Extremely compact and lightweight, easily goes with me wherever - as the saying goes the best tool for the job is the one you have with you and I am far more likely to carry this baby over my 8 pound regular tripod. So far I've had no stability issues, and the head seems to hold my kit (6D + ts-e24, 35mm, 24-105) steady where I put it for as long as I need (30+ second exposures), although I haven't encountered strong winds yet. In my home the 100-400 seems stable as well, but since I haven't shot with it in the field yet I don't want to make a definitive comment. The only nit is the lack of bubble level on the legs, but I can't really fault it for that. I was worried about the twist locks, but they work just fine.