Gorillamobile Tripod Review

**UPDATE** The one feature to make the Gorillamobie even better has been added to a new line... magnetic feat! Check it out here

To me Joby's Gorillamobile is the obvious love child of a tripod and a SnakeLight flashlight. For you young-ins out there who have no idea what a SnakeLight is let me tell you, it was the ultimate dad's Christmas gift back in '94. Tagged as being the flashlight that could go any where and grab onto anything, the SnakeLight was an overnight success. Personally I think it was their catchy commercial campaign that did it. However, while the SnakeLight has all but vanished from mainstream society, I suspect the Joby Tripod line will retain a commanding presence for quite some time. Let me start by saying I never thought I could have as much fun with or be as excited about a tripod as I am for the Gorillamobile.

When I first saw this little beauty I thought it looked interesting, but it wasn't until I got to play with…excuse me, I mean rigorously test it, that I fully appreciated its versatility. Each leg of the tripod is built with multiple interlocking joints which can be rotated a full 360º. This allows them to be bent at any point and any direction to wrap around or create a stable flat surface to shoot from. Each joint is encircled with a ring of high-durable, textured, rubber gripping material which keeps each joint stiff and secure under weight. The head of it is also on a ball joint which allows the phone to move from landscape to portrait and anywhere in between with ease.

The quick switch clip at the top allows the iPhone be mounted and unmounted quickly without any fuss. The kit comes with a few other mounting brackets as well, including a standard 1/4" tripod screw and 2 adhesive clips for mounting any other small device you might deem necessary. Just this week Joby also released an iPod Touch case for purchase. Granted the Touch's don't have cameras but it does speak to Gorillamobile's other fantastic use a great stand for watching video.

Joby also released a free app, Gorillacam, to accompany the tripod. There isn't anything revolutionary about the app which provides things like a Level, Self-timer, Time-laspe, and a 3 Shot Burst, but it's certainly a nice addition and can even be useful if you don't own a tripod.

I've been using the Gorillamobile for a few weeks now and while I could've written this review after just a couple of days, I really wanted to stress it and find a flaw. Amazingly enough though I simply couldn't. The only possible flaw I could come up with is one of speculation, there is potential that over time the rubber grips could ware down and have trouble holding their position under device weight.

The only other issue would be the price at $39.95 which is easily justifiable for an iPhone user but if you're an iPod Touch user just looking for a good stand, it may make it harder to swallow. Personally though, I would probably still buy it. This is one of the very few products that really can't be made any better. All they're missing is a clever stop action commercial with a catchy tune similar to the one I've included below as an extra treat.