Ordered this tripod for... this. Primarily, Vine reviews, but also for casual photography whims. In the past, I've tried to take photographs of products where holding the phone steady was awkward or difficult. A desktop tripod may have been more suitable for some cases, but this works well standing it adjacent to the desk with the ball head slotted so that the phone's lens can be aimed at the desk's surface.

Not being a professional photographer, the finer points will certainly be missed. However, on durability, professional experience is not necessary here to realize the limits of plastic components. Notably, the socket that the ball head fits into at the top of the of the tripod and the joints connecting the vertical shaft to the three legs are likely failure points when the plastic has aged. For my usage, I expect to keep this cool and out of the sun, so I'm not terribly worried about the durability aside from occasional bumps while moving the tripod. Certainly, if I had needs for a tripod to take on long trips where I had little control over the environment, I would be inclined to pay more for something that I felt offered greater durability.

At the price point, the critical plastic parts should not be terribly surprising, but deserve mentioning. It's one of the few, arguable, faults that can be found with casual observation. It is versatile and I believe the product description to be accurate regarding its feature set. That is, every knob, screw, extension, or latch on the tripod behaves as I would expect them to. The only feature that seems to come up short is the integrated circular level on the head. It does not appear to be accurate enough to offer substantial guidance. However, this is a conclusion formed without rigorous testing and measurements.

A review might be incomplete without some applaud for the panoramic motion offered on the head of the tripod. It is exceptionally smooth, and feels luxurious. For a budget market solution, I'm not sure that it would be expected of a tripod.

With some certainty, this appears to be a great product for anyone that wants explore photography without making a substantial investment or just happens to need some tripod for some brief period.