Monsterpod With a Strobist Mod

I am apparently asleep at the wheel. The "Monsterpod" is making the rounds on the photo websites and I only saw it thanks to a heads-up from an Alert Reader.

It basically a big, $30 glop of something red and (apparently) very high tech. I won't tell you what it reminded by 5-year-old boy of. But suffice to say I hope it is not made of, uh, anything that rhymes with "sugar." It sticks to darn near anything well enough to hold a small digital camera (thanks to the integrated 1/4 x 20 screw head.)

Why would I care about a red-gloppy-digicam-sort-of-tripod? Because if it'll hold a small camera, I'm thinking it'll hold a Nikon SB-800 speedlight.

You start to see the possibilities here?

Head on over to the Monsterpod website if you want to know more.

(Thanks, Mark!)

UPDATE: Click here to see a very interesting production report from China, along with photos of the new, ready-for-prime time version of the Monsterpod. They have also apparently upped the weight limit to well above that of a typical shoe-mount speedlight, and are going to offer a slaved hot shoe adapter, to boot. Schwing.

SECOND UPDATE: Good news/Bad news:

Good news: These are now available at retail.

Bad news: Rob Galbraith did some tests and found they are not very reliable for holding flashes, in that they tend to drop them.