Man, my back is actually killing me right now. I just spent a week hauling my old Manfrotto 190 up and down trails in the Olympic National Park and honestly Im about ready to chuck the thing into a lake. I love my Lumix G9 and the whole point of switching to Micro Four Thirds was to save weight but here I am carrying a tripod that weighs as much as the rest of my kit combined. It is just stupid. I missed so many golden hour shots because I was too tired to even unpack the thing from my bag or because it was such a hassle to setup in the mud and wind.

Ive been scouring the forums and YouTube and everyone keeps pointing at the Peak Design Travel Tripod. It looks cool and tiny but $600 for the carbon one? Are they joking? I could buy a whole new lens for that price. Plus some people are saying the legs are weirdly thin and might vibrate too much for long exposures which is exactly what I need for waterfalls and stuff. Then I saw the Sirui T-025X and it seems much more reasonably priced but then half the reviews say they are basically toys and cant handle any real wind. I am going to Iceland in about two months and I really dont want my camera blowing over into a glacier because I bought a cheap stick but I also dont want to spend a fortune or break my spine again.

Is there some kind of middle ground that specifically works well for MFT shooters? Since I am not rocking a massive full frame setup I feel like I dont need the heavy duty stuff but I still need something that can hold up a G9 with the 12-60mm Leica lens without sagging or shaking every time a breeze hits it. My budget is probably around $250 max because I still need to buy warm boots for the trip. Has anyone actually found a tripod that fits in a side pocket and doesnt suck? I just want something lightweight that isnt a total flimsy piece of junk...