 cm and the weight capacity is 24.95 kg / 55 lbs.

Pricing

The accompanying Kickstarter campaign runs through November 16, and so far, the goal is well in the rearview mirror. At the time of writing, $366,000 has been funded, which translates to 3660% of the original goal of $10,000.

The Super Early Bird price is only $299, which seems pretty reasonable, and the regular price for the HEIPI travel tripod sold after the campaign ends will be $399. If this tripod lives up to expectations, it will certainly be a nice addition to any filmmaker’s gear bag.

We are saying this at the end of every crowdfunding-related article: please be aware of the risks when backing a project on a crowdfunding platform. Please read the platform’s terms of use and keep in mind that there can be significant delays when delivering the product. Some projects don’t even get delivered at all.

Links: Kickstarter campaign | HEIPI website

For complete transparency: The Kickstarter HEIPI campaign link has a CineD Affiliate commission embedded in it.

What do you think of it? Would this travel tripod be useful for your workflow? Share your experience below in the comments!