I bought this monopod for a 3 week trip in Europe with my family. I've previously taken full tripods and they are a pain to pack and haul around when all you need most of the time is a bit of stabilization. My wife had a moderate surgery about a month before our trip that we had booked 6 months earlier. She ended up needing some assistance going up and down stairs. She tried my monopod on for size and thought she could make it work. And work it did. I screwed a hiking stick head onto the 1/4 20 thread screw and it was like any other walking stick, only it collapsed better.My wife use this monopod as a cane through London, Amsterdam, and Paris, with trips in Bruges, Antwerp and Luxembourg in between. It saw cobbled streets and a dozen museums. It held her weight and allowed her to get up and down the steps to the Tube and Metro. On day 19, at the end of our last day of sightseeing, the rubber shoe came off the bottom. That's not a failure on it's part, because it's still a completely functional monopod that I used with great results when she wasn't using it to get along.Good job sourcing this affordable and useful photographers tool. 10/10