Ulanzi and Coman have just released the Zero Y Travel Tripod, which appears to be closest challenger to the Peak Design Travel Tripod. In this article I want to explore the likenesses and differences between these two great tripods and will put forward what I hope to be, a convincing argument for one over the other.
On December 21, 2019, nearly three years ago, Peak Design released their travel tripod that quickly became the envy and suspicion of many a photographer. The envy was from such a classy product being available on the market. The suspicion was caused by the astonishing price tag attached to such a small tripod. Let’s look at the Carbon Fibre (not aluminium) Travel Tripod from Peak Design and put it up against the new kid on the block, the carbon fibre Zero Y Travel Tripod from the partnership of Ulanzi and Coman.
A detailed table of the results of this comparison can be found at the bottom of this article.
When picking up the tripods I am immediately impressed with Peak Design’s triangular (ish) shaped legs. They are unlike anything on the market and reveal a great amount of design poured into their manufacturing. But as soon as I pick up both tripods, I’m drawn to how good the Zero Y feels in my hand. It seems easier to carry and has a narrower profile (when compacted) that is a better to grip.
Let’s take a moment to look at the design of these legs. If the legs of both tripods are fully extended, and the tripod erected, we can test the stability of the tripods. We do this by then applying pressure to the apex of the tripods, pushing down with force. The results of such a test have Peak Design’s tripod legs bending significantly more than the Zero Y. This is because the Peak Design legs have a flat profile, as opposed to the Zero Y circular profile. The flatter the profile the more bend you can expect.
To its advantage the centre bracket of the Peak Design tripod that holds the centre rod is predominantly made of metal, with a little plastic, which provides a slightly greater support for the centre column. Conversely the Zero Y has a predominantly plastic apex bracket, which does allow for a slight amount of movement more than the Peak Design Tripod.
The Peak Design Travel Tripod comes in at an impressive 1.27kg, only to be outdone by the Zero Y at 1.1kg. We’re off to a good start, as it’s essential a travel tripod is light. They also need to be compact, and the Peak Design is only 394mm as opposed to the slightly longer 419mm of the Zero Y. So the Zero Y is lighter, but slightly longer, while the Peak Design is heavier but slightly shorter, by 2.5cms.
The next set of criteria; height, and weight bearing capacity seem to be what most photographers would say are essential elements. The Zero Y tripod can achieve a greater total height, 1556mm aided by its longer centre column, making it taller than Peak Design’s at 1517mm, but Peak Design have enabled their tripod to sit lower to the ground, due to the angle they’ve allowed for with their legs. More on this later, however, as it’s not quite as it seems. Obviously personal preference comes into play here, as to which end of the height spectrum matters most to you, but the difference is in millimetres.
A big difference is weight bearing capacity, which is around 3kg for the Zero Y, but leaps to a very impressive 9.1kg for Peak Design. Peak Design wanted to offer to the market a travel tripod which can handle all gear, and they have done that. In my tests of mounting a 150-600 Tamron + FTZii + Small Rig Z9 Cage + Nikon Z9 (nearly 4kg), I discovered that the Zero Y can comfortably handle this unit.
Both tripods have five section legs and alloy leg flip locks to extend and brake the legs to the desired length. The Zero Y has full alloy leg flip locks, while Peak Design, have mostly chosen alloy, but used plastic for the bottom of the upper leg section.
The legs of the Uanzi & Coman Zero Y can be positioned in three increments, of 20 o, 55 o, 75o degrees, while the Peak Design Travel Tripod can only be positioned at, what I can best measure to be 15o and 70o degrees. These degrees mean amounted camera can be positioned close to the ground, when the centre column is removed. Zero Y’s travel tripod has three angle settings, which enables greater versatility and flexibility, but the Peak Design tripod has a lower angle, enabling the tripod to sit closer to the ground. It seems an oversight from Ulanzi & Coman that they didn’t use the small margin still available on the bracket, to offer an even lower sitting position of the ball head and bracket.
I really like how the Zero Y can exchange its rubber feet for the provided metal spikes, which are included with the tripod. A great win would be an internal pocket in the tripod bag to house the feet not being used. Both Peak Design and Ulanzi + Coman include a simple base plate, which means you can use the tripod straight away.
On the subject of base plates Peak Design’s tripod has a really innovate locking design, that sits right above the swivel lock, but is particular only to Peak Design. This means that it’s not made to work with standard arca-Swiss plates, unless purchased from Peak Design. I have a 3 Legged Thing L-bracket (Zelda) on my Z6 which doesn’t fit neatly upon the tripod head. Peak Design’s base plate bracket is slightly narrower than a standard Arca-Swiss plate with two protruding pins that hold the Peak Design plate in place. This is a helpful security measure when using the native plates, but not when using a different variation of an Arca-Swiss plate.
Aside from this limitation, I imaging created for a desire of exclusivity, I find the ball head locking and release system of the Peak Design, a little confusing. Whilst in the field it isn’t obvious which twist locking ring controls which function, especially when you’re looking through your camera eye piece and reaching around with your hand. On more than one occasion I found I‘d loosened my camera instead of changing its orientation.
Both ball heads can be moved into a vertical position so that your camera can photograph in a portrait orientation. However, the Peak Design encounters complications, when changing the orientation, while the Zero Y handles any orientation you need, due to its built in panoramic addition to the head.
The centre column for both tripods are sturdy and stylish. They can be shortened by an unscrewing procedure, made possible, when the head of the ball head is moved into a vertical position, revealing a hole. In that hole is a hex screw which, when loosened enables the snuggly fitting centre column to be pulled apart.
