No, it’s not a weird-looking five-legged sea creature. What you see here is the Gekkopod, a unique mobile tripod that lets you easily mount a compact camera, action camcorder, or smartphone onto almost anything, simply by wrapping the arms around a solid object.
The Gekkopod is a small, rubberized mount with five strong, flexible arms. Function wise, it works like Joby’s GorillaPod, but much more compact. At the center of the body is a standard screw that lets you attach the Gekkopod to a camera’s tripod mount; for smartphones, an adapter is included, which can accommodate devices as large as an iPhone 6 Plus (there’s also an adapter for GoPro cameras). You could even attach a small mirrorless camera with a compact lens, but it’s really ideal for much smaller, lighter cameras.
Because you can bend each arm into whatever position, you can use the Gekkopod in a various ways. Wrapping all five arms around a pole or tree branch ensures a tight grip (make your own selfie stick!). You could also turn Gekkopod into a chair for your phone to sit on, for making video conferencing calls. You could also move the tripod screw to one of the “hands” (at the end of one of the arms), which allows you to reposition a camera easily while the other four arms are wrapped around something. When not in use, just wrap it around a camera, a backpack strap, or something similar, so that it’s always on hand when you need it.
The Gekkopod also has an optional Ballhead accessory that lets you easily tilt and turn a camera, in 360 degrees. The Ballhead attaches to the Gekkopod’s tripod screw.
The accessory has already reached its Kickstarter funding goal, but there’s still 36 days left to pick one up at only $20, which gets you a Gekkopod in green, purple, or black (colors glow in the dark); a standard tripod screw; an adaptable mount for smartphones; and a GoPro mount. Pledging $25 will get you the Ballhead in addition the aforementiond. (Other pledge amounts are available.)
Initial shipments are scheduled for October 2015, but its inventors (who created the Sticko) sent us one in advance to play with (yes, the product is real, so definitely make a pledge if you would like one). From the images and animations, we don’t need to tell you that the Gekkopod is simple to use, and that there are several creative ways you can mount it. While the Gekkopod itself is very lightweight, the flexible metal in each arm is very strong, which is important if you want to create a secure hold. One thing we like is that, with the arms folded down, you can use the Gekkopod as a handheld grip to give your camera or smartphone more stabilization. For $20, it’s an affordable and fun accessory that is not only useful, but also unobtrusive and easy to pack.
