Test Results
The stiffness and damping of the Roadtrip are both poor. The stiffness ranks it near the bottom of tripods that I have tested. Normally, we expect carbon fiber to perform better than aluminum, but in this case the stiffness of the carbon Roadtrip is actually slightly worse than the aluminum version. This speaks ill of the quality of carbon fiber MeFoto uses here. The five leg sections with small diameter tubing and 20 degree leg angle don’t help much either.
| Yaw Stiffness | 174.0 +/- 1 Nm/rad |
| Yaw Damping | 0.131 +/- 0.013 Js/rad |
| Pitch Stiffness | 792.5 +/- 2 Nm/rad |
| Pitch Damping | 0.297 +/- 0.03 Js/rad |
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 (if applicable) down.
Recommended Gear Limit
The exact gear limit is highly dependent on the external conditions such as wind, and technique, such as the use of a cable release. Under perfectly still conditions using perfect technique, sharp images can be obtained using any tripod. Under real world conditions, I wouldn’t use this tripod for anything much larger than a DSLR with a normal zoom, such as a 24-105mm. Under any sort of breezy conditions, it will be difficult to obtain sharp images with a telephoto.
Example Test Data
The following data is example raw data from the stiffness and damping measurements. The relevant information with regards to the tripod performance is entirely contained within the stiffness and damping figures presented above. The plots below are solely present so that the tested stiffness and damping figures are believed. Each plot and the corresponding Fourier frequency space plot correspond to one of the ten trials done on each axis to obtain the test results. For a more in depth discussion on the meaning of these graphs, see the methodology section and the understanding the test results page.
Yaw:
Poor damping results in good resonance. Makes the testing easy.
Pitch:
Same story here.