Purchased this to hold a 23" monitor at 8.5 lbs. I am pretty worried about it but the stand is pretty good mfc. claims 8.8lbs max so I'm at the max weight. This is designed like a tripod not a light stand. You pull or push the red tabs to allow the legs to be wider or thinner, It has quick release clamps on the neck to lengthen the stand I believe it is 6' or so in height. For a monitor at the max weight it's a bit unstable unless you A. have the legs at the 2nd position or maybe the 3rd (I did not test this). The wider you go the lower the height. It has a hook for a small weight but I did not test this since I was at the max weight. I am probably going to put a small sand bag on the legs to stabilize it. The 5/8 male tip (1/4-20) also on top came loose so that's good and bad. Normally, I wouldn't use something like this for a monitor but I'm a DIT on photoshoots and I bought it for travel into NYC via Metro North. I'm trying to keep my travel weight to the minium. This weighs about 2.5lbs so I think it's 4 stars overall but if I had an expensive strobe or LED I'd be careful this is not a stand for real heavy duty commercial work or for clumsy people this will fall down fast if you're not careful locking the legs but it is similar to a Gitzo tripod so I'm used to the setup. If you want to use this outside it's cool that you can adjust each leg separately but with the lightweight wind will probably blow this over. Not that other stands would stay put minus a c-stand. Buy this if you understand the pros and cons.. price went up in the weeks after I bought it now 53.00 I got it for 41 with a coupon.