The Befree Advanced is Manfrotto’s second version of its immensely popular compact travel tripod. With the advent of mirrorless systems, light cheap tripods seem to be in vogue. The Befree has good build quality for the price, and is reasonably small and light. The price paid is in stiffness. The aluminum leg sections are narrow and thus prone to flexing. Note that the Befree Advanced includes a head which is not represented in any of the specs below aside from the price. The review for the included head can be found here.
| Name | Manfrotto BeFree Advanced |
| Class | Travel |
| Yaw Stiffness | 184 +/- 1 Nm/rad |
| Yaw Damping | 0.196 +/- 0.02 Js/rad |
| Pitch Stiffness | 618 +/- 1 Nm/rad |
| Pitch Damping | 0.426 +/- 0.043 Js/rad |
| Retail Price | $190 |
| Weight | 2.56 lbs (1.162 kgs) |
| Manufacturer weight rating | 26.5 lbs |
| Maximum Height | 46.1 in (117.1 cm) |
| Minimum Height | 16.1 in (40.9 cm) |
| Max Height with Center Column | 55.1 in (140.0 cm) |
| Center Column | Yes |
| Base Diameter | 1.5 in (3.8 cm) |
| Folded Length | 17.2 in (43.7 cm) |
| Folded Circumference | 10.0 in (25.4 cm) |
| Folded Volume | 137.0 cu. in. (2.2 liters) |
| Leg Material | Aluminum |
| Leg Sections | 4 |
| Primary Leg Angle | 20.5 deg |
| Leg Locks | Twist |
| Top Tube Diameter | 17.5 mm |
| Second Tube Diameter | 14.0 mm |
| Third Tube Diameter | 10.6 mm |
| Fourth Tube Diameter | 6.9 mm |
| Exchangeable Feet | No |
| Foot Type | Rubber |
| Bottom Hook | No |
The stiffness and damping data are the averages of 10 trials for each measurement. The reported error is the standard error, except in the case of the damping data. I have set the error in the damping at 10% as the standard error metric does not appropriately capture the error in fitting to the data. All of the reported specifications are measured, with the exception of the weight rating. The tripod is measured at full height, with the center column down.
Example data for oscillations about the vertical axis of the tripod:
Example data for oscillations about the radial axis of the tripod:
Very clean data. No doubts at all about the proper resonance of the tripod. Poor Stiffness though.