Both companies have approached the storage of the tool to loosen the hex screw differently. Peak Design have a tiny internal pocket in the tripod bag, where the screw can be tucked away and stored. Ulanzi and Coman opted to store the hex tool in the bottom of the centre column. The hex driver simply screws into the centre column to conceal the hex driver and is finished by a hook, which can be used to secure the tripod in a high wind situation. The hex driver is a clever tool, as it secures the hex bit magnetically, so it can be pulled out, turned around and on the other end is a smaller hex driver bit which can be used to tighten all of the other adjustable screws on the tripod (for example to tighten the legs or clamps).
Peak Design opted to use the compartment in the lower portion of the centre column for concealing a foldable, magnetically secured phone bracket. This phone bracket can be used seamlessly with the base plate bracket and easily folds away to be stored behind a twist magnetised hook. The phone bracket isn’t that secure when holding a larger phone on top of the ball head. The hook performs the same task as with the Zero Y, offering a downward hanging anchor point for high wind scenarios.
Both tripods, due to the options afforded them by their centre columns, allow for your camera to be mounted upside down (underslung mode), for interesting landscape, product, macro, etc. photography.
The ability to shorten the centre columns, allows both travel tripods to be used for low lying shots. The Peak Design enables you to mount your camera as low as 140mm off the ground, and Ulanzi & Coman’s Tripod enables you shoot as low as 167mm. These measurement for both, however, aren’t accurate if you are a photographer wanting to use the full ability of the ball head as low to the ground as you can. If this is the case, you couldn’t shoot as low as these figures intimate.
You can shoot from 167mm on the Zero Y, however you are restricted to only 20 degrees of movement from the horizontal access. If you’d like to use the ball head range to its full capabilities, you would need to use it at a heigh of 180mm (measured from the base plate bracket). This would allow you to freely rotate the ball head and shoot in a vertical orientation. For the same results on the Peak Design the ball head needs to be set to a minimum height of 183mm.
Both tripods allow for vertical orientated shooting, but the Xero Y does it with ease and complete versatility, whereas Peak Design’s travel tripod is significantly limited. The Zero Y has two side grooves or slots on the ball head that enable the ball head bracket to swing into a vertical orientation. Once there the panorama function, allows you to move the camera into any position you like. This coupled with the 360-degree panning capacity of the ball head, results in a freedom to position the camera in any direction and at any angle you wish.
Peak Design’s mechanics don’t allow for the same freedom. You can only move the camera in one direction to access vertical shooting (not two) and once there, due to the supports under the ball head bracket, you can only move it 100 degrees. The limiting factor being the presence of the supports, hitting against the holding bracket.
By now you would see that in several areas both travel tripods are neck and neck, aside from a few millimetres here and there. The Peak Design is smaller when folded, with a nicer bag, its legs look more modern, its load bearing is far superior and it has a secret phone mount stored.
The Ulanzi & Coman Zero Y Travel Tripod is lighter and taller, its ball head takes any arca swiss plate configuration, its braking levers are very clever and effective, it handles any direction you want to point your camera in with ease, stands sturdier when fully extended and offers three leg angle options.
The deciding factor for many, however, is the price! Ulanzi and Coman have just released their tripod, meaning it’s not foreseeable that it will increase in price from what it currently is. Peak Design have had their product out for a number of years now, and their price has not moved since its debut. So what’s the difference?
The Zero Y Travel Tripod from Ulanzi and Coman, at $369.95 is nearly 50% cheaper than the Peak Design Travel Tripod, at $649.95. A response to this from Peak Design may well be to encourage a buyer toward their aluminium alloy version of the same tripod, which is heavier (1.56KG), and retails for $379.95. A price that is still $10 more expensive than the Zero Y.
So what’s the reason for the price difference? Peak Design is a different company with a different approach to Ulanzi and Coman. They offer a lifetime warranty over Ulanzi and Coman’s standard 1 year warranty, an advantage which should cost more, but not as much as it appears to.
Having experimented with both the tripods, including field use, and putting to the test what other users have expressed as concerns, I can conclude:
· When locked down the centre column on each can only be moved slitghtly when enormous downward pressure is applied.
· When the leg locks are fully engaged each leg cannot be extended out or restricted in, on the Zero Y, regardless of the force I exert. The Peak Design Tripod legs can be moved.
· The shape of the Peak Design legs, are much more flexible and bend far more than the Zero Y. This decreases camera stability when shooting.
· The design of the apex of the Peak Design tripod offers a slightly improved sturdiness to the tripod’s centre column when fully extended. It’s marginal but observable. Some have said this is because the PD only has an aluminium apex bracket, against the Zero Y’s plastic apex bracket. Looking closely at the PD apex, it does appear to also have plastic parts included in it.
· The clips used to secure the angle of the legs, seem of similar design and durability on both tripods. The Peak Design leg clips may actually be more lose, when force to extend them, while locked, is applied..
· Both are made in China, and I’m still not sure why this is a bad thing.
Peak Design, introduced to the world a first in light weight, classy design and great functionality for photographers, in the form of a tripod. I love how Ulanzi teamed up with Coman, to take what the market had accepted and make it better and cheaper. Well done and thank you for making this sort of design and approach available to those of us who have a more conservative budget. You can get your hands on a Zero Y Travel Tripod today from here.
Below is a comparison table for you to see the differences side by side. In some cases, I ranked them out of 10, based on my user experience. I completely concede that your score may be very different to mine. Green indicates a win in that category, while red indicates a loss.
The findings in this article are based on my research, measurements, and use of both these products. I found while writing this article that the measurements supplied by manufacturers in some cases undersold their product and in other cases exaggerated their product. My intention is that these measurements offer information to you to help you, that is as accurate as possible.
Thank you Ulanzi and Coman for sending the Zero Y Travel Tripod to me for review.