In this episode of WTF Stop, Jeff and Angie Photography, the host walks through a side‑by‑side comparison of four camera tripods: the Feissel CT3372LV, ProMediaGear 344, ProMediaGear TR344L, Really Right Stuff TVC‑34L, and the larger ProMediaGear TR424L. For each model the presenter lists key specifications (max payload, folded and extended heights, weight, material construction), pricing (base price and optional accessories such as leveling heads and spikes), and unique features (e.g., built‑in spikes, carbon‑fiber layer count, quick‑swap head mechanism). The video also highlights real‑world usage scenarios—compactness for hiking, sturdiness for windy or beach conditions, and the ability to support heavy lenses. A major narrative thread is the contrast in customer service: ProMediaGear is praised for responsive, US‑based support, while Really Right Stuff is criticized for poor communication. After demonstrating the tripods at full extension and discussing personal experience, the host declares the ProMediaGear 344 as the preferred choice due to its balance of size, weight, strength, and service. The video ends with a standard affiliate disclosure and links for viewers to purchase the gear.
Chapters
Hello and welcome to another episode of WTF Stop, Jeff and Angie Photography. Today we are going to take a look at this lineup of tripods. I got everything from, I got Feissl, I've got ProMedia Gear, and I got Really Right Stuff, and ProMedia Gear's what we call the big boy. Stay tuned while we take a look at all these tripods. All right, let's get started. Our first tripod up is the Feissel tripod. Uh, excuse my background noise. Today we have neighborhood birds because we're out on the patio. Okay, first up we got the Feissel tripod. This is a carbon fiber tripod. It comes standard as you see. It is the CT3372LV, and the LV stands for Leveling head, and this one has the leveling head with the center column. Uh, let's see. And it comes with the foam legs on it, or I guess foam leg coverings, I guess is what you would call that. I have notes on all these tripods because there's just too much on all of them to remember. Anyways, carbon fiber legs. Quarter-turn twist locks. 3 leg extensions. Has the leveling head on it. So you loosen that up and you can level out your gimbal or ball head. And the legs have spring-loaded locks. So every time you go down the next section. It catches so it doesn't swing back without catching. So little facts on this tripod is the max weight on it is 66 pounds, which is excellent. Folded length right at 26 inches. Max height is 57 inches. It weighs in at right at 4.5 pounds. And when we bought this new, we probably paid $650 for it. You can buy it used now on the market for, I don't know, $400, $500 if you find one. Um, Okay, next is ProMediaGear 344. This is my tripod. As you can see, I have it personalized with the state parks that I've been to, a few of them. I got to go back to a couple of them and get new badges because I didn't think of doing that till last spring. But anyways, back to the tripod. This tripod here has a max weight of 60 pounds. Folded length is just under 21 inches. Nice and compact for a heavyweight tripod. Max height on this is 59. Minimum height is 3.8. And it weighs in at a mere 4 pounds without the leveling head. The leveling head, it probably weighs, I don't know, maybe another pound. But when I go out hiking, I usually take that leveling head off just to help preserve on weight. So this tripod will set you back with the leveling head, um, $1,200. The leveling head itself is $140. So if you didn't want the leveling head, you could get away with $1,060 for this tripod. One thing nice about ProMedia Gear tripods is that you have the built-in spikes on the bottom of every tripod. You have spikes built in. You would need an Allen wrench to unscrew that. turn it around the other way. I have never used spikes because I usually handhold. When I do use a tripod though, I use ProMedia Gear. Okay, so on to the next tripod. This tripod is also ProMedia Gear. This is the TR344L. It has pretty much the same specs as this tripod. The only difference is this one folded length is 24 inches and the max height is 71 inches. And the weight, it weighs a little bit more. It weighs 0.3 pounds more. So it comes in at 4.3 pounds. A base price on this Is $1,250. Not too bad. And it too has the spikes at the bottom because it's ProMedia Gear. And if you wanted the leveling head on this, it too would be $140. So this tripod fully equipped is at $1,390. One thing I want to mention about the ProMedia Gear tripods is