Customer Reviews
Decent travel tripod 
2008-10-05
There isn't much I can add to the top reviews, but there is one feature I'd like to discuss more - the tubular telescoping legs.
Many have complained that the legs will not lock unless they are fully extended. This is not 100% accurate. The legs / latch will lock anywhere along the top-most segment IF all the sections below it are fully extended. This gives you about a 6" tolerance, which is useful on uneven ground. However, you can't really use it at intermediate heights because you may run into problems with the legs slipping if all the lower sections aren't fully extended.
Unfortunately, the legs are not very rigid, but I didn't really expect them to be. But they are adequate for getting rid of some of the hand shake, or getting in the pictures via self-timer, and they seem heavy duty enough to support the larger dSLRs.
A big bonus of the telescoping legs is the extremely fast setup. I didn't fully appreciate this until going back to my old tripod, which has 3 latches for each leg.
Overall, I like this tripod for what it was designed for - travel. At 12.3" collapsed, it easily fits in my backpack, and at 49.6" extended, it's a pretty comfortable height.
Note: I'm not sure how many versions of this tripod are out there. Mine looks like the one on the Vanguard website, not the one Amazon shows. But my case looks like the one on Amazon, not the Vanguard site. Go figure. Plus mine doesn't have a bubble level, geared elevator, or spiked feet, as Amazon describes.
Not as small as my other tripod but sturdy 
2008-09-08
I have another ipod which is smaller and has a carrying case which has a large enough strap to go around your shoulder. The only set back is that it does not have a quick release but I rather have more portability. I have taken it to all my travels. It is so small and yet performs much like a full scale tripod. The tourist 5 did disappoint me because I thought it was going to be smaller and the carrying case you have to hold it with your hand instead putting in around your shoulders. But it is good firm quality and has a quick release.
Great lightweight travel tripod 2008-07-07
This tripod was exactly as advertised: light weight, inexpensive and easy to carry.
great for the price 2008-04-12
Considering the price, it's a great little tripod. I bought it to take pictures in dimly lit churches and caves in Italy, where I won't have access to an appropriate surface to use a table-top tripod. The tripod serves the purpose for which it was designed - an inexpensive, compact piece of equipment that's good in a pinch. It's probably unsafe in windy conditions and certainly can't be used to hold a camera with a heavy lens, but it wasn't designed for this.
One complaint: it's tricky to get the legs extended all the way. Vanguard arguably could have paid more attention to this aspect. But for the price, I can't complain too much.
not for the professional 
2008-02-10
it's quite portable and light and can fulfill the needs of a normal user, but with a lot of sacrifices. the locking mechanism of the legs are kinda flimsy, the legs actually locked only when they are fully extended. no level bubble meter.
excellent tripod 2008-01-24
The Tourist Series tripods were designed with the traveling photographer or family vacationer in mind. All of the Tourist tripods are small and compact, yet extend to the height of a full-size tripod. You'll love having all of the features of a full-size tripod in a compact version. As a bonus, these tripods are packaged in a luxurious, zippered kote skin carrying case. The Tourist Series tripods are the ideal gift for the traveling photographer.
Great for on the go 
2007-09-06
Now I can actually be in some of my pictures when I'm on the go...great portable product!
Light and tight! 2007-09-03
Very small and lightweight are overwhelmingly the reasons to buy this tripod. Yes, it is difficult (or impossible) to have the legs extend to anything but full height. But, this is not a big problem for me.
POS broke easily, inferior design 
2007-07-16
The telescoping legs are similar to an umbrella in that they have a little pin that snaps into place, and like an unbrella, only have one legnth that is locked into place, so you have a mini-tripod or full height. That would be fine, except the pins are cheap s$*! and broke on me, making it so one leg would not lock.
Don't buy this product, go with the independantly locking legs. For how much this cost, it should be of higher quality.
Not up to the task 2007-03-06
I used this tripod on two trips last year, Mesa Verde and Arizona. I found it to be good only for still photography at best. Even then the leg locking issue was problamatic. As stated in an earlier review, if you do not fully extend the leg in its section then the unit does not lock and it buckles. The problem is that it is not always easy to determine if you fully extended the segment. It was in trying to adjust for this that the tripod broke. Apparantly I pulled a little too hard on the segment trying to make sure it was locked and it broke. This might seem like negligence but I kid you not when I say you need to pull hard on the segment in order to make it lock. I might have actually been upset except it was such an awful tripod for panning that I was better off shooting video without it. The pan head is jerky and hard to move and required me to place my hand on the camera and slowly rotate the head using pressure. Needless to say this is time consuming and uncomfortable. Yes the unit is light and packs well but overall you are better off with a tripod that is built better.
