Using this for Pictionary at an upcoming family birthday party and bought it together with a 24x18 black framed dry erase board (Quartet, Dry Erase, Magnetic Board for $12 on Amazon). So, for less than $35, I have a great easel and drawing board that is both attractive and practical.

Based on mixed reviews, I expected this might be a pain to assemble and not user friendly. But, to the contrary. It's fully pre-assembled except for the base that holds the bottom of your frame/canvas. And, I was bowled over by how well-engineered it is.

There are 2 sets of recessed leg extensions in the 3 legs, telescoping style, and each extension is fixed or released by a flip-style lock that is plastic but seems plenty durable. The legs extended and contracted smoothly and I had zero trouble getting them to extend the same distance, because you can extend them in a straight parallel position first and verify by eye, before you splay the tripod. The top vertical bar (to support your frame in back) has a similar extension mechanism, but not telescoping, and a spring-styled clip that can be locked after you secure your item. Attaching the bar and deciding the height to screw it in was the most challenging, but after a couple trials and errors, also perfect. I could see the screws/stoppers stripping if you over-tighten, so take care on that score or have extras on hand. The feet and their adjustable angles are perfect for stabilizing this. With all its good engineering and stability, it's still a light-weight aluminum stand, so it will do better when treated carefully and not knocked around.

Overall, there is a ton of adjustment available and easy to accomplish. If you are using the same frame/canvas and just want to adjust height, it's a snap, a matter of a minute or 2 to adjust the 3 legs. If you are swapping to a different canvas, it will be more effort to adjust height and the orientation of the bar, to ensure a good fit for your new piece. But, being versatile is hardly a negative. The ease with which the whole thing collapses and stores in the perfect zipper bag with a shoulder strap is another impressive feature.

I expected so much less for $20 and got an incredibly quality piece that serves my current needs and will serve more. I'm a very rare reviewer, takes a lot to impress, so factor that into your appraisal of this item.

This easel is not sturdy nor easy to assemble, balance, or level.

The legs are not sturdy fully extended and are difficult to set up so that the canvas sits level on the ground. The front two legs have a habit of getting skewed as soon as you think you're done. The joints of the easel seem as if they're easily compromised as well. The real kicker is trying to set up the tray to hold the canvas. The screws holding the tray are not easy to turn to a point where they keep their place resulting in a canvas that continues to slide down the easel and skew with the legs.

I should have splurged on a wooden easel... But this easel does seem as if it will be convenient for travel or if placed on a desk to keep from having to extend the legs fully.

In the end though, it's been a frustrating process to set it up correctly and I am contemplating returning it.

There are no instructions. And being that I have never used an easel before it was not easy. I figured out the legs pretty quickly. I came back onto Amazon to look at the picture of the easel . And I was able to complete it and get it standing. I bought this to display an art piece. It does look great. I did compare prices with local stores and this was the best price.,

This easel does everything I need,. It comes in a durable fabric carrying case with a strong zipper. It is easy to assemble out of only two parts. There is a good limit to the front-to-back spread, which gives it stability. The distance between the front legs is determined by how high you place the screw-tight holders for the separate cross-piece, and which slide-over holes you use on the cross-piece. There are multiple strong built-in clamps to set the length of the legs, from desk-top display to floor-display, and to set the depth of the top clamp for the thickness of your displayed poster or picture. There is a strap on txros-piece that you can use to velcro around the legs when you store this to keep the pieces together, The one thing i didn't like? I could not get the cross piece to snug against the legs, so it seemed rickety until i put something on display. But i fixed that by keeping a posterboard on the easel, so the whole thing is solid while i am adding or changing items on display. Easy! Another minor note, the depth of the cross-piece can only hold an item about half-an-inch thick. But you can rest a thicker item on it, so for most uses it works fine.

Liked the height adjustability and canvas size adjustment. Held a 36x24 canvas easily. They did not include instructions and not having used this type of easel was not sure of tray placement. I figured it out from pictures but received a message from them that instructions were available on line so all was good.