It’s been a few years since I purchased a proper tripod, and my new “studio” is a much smaller space than I’m used to working in. I desperately needed the versatility of a mini (tabletop) tripod, but every product available seemed too flimsy and unstable for heavy cameras. Luckily, I came across the OCTOPAD by Octopus Camera. It’s a rugged, waterproof, alternative to small tripods – and has the versatility I needed to be useful in many different environments. This is my unboxing and review of the product.
TRANSCRIPT
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Whatup nerds? I’m Jay Shareef.
And I own a lot of tripods.
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Including many that you can’t see right now.
But it’s time for an upgrade to an “Octopod”.
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What’s that?
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It’s not?
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It’s an OctoPAD?
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What’s an Octopad?
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So this is going to be a much shorter video than usual.
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A couple of weeks ago I was looking
for a brand new tabletop tripod.
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I’ve got a very heavy camcorder,
which I use to film these videos.
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And I usually put it on a standard large tripod.
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But when you’re working in limited space,
like this studio-slash-spare room,
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that big tripod limits where you can put the camera.
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A small tripod gives you a lot more versatility.
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I definitely wasn’t going to buy a Gorillapod.
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I know lots of Youtubers swear
by it, but it’s weak and it’s flimsy.
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And, in all honesty, all my smaller
tripods are weak and flimsy.
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They’re not designed for big devices, and
there’s always a danger of them falling over
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and damaging your expensive equipment.
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And my research suggested that was going
to be true of pretty much all small tripods.
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And then I came across something called the Octopad.
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Which promises to be much more
stable and versatile than any mini tripod.
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And it has arrived…
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in this slightly damaged-looking
Amazon box. That can’t be good.
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Let’s open it up!
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Alright… knife, as usual, terrifying.
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Shouldn’t let me have access to these kinds of things…
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…careful, careful.
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Alright, so this is it. The Octopad.
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Looks kind of dusty. Who knows how
long they’ve had it in the warehouse.
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It is unopened though, so that’s a positive.
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Luckily, it’s packed in a way that, if
you had opened it, that would show.
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Which means that once I do open
it, there’s no sending it get back!
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So as you can see, it’s basically a heavy base
onto which you can put your camera,
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your lights, your smartphone, a
microphone, whatever you want.
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And because it’s quite weighted
it has a lower centre of gravity.
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Therefore, it’s less likely to tip over.
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Let’s open it up and see whether
it’s as good as it’s billed to be.
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Trusty, scary knife…
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…is too blunt to open the packaging!
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This knife is too blunt to open the
packaging. That’s astonishing.
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I’m gonna have to get a pair of scissors or something.
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Oh, why do they make these
things so difficult to get into?
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And you have to damage the packaging when you do.
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What’s wrong with like a cardboard box?
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Oh, that’s very annoying!
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This is like… I’m sweating! It’s
a workout trying to open this up.
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No need to go to the gym today!
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Yeah I can’t fool you, can I, with that statement?
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I never go to the gym.
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Used to, though. Used to love going to the gym.
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Right, so this is it. The Octopad. It’s
basically just a very, very heavy base.
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This little ball head, that you put onto here.
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And, in theory, it’s supposed to be
better than any tabletop tripod
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The idea is that this has a much lower
centre of gravity than any tabletop tripod.
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Which means it won’t really tip over.
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It’s got this little attachment so you can take it with you
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if you’re mountain climbing, or something like that.
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Which we all do regularly I’m sure(!)
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Then this little piece will let you attach
it to your backpack or a carabiner.
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I believe that’s what it’s called.
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Here is a little velcro bit, so that you can put
loose cables here and secure them in place.
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I do like that.
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It probably is much better, as an option, for
me than any table top tripod would have been.
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So it’s supposed to have a non-slip base.
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So, that once it’s on a surface, it will take a
hell of a lot to move it or make it fall over.
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I mean, it is very hard to pull that along.
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And, because of that, it’s supposed to be
something that you could put at an angle,
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like on a rock, or a roof, or something,
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and it will not slip down
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Yeah, that really is quite difficult to move, and
I’m having to really force it to get it to move.
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So I can believe that.
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What I should do now is test it out in the real world,
and see if this works as well as advertised
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Let’s take it outside!
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I started with a very simple test.
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Basically, putting the Octopad and my heavy
camcorder on a slightly sloping surface.
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As you can see it didn’t have any trouble,
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And, to be fair, neither did my GoPro mini tripod.
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Next up, a bit more of a challenge.
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I put both of them on the roof of my shed,
which is at about a 45 degree angle.
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The camera sitting on top of the Octopad weighs about
650 grammes – that’s almost one and a half pounds.
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And not for a second was I worried that it would fall.
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Whereas, the GoPro would probably
have fallen over in a light breeze.
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This is not at all stable!
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Finally, just for fun, I decided to put
both of them on my garden swing.
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Keep in mind that my heavy camcorder weighs
about eight times as much as the GoPro.
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This really was taking a bit of a risk!
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But there was absolutely zero chance of the Octopad slipping.
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It seemed absolutely rooted in place.
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And, again, to be fair, the GoPro tripod coped well.
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It was slowly slipping and, after a minute
or two, it probably would have fallen off.
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And, if it was holding a heavier camera,
it would never have lasted this long
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So, there we have it. Yes, it absolutely
does do the job it’s supposed to do.
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It can hold up reasonably heavy cameras.
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And, it can also be placed at an angle,
on various surfaces, and it won’t tip over.
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Which is not something that any tripod,
that I know of, could really claim.
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So, yes, the Octopad is highly recommended.
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Later nerds!
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