I bought this monopod for travel and walking around. It's very light weight even with the head on and will also pack easily. I am very happy with the choice that I made. I have a Canon S3IS with a variety of tele.lenses up to Raynox2020. If I later decide to upgrade to a DSLR this will be work for that too as I am not a pro with a lot of heavy stuff. This is good for the average family use.

I returned a Sunpak Pro 724 carbon fiber monopod just because I could find better deals like this one. Plus, this is shorter when retracted and is nearly as light. So far, no problems -- this seems like a sturdy, portable monopod for a bargain price.

This monopod is lightweight and extends long enough for a 6 foot person to use. I take it with me to the softball fields. It packs nicely into a backpack. The only improvement I would make is the wrist strap. It comes loose rather easily so you can lose it. It's fallen off once or twice already in the month I've had the product. I also recommend getting the Bogen-Manfrotto 3229 Swivel Tilt Head with Quick Release.

This monopod is great. Lightweight, fairly compact, sturdy. Not much else to say. If you are a pro that will be using their monopod all the time, it might be worth getting a carbon fiber model, but for prosumer level, I'd definitely recommend this over the canon model. It is slightly more expensive when you buy the optional swivel head mount, but the quality is way superior, in my opinion.

Monopods are easy to take with you, quick to set up, really help to hold the camera steady, especially with larger lenses. I don't take it everywhere, but it's definitely a great tool to have in your kit.

I bought this thinking I would regret it due to the low cost. I had checked in my local camera shop and to get a reasonably stable monopod would have had to spend about $70 ( think it was Quantrary?)
However upon receipt I was pleasantly shocked. I like the stability foremost, since what good is a wobbly monopod. The flip type locks seem secure and it doesn't wobble at all.( my largest kit weighs about 5 lbs, I have used it with that and a 2 lb ball head with no problem),the padded hand rest is comfortable, the wrist strap is a nice thicker webbing, not a thin little strap. All in all a quality product for a very low cost...in fact nicer by far than the $70 I looked at. It is lightweight but that wasn't really the prime consideration or imo the major selling point for me, stability was so it would be nice at any weight. It does say it's made in China as previous poster said but not sure why that would matter. Not sure where other Manfrotto items are made but from what i know they are known for quality products and the name is stamped all over this one.