I take a lot of wildlife photos (frequently with a telephoto lens) and many times it is impractical to carry a tripod into the woods on a hike and this monopod solves helps the problem in a number of ways.

- It extends and locks anywhere from its collapsed length of 21" all the way up to 72" (higher than a standard tripod) and this makes it so much easier to use the cameras viewfinder and focus without bending or hunching down to camera level on a standard tripod.

- The quick release head securely locks the camera into the monopod. It's easy and fast to break out the monopod, extend it, and snap the camera into the mount if the subject you're looking at might move away.

- The 4-section leg is STURDY. I can extend the sections to make up any length I want and the locking mechanisms are strong.

- At 10-ounces it's incredibly light.

AND HERE'S WHAT ELSE IT DOES: because the monopod has a cushioned grip and a wrist loop and the leg is so strong and rigid, I can easily use the monopod as a hiking stick. There's no need to carry it separately even though it comes with a carry bag.

I only wish the tripod and monopod designers would agree on a standard quick release head. As it is, the heads on my two tripods and on this monopod are each different. If they were all the same, I could quickly switch between tripods and monopod with no fuss. But that's something the manufacturers will have to work out between them.

Bottom line: I love this monopod!

I've had this for a couple of years now and I keep it in my car at all times. I haven't used it with a heavy camera/lens but I use it all the time my small camera. I also bought a cell-phone adapter for it, and use it to steady my cell-phone when I don't have a camera handy, such as when the sunset looks nice and I'm losing daylight, so I don't want to drive home to get my camera but I do want to take the best picture possible.
Update: After 3 years, the top is getting a little wobbly, but considering how cheap it was, and the fact that I've just been throwing it in the back seat and never putting it in a bag or anything, it was worth the 12 bucks I spent.

My son plays football n my hands were shaking. I bought this camera stick now all my video are not shaky anymore. And so light and easy to use.

Turns a gimbal to a crane

Welp. I'd say it's just about as good as you're going to get for the price. The quick release lever will allow the plate to move up a little if you pull on that side of your camera while it's mounted, but it still feels pretty solid. I wouldn't feel secure holding the monopod with my smaller camera (a Nikon D3300) on top though, and I definitely wouldn't do that with a medium sized DSLR (I checked it with a nikon D70).
The poles are definitely snap-able, but like the saying goes "doctor, it [breaks] when I do this", "so, don't do that". They are built well enough, and on the plus side, the monopod makes up for lack of strength by being light as all getout.
The mounting plate can be a problem. The part on the bottom that you hold to screw into your camera won't fold back into the plate depending on how it's positioned when tight. It'll fold back with my camera, but just barely. There's probably an easy way to fix this with a little creativity though.
The wrist strap was about as poorly made as they usually are on Chinese products, but the hand grip feels nice. I just wouldn't go rubbing it on a stone wall or anything.
I did have to send it back because of a crack in one of the leg locks, but that seems to be the gamble you have to take when buying cheap stuff.
I still got another, though, because in order to get a strong monopod that extends beyond midget level (okay, I mean above 57 inches) you have to pay upward of $50! the thing about these cheapies is (besides how light they are) if you break them, then no big deal. I'm not ready to spend $60-$70 bucks on a "professional" monopod, so I'll stick with this until it breaks. It will probably end up lasting me years. :)