JD—June 15, 2019
I received my Innorel RT-90C tripod about a week ago and I am very pleased with the purchase. It is surprising what you get for this amount of money. It is a very well constructed tripod and should provide me with years of use. It is a bit heavy, 6 pounds, compared to most carbon fiber tripods advertised, and I knew that when I purchased it. But for an extra couple of pounds you get a solid mount to use with longer lenses and the 40mm legs provide that. This thing is rock solid. I've used and owned multiple mid-tier tripods ($250-$500) over the years and my initial impression of the RT-90C is that it seems to be a step above these in overall construction. Everything is well done. I've not used or handled the $900-$1000+ tripods on the market, which was what I was looking at when I saw the Innorel and decided to give it a look. I can't see needing anything "better" than what this is. The RT-90C should be great for places where you will not need to hike for multiple hours or days. But surprisingly with a good tripod head or gimbal head on it the weight is OK. If you will be hiking for days then you should probably look at the RT-80C instead which weighs a little over half as much. I am thinking of picking up one of those as well for longer hiking, but I'm not sure I'll need it since I don't really do that anymore. Plus the weight of the RT-90C isn't bad. I'll let you know after the first long hike. The legs extend and give this a good height. I am 5'9" and I cannot extend all of the leg sections completely with a ballhead on this and still look through the view finder, which is a good thing. It means that I should be able to level this up on uneven ground and still have a comfortable shooting position. Plus not extending all of the leg sections completely should help to give greater stability. In addition to the 75mm mounting plate it also comes with a 75mm bowl and leveling base that you can interchange, so you can get the tripod level close and then fine tune to level with leveling base. This should lead to quicker setup to get a picture. If you are looking for a solid sturdy tripod you should definitely check out this one. I don't think that you will be disappointed. Read more
Tina—January 27, 2020
The first thing to know is the delivery estimate was way off... I received my INNOREL RT-90C Professional Heavy Duty Camera Tripod within 3 weeks. The initial estimated delivery date was 3 months. I have had the tripod for a month now and have used it several time and I am very pleased with my purchase. I shoot wildlife and carry my camera and 600mm lens, mounted on the tripod with the legs fully extended for several miles. I found it to be well balanced and comfortable carrying over my shoulder for most of the day. As you can see in photo #1, it has padding on all three legs. I also found the carbon fiber legs much warmer on my hands on a cold morning compared to my old aluminum tripod which transmitted the cold straight through my gloves. It is light weight, sturdy and extends to 6 feet, plus the height of the head. With a 600mm lens and using my gimbal head, this thing is ROCK SOLID! Photo #2 - I am not a fan of twist locks on the legs, but these worked without issue. Much easier to lock and unlock in the cold with gloves on. Photo #3 - as an outdoor photographer, I really liked the fact that there are three screw in spikes for outdoor work. These really held the tripod firmly in place. The best feature this tripod offers is the head mounting plate system. Photo #4 - shows my INNOREL Low Profile Ball Head, Model N52 attached to aluminum mounting plate. The mounting plate is held firmly in place by one thumb screw. Shown in the up, unlocked position. What makes this design really work for me is having two mounting plates so that you can quickly, in less than 5 seconds, change heads with no tools. See Photo #5 - I can quickly change from my ball head to my gimbal head with little to no effort. Overall, this is a great tripod and I wish I had purchased it much sooner. There is one issue I found that I think you should know about... Notice in Photo #6 that I have installed a 2.5" flat washer between the base of the ball head and the top of the mounting plate. If I was not exact as to where I mounted my camera on the Arca-Swiss mounting clamp, the camera would impact the tripod headstock when rotated down to the portrait position. The arrow is pointing to impact area. With the washer installed, there is no impact anywhere around the headstock. The camera is totally bottomed out in the notch. An easy fix for me, but be aware that installing a low profile ball head on a tripod with a huge headstock like this, might cause an issue. Read more
J.L.—December 28, 2019
This is an initial impressions review. We will see how the tripod holds up over time, but initial quality impressions are fantastic. This thing is shockingly well made and designed. The included bowl/half-ball and flat plate mounts are excellent as well, and even without them, the tripod is a phenomenal value. With them, it's even better (the leveling bowl usually sells for around $50-75 by itself from Amazon companies or quite a lot more from name brands). AN IMPORTANT NOTE: The stated weight is sort of misleading but in a good way. The weight is listed as 6.3lb, which is quite heavy. I was willing to put up with that due to the low price and extremely good design. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I weighted the legs at just 4.9lbs by themselves. The 6.3 number presumably comes from including the accessories in the total, which I suppose is fair considering you'll likely be using them as a set in the field. However, you can end up with a pretty nice "lightweight" (about as much as such a beefy tripod can be) setup by pairing the legs with the flat plate (lighter than the bowl) and a strong small to medium-sized ball head. As far as strength goes, I was able to hang and swing from the tripod at full extension without it budging, and I weigh 160lbs, or about double the stated max load, which is impressive! As far as fit and finish go, they are as good as I'd expect from any of the name brands, leaving nothing to be desired. It looks great, with very clean lines and sturdy craftsmanship. This tripod is an absolute steal at this price of around $300. (I paid $285 with a manufacturer coupon.) When you consider an equivalent tripod from the major name brands would cost around a thousand dollars, you begin to realize just how good of a deal this is. Read more
