Gear Hugger: UltraPod I

Dec 26, 2006  ·  03:10 PM  ·  permalink

“Gear Hugger” is a periodic column we write to highlight great ski and snowboard gear we come across or grow to love. Tell us about the ski and snowboard gear you love.

This morning as I walked to my car through our still-snow-covered parking lot, I spied a sad sight: my UltraPod portable tripod embedded in the icy surface like some kind of high-tech fossil. I had dropped it there the night before and it had been crushed by many car tires overnight. At first, it looked like it might have survived but when I picked it up, it fell apart.

It’s been with me on trips all over, from Tallinn to Crested Butte, and its simple, durable, temperature insensitive design has served particularly well on the slopes. Fortunately, this thing I love so much and have used so often can be replaced right now for under $7 at REI—which I did during my morning errands.

The UltraPod I is available from Amazon and other retailers, but I like the unpretentious, utilitarian, REI-branded ones.

Folded up, it’s about the size of a candy-bar cell phone. Unfolded, it provides a stable base for all but the heaviest camera, has rubberized feet so it will stand on almost any surface and—its killer feature—sports a 12”-long velcro strap that allows you to strap it to just about anything oblongish. This means that every sign post, stair railing, and chair is a potential tripod.

What’s great about the design is that it’s the bare minimum to do the job but its minimalism is well-thought-out, so it’s also very flexible. Folded, the Ultrapod can serve as a handle or can be positioned right next to the camera body for quick deployment. In a pinch, you can strap it to a helmet or a backpack strap for a quick-and-dirty action-cam. Yet, at 2 oz (57 g) and 4" (10 cm) long, it fits in a pocket unobtrusively. I prefer it to fancier mini tripods which sacrifice weight, bulk, and price for cool looks without additional utility.

I have only one gripe about the Ultrapod: one of its three rubber feet is L-shaped and tends to pop off. A little hot glue should fix that problem on the new one.