Starkou combines tripod and selfie stick

When I shoot video at an event, I take along two important items. One is an extendable selfie stick, to get my cell phone camera above a crowd. The other is a tripod to get a steady view of the action, often using a second camera. 

The Starkou Tripod Selfie Stick is a highly-portable device that can do either job well. And you get a wireless remote shutter trigger with the package.

The Starkou stick is made to be carried in a backpack or shoulder bag. It's too big and heavy to put in a pocket on your jacket or jeans. When fully collapsed it weights a little under 1 pound in an 11.5-inch tube. But that heft is one of its advantages. I've used cheap selfie sticks that can't hold at full extension and flimsy tripods that easily fall over. This one stands firm.

Using the Starkou required a bit of practice. To unlock the tripod legs, you first press button at the base of the tube. And it has to be pretty hard press to get the legs to slide down an interior tube and snap into place like an umbrella.

The clamp that hold a phone is made of strong plastic with rubber cushions at each end of the clamp. It rotates between vertical and wide-screen positions and holds each position without lock nuts. And the outer caps of the clamp each have a cold shoe mount where you can attack a microphone or fill light.

I was most impressed with the extension tubing that emerges in eight segments to a full 60 inches - almost to my chin. The segments are tucked snugly inside each other, so some muscle is required to get them out. But they stayed firm without any twisting or locking maneuver on my part.

Attached to the outer shell of the Starkou is a thumb-sized Bluetooth remote. Once paired with my phone, I could take single photos or start and stop video recording without touching the phone. I snapped several shots of birds dining at my back porch feeder while I was inside the house peeking out a window.

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Written by Ric Manning

Follow me on Twitter @ricmanning and read my technology columns at My Well Being.