3 Legged Thing Alana Review

The 3 Legged Thing Alana is the lightweight, compact counterpart to the towering Lance. Although it may not scale the lofty heights of 202cm, it still achieves an impressive 158cm. One key advantage is its five-section carbon leg design, which allows for shorter segments. This means the monopod can collapse down to a highly compact 44.8cm—small enough to stow in most backpacks with ease.

As monopods go, its lightweight carbon build makes it an excellent travel companion. Combined with the DOCZ tri-feet, it becomes a highly viable alternative to a travel tripod. Moreover, if you’re a videographer or content creator, this is an ideal piece of kit for lightweight travel. The small ball head enables quick, smooth pans while maintaining levelness and minimising camera shake.

What I particularly appreciate are the rubber grip and oversized twist locks, which are beneficial in wet and cold conditions. Overall, it’s an outstanding option for photographers and videographers at all levels seeking a reliable monopod.

The build of the 3 Legged Thing Alana closely mirrors its taller sibling, the Lance, featuring legs of the same diameter except for the thinner diameter in the final additional section. The twist locks, too, are identical, providing excellent grip in all weather conditions. As for handling, deploying the five sections takes slightly longer compared to the four on the Lance, but this is a minor quibble. One of the standout features of this, and other new monopods, is the optional addition of the DOCZ feet. However, if you’re planning to travel, it might be wise to leave the DOCZ feet behind, as they add a considerable amount of weight to an otherwise lightweight design.

The 3 Legged Thing Alana is an excellent choice for on-the-go photographers. Although I didn’t embark on any major trips during my testing period, I did undertake numerous dog walks and participated in plenty of video and photography shoots to evaluate its capabilities. For an evening shoot around Salisbury city centre, the monopod tucked away neatly and compactly into my backpack. I opted to leave the DOCZ feet at home, sticking with the standard rubber boot to minimise weight; the idea was to have just that little extra camera support for low-light conditions.

Unlocking and locking the leg sections was quick, requiring less than half a turn to either release or secure each section. Due to the size of the twist grips, it’s a one-by-one release process rather than all-at-once, but it’s still a swift operation. Once fully extended, the carbon legs provide a rigid structure, eliminating the flex sometimes experienced with lightweight carbon; this is indeed a more robust offering. In practice, the monopod proves its worth. I toyed with the idea of adding a tripod head for added versatility but found that keeping things straightforward was actually more effective.

Overall, the Alana monopod justified its merits: it’s lightweight, quick to set up, and user-friendly.

During the testing of the 3 Legged Thing Alana and the Lance, I overlooked mentioning one crucial feature: the colour. Both of these monopods come in a dark hue—not literally emerging from darkness, but that’s their colour scheme. This is advantageous as darker colours are less likely to show up in reflections from windows, cars, or any other reflective surfaces you might be photographing.

I’ve grown quite fond of the subdued palette that 3LT uses for their tripods and monopods. Furthermore, 3LT has opted to omit the logos on these monopods. This might be because they are early production units, and the stickers haven’t been applied yet. However, their absolute simplicity is noteworthy.

Just like the Lance is a solid choice for general enthusiasts and professionals, the Alana is highly recommended for anyone on the go. That said, 3LT, a lightweight version of the DOCZ would be a welcome addition.

Alana £129.99 / US$149.99 (monopod only), £169.99 / US$199.99 (monopod kit with Docz)