There’s a reason that this Impact product has a long name, it’s designed to do a lot of stuff! To begin with, it looks like a light stand and of course, you can use it in this way but, to be honest, its strengths are in other areas and there are better light stands. The spigot on the top seemed to be an odd sizing when I tested it with my Einstein strobe, there was a lot of play in it and the metal was very soft and easily damaged with the screw clamp. More so than other stands that I have used in the past. Of course, if you might just be adding a cold shoe to the top and using speedlights, in which case this wouldn’t be a problem at all.
The real strength of this product though is the transformation into a boom. By pulling the top section upwards as far as it will go, you can then rotate it outwards to elongate the boom section.
I’ve been using this a lot as a mic boom for my shotgun mic and it works a treat. All you need is a screw-on hot-shoe adapter and as you can see, the reflector holder clips work great for holding up your cables.
Normally when you want to hold a reflector you would put a separate reflector holder arm on top of a regular light stand. What’s nice about this Impact Multiboom is that you can leave one item at home as the whole thing is just one piece. With the additional option to use it as a mic boom and a light stand for smaller flashes then it becomes a very versatile product. It can be a little bit confusing when you see how many knobs there are on it though, and you’ll find yourself turning the wrong ones on occasion so watch those fingers if you accidentally loosen something.
The rubberized clamps seemed to do a fine job at holding the reflectors that I have, they don’t spring closed that tightly which I think is deliberate so as not to do damage to what it is holding. Instead, a lot of the grip comes from the rubber on the clamps and I think you would be able to support a small 6×4′ backdrop or similar as well. As with all Impact products, the price is designed not to break the bank and for $80 you get a lot of functionality.
