Kenu Stance Compact Tripod for iPhone review

Let’s face it, we live in a compact on the go world. Now days if it doesn’t fit in our pockets, purses or wallets or on our key chains, we tend not to keep it around or forget it all together. This seems especially true when traveling, with all the size and weight restrictions a product needs to be light and compact, but most of all it needs to be useful. Kenu, A San Francisco company, seems to know this and have come up with the Stance Compact Tripod for iPhone’s with a lightning connector.

Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.

What is the Stance you may ask ( if you haven’t guessed by the pictures so far)? The Stance is a lightweight, compact, folding tripod for use with your iPhone 5/5c/5s/6/6 Plus. Made out of zinc alloy, Grilamid and TPE, the Stance weighs a mere 1.2 ounces. The folded dimensions of the Stance are W .94″ x D .47″ x H 3.1″ as provided by the Kenu website. The Stance also has built-in bottle opener as an added feature.

The Stance comes with a handy instruction guide.

For me this review breaks down into two basic parts, the MicroMount and the tripod. The MicroMount for the Stance is a ball and socket joint with a tip on the end of the ball designed to fit into your iPhone’s Lightning port. The ball and joint are made of a plastic like material called Grilamid.

If you follow The Gadgeteer you know that Julie did a news posting on the Stance and one commenter questioned the durability of the mounting tip, fearing that it might easily snap. I will say although you could snap off the tip of the ball connector on the Stance, in my opinion and experience so far it would take some effort to do so. The ball and socket set up allows you to rotate your phone 360° and gives you tilt backwards, forwards and side to side.

The Stance when fully opened provides a wide and stable base for your iPhone. The front two legs are stiff to move and can be adjusted to allow for use on uneven terrain. The TPE material on the ends of the tripods legs give a firm grip on smooth surfaces.

When closed the Stance is a compact package. The size makes it great for traveling or carrying in a bag or purse. Although, the Stance is small it does have the 1.2 ounce weight makes it feel solid and robust, like it can take a beating.

Using the Stance in portrait mode is as simple as unfolding it, rotating the MicroMount tip up and placing the tip into the Lightning connector port in your iPhone. As you can see by the photo above I actually have a bumper on my iPhone and the Stance fits the opening without any adjustments. I don’t know if this was a conscious effort on the Kenu team’s part, but the fact that I do not have to remove the bumper to use their product gets high marks from me. While on the tripod you can adjust your iPhone’s angle up and down, left and right slightly and rotate it 360°.

The designers and developers at Kenu, knowing that folks like to use their iPhones in landscape mode as well as portrait mode and have designed the stance to accommodate that situation. By simply folding the tripod up and placing the MicroMounts tip into the iPhone as seen above, you can use your iPhone in the landscape orientation. I will say that while this solution is great for watching videos and maybe shooting selfies, but it may not be great for shooting regular landscape pictures.

So, what’s my bottom line here? I must admit, I am a fan of the Kenu Stance. The Stance looks great, feels solid and performs a promised. As someone who travels, the size and weight are appealing and the flexibility in how it is used fits a traveler’s lifestyle. It is designed well, built well, fulfills a need and it has a bottle opener built into it. At a price of $29.95 on the Kenu website, the Stance in my opinion is well priced for what it delivers. And so you Android and Windows users don’t feel left out, Kenu is working on a Stance for those models as well.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Kenu. Visit their site for more info