The Ohanaware Weblog

The Joby Gorillapod is one of the most innovative camera accessories I’ve come across in a while. It sounds odd to begin with as it’s a flexible tripod with rubberized legs! The design allows the tripod to be wrapped around objects, including poles! The rubber helps to secure the tripod in place. You can turn a walking stick, fence, chair, car window into a tripod! They do several different sizes, the “Original” is for compact cameras. The “SLR” is designed for Super zoom or DSLR cameras. While the “SLR Zoom” is for DSLRs with huge lenses! Lastly their, “Focus” is designed as a professional camera rig and supports video cameras. Their prices are more expensive some other tripods, but in my mind the sheer flexibility makes the tripod worth the price. To get a better understanding of what I mean, take a look at the photos below.

The Point: How to tell if the one you purchased was a fake, or the one you’re looking at in a store is a fake? I have three below and one is the real deal, while two are fakes. Can you spot the fakes?

First look, all of them seem genuine, hold on, the one in the middle doesn’t say Joby, Fake! Which leaves either the one on the right or the left. One of them supports my camera, while the other one doesn’t. The middle one is so lose, that it doesn’t even try to stand up when attached to my camera. Maybe the picture below will help illustrate the remaining fake?

This time we’ll look at the side of each tripod, and you can immediately see that the one on the right shares the same “head” as the middle tripod, which we’ve already said is a fake! The tripod on the left has a ring on it’s head with padlock symbols on it. This is called a “Lock Ring” (see image to the left), which locks the release button into place. If you look at the features section on the Joby website, you’ll see that the “Lock Ring” is a feature of a genuine Joby Gorillapod!
Fake Gorillapods do NOT have the “Lock Ring”, it’s that simple. Now you know, happy shopping

Wait, I’ve got a FAKE, what can I do. That depends, if you bought it from a store, take it back and demand an original or your money back. If you bought it online from a store using a credit card and the store won’t refund you, talk to the credit card as selling FAKE items is illegal in most countries! If you purchased through eBay, they have rules and regulations and providing you paid via PayPal, you should be able to get a full refund even if the vendor refuses.

I hope that this helps and wish you a great weekend. p.s. This article was no way endorsed, suggested, sponsored or promoted by Joby. I just got caught out several times in trying to buy a genuine Joby Gorillapod.

UPDATE: Joby have confirmed that the “Lock Ring” has been there since day 1 on the “Original” and “SLR” models. If any retailer is telling you differently, they’re not being honest!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 6:04 pm and is filed under All Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.