Velbon Pole Pod II £89, $195

Here’s a monopod that’s more like a tripod with a very long centre column. The flip-out legs are a two-section design with three angle options to help your Nikon stay upright on sloping ground.

With the feet fully extended and spread, the Pole Pod II is stable enough to use as a freestanding tabletop tripod, or you can mount your Nikon straight to the base and use it as a mini tripod. Refit the leg and you’ve got the tallest vantage point available from any monopod in this test, reaching 179.2cm at full stretch – and the ball head means you can shoot from all angles.

The Pole Pod II is remarkably light at 960g, but that’s partly due to some cheap-feeling materials that limit the maximum payload to 2.5kg, so you wouldn’t want to mount anything heavier than a D7200 on it.

Is the Pole Pod II a monopod? Or with those two-section legs, is it a tripod? You decide!