that the legs are carbon fiber. This is aircraft aluminum. It is made in the USA right outside Chicago. You call and talk to ProMedia Gear, you're gonna talk to ProMedia Gear, and they're gonna help you. They're gonna solve your problem, and they're gonna sell you something good that you're gonna love. Okay, so next one is The Really Right Stuff tripod. I know that Really Right Stuff is a very well-known name. There's a lot of people out there that shoot with Really Right Stuff, but I've had this tripod now for 6 months. Hey! A friend of ours had lent it to us, and I can tell you, after using this tripod for 6 months, I still really like my Promedia Gear tripod. I like the compactness of it. I like the lightweightness of it. And I also like that my leveling head is $140 versus $220 if I wanted to purchase it for this tripod. And if I wanted spikes, I'd have to pay an additional $96 to get some spikes. Back to this tripod. This tripod is the TVC-34L. Its max weight is 45 pounds. The folded length is just under 24 inches. Minimum height on this is 4 inches as well, just like the other 2. It weighs in at 4.55 pounds. 4.55 pounds. And this tripod base price is $1,245. The leveling kit, like I mentioned before, is $220, and spikes for the feet, if you want them, that's an additional $96. So this one fully equipped is $1,560. There was some information on this tripod that I was trying to get from Really Right Stuff. I emailed Really Right Stuff 3 times and I never got a reply. I wanted to know how many layers of carbon fiber their legs were because I wanted to see if it compares to ProMedia Gear's 10 layers of carbon fiber. The customer service for Really Right Stuff, in my opinion, is really, really poor. Anyways, That's my story on those tripods. Let's jump into the really big boy. Okay, so here we have ProMedia Gear's TR424L. This is the long version of this. This tripod here holds up 125 pounds. Folded length is 26.3. Max height is 77 inches. Minimum height is 6.7, and it weighs in at a beefy 6.4 pounds. But cost-wise, the base price as you see it right here, you would be looking at $1,500. You get the center column, or not the center column, sorry, the leveling head that fits down in here for $140 as well. And to replace it, it's simple. You just loosen this little nut up right here, push the button up underneath, pull it out, put your leveling head base in, push the button, and tighten it, and you're good to go. I wish that feature was on my tripod because my tripod I have to loosen up 6 Allen wrench connections to get it out to swap heads. But that's okay. I still really love my tripod. Anyhow, this one I actually want to take this one And I want to extend it all the way out for you because 77 inches is huge. I can walk underneath this tripod. All right, so I just wanted to pause you guys for a moment. And put all these tripods out at their full length just to give you a perspective of exactly how tall they are. I am 5 feet 7 inches and I can stand underneath this one. I could probably hang from this one if I wanted to because it is really solid. And that is the ProMedia Gear. This one is just a little bit taller than me. The Really Right Stuff. This one here is also the ProMedia Gear. This is the 344L. This is the 424L. This is the Really Right Stuff. This is the ProMedia Gear 344. And this one here is the Feissl. So in my pick, I pick my tripod. The reason I picked my tripod is because it is compact, lightweight, and it's sturdy. So it's good for windy conditions, landscape conditions. Beach conditions, and also with my big lenses, my 600, my 400. With the gimbal on this, I have no problem whatsoever. So the reason we switched to ProMedia Gear is basically customer service. Their customer service is top-notch. When you call ProMedia Gear, you get ProMedia Gear. They are USA. Tom there at ProMedia Gear, he is an amazing guy. You call him, uh, we had an issue with one of our gimbals when we were in Yellowstone. It had, um, been apparently dropped by maybe TSA, and he shipped us overnight the tools and the part to fix it. And we were back in business the very next day, which is really amazing. So anyways, if you like these videos, make sure you like and subscribe and share it. And I'll have links below to every one of these tripods. Um, this one I will not. I'll have a link to the new version, the Mark II. And if you do purchase from any of my links, I will get a little kickback, which I appreciate. It helps me make these videos and buy the equipment that I need to buy to make these videos. All right, well, till next time, see you later.
