Adonit V-Grip Selfie stick for smartphones review | MacSources
Selfie grip that doesn’t feel like a selfie-stick
No one ever wants to be that pushy person with a cheap plastic chrome selfie-stick that sticks out like a sore thumb. At the same time being at the Grand Canyon or with a loved one like your grandmother you would be hard-pressed not to want one that works so you can get that perfect photo. I am a photographer and I use my DSLR as much as I possibly can, but let’s be honest. Handing off a $3,000 professional camera to a random person who has no clue how to operate it to get a quick photo of your grandmother and yourself at a restaurant on the beach is not the best idea. I did this once and fortunately, the lady did not drop it, but she also did not know how to take the photo so what we ended up with was a blur of a photo. I had my iPhone with me, but my arm just did not extend as far as I would have needed to get both of us in the photo so I left it in my camera bag at the table and thought I could get this photo with a wide-angle on my DSLR. Boy was I wrong. Needless to say, having the V-Grip in my bag would have made this a much easier photo for me to get and I could have used my iPhone rather than my DSLR. The best part is I would have never had to hand off my device to anyone.
DETAILS
The V-Grip by Adonit is the “best selfie grip for smartphones” as described on their website. It’s a 7-in-1 grip, but it’s small enough to fit into your pocket. The V-grip features one-hand operation. It allows users to comfortably hold the phone out with either the left or the right hand to snap photos, videos, and live streams. The stick is 500mm and it has a built-in small grip (7 sections telescopic pole). The smartphone holder has a 1/4″ standard screw mount that is compatible with most tripods, monopods, video sliders, and stabilizers. The top of the phone mount has a cold shoe mount that can be used with different types of microphones, LED lights, and other accessories for photo and video capture. The V-grip is compatible with Bluetooth 3.0 and smartphones between 67 and 83 mm in size will fit in the mount. The grip has a wrist strap hole on it so that you can attach your favorite wrist strap, charm, GPS tracker, or other accessory to personalize your V-Grip.
The only pieces included in the package are the V-Grip and the user manual. The mini tripod, microphones, LED lights and wrist strap that are featured on the V-Grip’s product page are not included.
SPECS
Dimensions: L 113.9 * W 32 * H 50.8 mm
Material: PC+ABS
Selfie stick: 500mm
Bluetooth 3.0 and Above
Grip Extension
Size Compatibility: 4.5″ or larger smartphones
Width range: 67mm — 83mm
Max. depth: 10mm
OS Compatibility: iOS 5.0 and above / Android v4.3+
Battery for Shutter Remote: CR2016
Continuous Use: Approx. 600K shots per 1 battery
The bottom of the Adonit website does list that the grip does not come with most of the items it’s shown with on the page.
This could be confusing for some end users who don’t scroll to the end of the page before jumping on placing the order.
USER EXPERIENCE
When I received the grip I noticed the packaging is a white box that somehow feels like it should be in an Apple Store. There is an image of the device in action on the back you will have illustrations of how to use it and on the side QR codes for the product page and demo video. The specs of the device are also listed on the side. Inside you will just find the V-Grip and an instruction pamphlet. The grip does have a Bluetooth remote that is attached to the grip but is made to slide off for use with your other hand.
When you take the V-Grip out of the box, you can tell how lightweight and compact it is. The telescoping wand is contained inside the grip. At first, I thought that maybe the telescoping handle wasn’t included until I slipped the handle of the grip downward and the wand was exposed. The V-grip is comfortable to hold and pretty easy to use. To connect the remote, you simple tap the button once to turn the power on and then you connect it to your smartphone through your device’s Bluetooth menu. For me, it popped up as “accessory” and then I saw a pairing request from the “Adonit V-Grip” as a notification. Connection was instantaneous and I was able to easily trigger the shutter on the phone for photos and video.
As far as the smartphone mount goes, I was a little disappointed because the lip for the phone wasn’t very deep (only about 1/2 inch). While that’s plenty deep for most mobile phones without a case, it’s not deep enough for a phone if it’s resting inside a case. I switch between iPhone cases so much since I review quite a few so I actually found the V-Grip a little hard to use. If you use any style of a flip case like a wallet case the V-Grip is not going to play nicely. Thinner style cases you will have no problems with but for the best experience, it’s for someone who goes case-naked. My daughter uses a thinner style case and she was able to use the V-Grip with no issues. My fiance has a slim case on her phone, but she also has a grip stuck to the back and wasn’t able to secure her phone on the V-Grip mount very easily either.
The other little hurdle I came upon while testing out the V-Grip was its ability to hold weight. If you extend the wand completely and flip the mount so that it is resting on the wand, the phone will be supported well. It’s designed that way and there is even a notch cut out on the mount for this purpose. However, if the V-Grip gets flung downward with any force, the mount will flip around and the phone could potentially slide out of the grip — especially if it’s in a case and isn’t properly secured. I found the motion of simply lowering the selfie stick and raising it back up — could cause this to happen. And while my phone was never completely flung off of the V-Grip, it did move.
CONCLUSION
In my experience, while using the V-Grip I found it to be quite nice but more as for a grip for my iPhone when taking photos. The selfie-stick part was a nice add-on and the way it’s designed is nice because you can hide the fact that it’s a selfie-stick. Is it perfect? No, but it’s a decent design made with durable parts and when you need to bust out that embarrassing branch you can get the great photos of you and your beloved family or amazing places you visit.
Originally published at https://macsources.com on April 20, 2020.
