LINCO Lincostore Zenith Photography Boom Arm 83" / 210cm with Sandbag, AM224 (Not Including Stand)

Pay heed to the writeup that this is rated for a flash unit 2 lbs or less. Worked well for me since I was only using it for speedlight type flash units. Reasonably priced and seems adequate for occasional use.

There is not much to choose from in a boom arm at this price point. Having said that, I had low expectations for this product. When it promptly arrived, at first glance it seemed surprisingly well made. And it is, considering the price. I've got to believe that the cost of materials to make it are pretty close to the price. I bought it to position an 80cm soft box for macro photography. It works perfectly fine with an important warning. DO NOT put too much weight on the boom arm end! I have an 80cm soft box with 2 speed lights inside and that is ok, but much more than that could be a problem. And be sure to use an equal amount of counterweight in the provided bag on the other end. I add rocks until it balances perfectly. More importantly, DO NOT overtighten any of the clamps! I did on the first one I got and the clamps basically disintegrated. They don't have to be tightened very much at all. Keep in mind the limitations of this piece of equipment and what you paid for it and it will work great. If you are thinking of mounting a heavy studio flash, or a $3000 dslr to it, get real and spend the big bucks on a C stand or a proper tripod.

If you're trying to hold up a reflector, or foamcore...diffusers, hot shoe light, etc, the pole is great. Would never work for a camera, key/fill light etc. , it would probably bend and possibly snap at the joints if too much weight is applied. Got it for $20 and it's a great backup piece to have around. GREAT value, especially with the sandbag. Currently $24.99 shipped and that's probably the highest I'd recommend paying. I'm giving it 4 stars because the company claims it can hold 10 pounds, which seems misleading, even if it's only slightly extended and weighted in the middle. However, I'd DEFINITELY recommend this for lightweight applications. There's not much competition in this category so if they were just a bit more honest, they probably wouldn't lose any customers - and I'd definitely rate it higher. I tried a 10 pound light on it and the thing looked ready to snap. But again, for the price - GREAT DEAL. I'll buy another in a heartbeat if I find I have a need for one. Will defintely keep an eye on Linco's other products in the future.

As long as you balance it correctly, you’ll have no problem keeping it steady.Some of the other reviewers complaining about it wobbling are not balancing it the right way, you should make sure it doesn’t move before tightening it, that will let you know that it is balanced.

I was a bit concerned because of the plastic hardware in a few sections, but I think the MOST important thing to do with this is to make sure the arm is properly balanced with a counterweight. If you’re placing a very heavy light at the far end, be sure to balance that out so there’s no tension on the locking arm that keeps it from sagging. Just put on the light and hold it up with your hand, then hang the counterbalance, and then shift the arm until it balances on its own on the light stand. Center of gravity, right? Proper and equal weight distribution. If you don’t do this, you’re unnecessarily putting a lot of stress on parts that will eventually, and prematurely, break.

So I have had this boom for a while but only used it maybe a dozen times. The piece that connects to the tripod and hold the angle of the boom completely stripped out. Now again I have had it for a while but don't use it all that often, simply not worth it.

For the price it’s good enough. The mounting mechanism where it attaches to the light stand is made of plastic. I won’t trust it with a large monolight and softbox. For hot shoe type flash units it’s just fine. The included sand bag is of really high quality.

Dropped a brick in the bag and it holds my 32x32 inch softbox up high without any issues. I rated the sturdiness and stability at 5 stars for this piece, recognizing that ultimately you want a good light stand to mount this too. A cheap light stand is not going to be stable without being weighted down (up to you to have that piece already). A good C-Stand would be perfect.