Legends Jay Carbon Fibre Levelling Base Travel Tripod System

(Jay base & airhed combo, in black)

The packaging is unique and eye catching. You can see a lot of effort has gone into the design and presenting the gear as distinct. It has clearly been designed with pride. Inside, the tripod was well packaged and I liked the caribiner tool inclusion. The design effort continues onto the tags etc. The carry bag is well padded and will clearly last a long time. The pocket on the side is useful.

The panning action is totally smooth, with very little resistance. That means that the user has to be very careful and consistent with how they're moving the arm. "Juddering" can happen. The head itself is robust and will last a very long time. It can hold a lot of camera on it with ease. No sagging.

The levelling head can be friction adjusted and is very simple to use. The mechanism is clearly well built.

The legs are lightweight and very strong. It not a particularly tall tripod. I came from a tripod with leg sections that were clasp operated. The 3LT twisting system is quicker to deploy but the user has to be sure they've twisted enough to lock / unlock. (Couple of times I've stood it up and one section of one leg sinks). The tripod feet on these are changeable, so make they're screwed tight!

I really like what 3LT are doing with their equipment. There is genuine innovation and I've bought some accessories already - customer service is excellent. The Jay will last me longer than I'll need it and it's a solid yes from me. I feel invested in what they're doing for photographers.

Not had a proper chance to use it properly yet but it fells like a good bit of quality gear, solid

I have had my 3LT Legends Jay Carbon Fibre Levelling Base Tripod System for 2 years now and it has traveled with me to over 15 countries in that time. You can find enough reviews of this system for its intended use case, so here is my long term review of this tripod system for its unintended uses!

Past Oct/Nov '23, I went on a 14-day trek on the Great Himalayan Trail out to the Everest Base Camp and back. With almost 3000m (~10000ft) of elevation gain pack weight was a concern to say the least! Needless to say my camera gear was coming with me- clean clothes be damned. I had previously tried using the detachable legs of the tripod on a short hiking trip in New Zealand so I knew I could substitute them as hiking poles. I got myself some Field Optics tripod handles, attached the Vanz dual ball and spike foootwear and off I went. Over the course of the grueling 14 days of trekking the tripod legs turned hiking poles held up immpressively - the twist locks stayed firm despite significant weight being put on them for support and the light carbon fibre construction made them light to wield. They also served their intended function as tripods when I needed to take some epic panoramas of the Himalayas!

After the significant abuse of the trek, I got home and cleaned the legs thoroughly. Aside from a few scratches the legs are structurally and functionally intact and I expect to them to keep working - both as a tripod and hiking poles - for quite some time!

This thing is teensy yet I can load it up with my Canon C70 LWS rig with v-mount battery, monitor, and matte box.

PROS:
-Extremely lightweight
-Holds a ton of weight
-Very small (easy to strap it to the side of a backpack)
-Detachable legs are extremely useful for travel work. I often unscrew two of the legs and use them as monopods
-Durable, great build quality

CONS:
-AirHed Cine's tilt tension is a bit weak for heavier cameras, but it's tiny so you gotta limit expectations there
-Detachable feet come off accidentally pretty easily in normal use
-The bag comes in two parts. One for the head and one for the legs. This is kind of annoying cause it's a nice bag otherwise. I'd rather be able to leave the head assembled on the legs.
-Twist-release leg locks are annoying compared to clamp-style

This isn't going to replace your full-sized fluid head video tripod, but it WILL go places that tripod could never go.