Build Quality

Inside a hard-wearing transport bag, you’ll find what is a well crafted Sirui P-204S monopod. 

A first feel of the legs, leg section twist locks, additional aluminium locks and stabilising feet and there is no doubt that this is a solid and high-quality bit of kit.

Being made of aluminium, the P-204S is not the lightest monopod around, but at 1.4kg with feet (but without a head) it is anything but heavy. 

The stabilising feet are larger than normal and are extremely tough. They need to be, because there are a few scenarios where it is helpful to hold them down with your foot while manoeuvring the monopod - more on this later. 

From our time with the P-204S so far, we have no doubt that every part of the monopod will go the distance. We’ll be sure to make any adjustments to this review, should we come across any unexpected issues in the future (not that we expect any). 

Additional features are worked by the three high-quality metal locks, each coloured a smart blue. 

The top blue metal lock releases the 360° panning, the middle one unlocks the leg in order for it to be detached from the feet, while the bottom one releases the 20° tilt of the ball joint on the feet unit. (Sirui calls the feet unit the ‘spider’.) 

The lower blue metal lock gives full control over the possible angle of tilt. Unlock it fully and there is 20° tilt, but tightening the blue lock limits the tilt angle from any value between 0° and 20° in all directions. 

There is an additional screw lock that backs up the ball joint lock and provides a limited amount of friction control. The screw lock can secure the monopod in a tilted position. We can’t think of another monopod with this genuinely useful feature.

Detaching the spider releases new support setups. With the spider removed, the monopod can be attached to the additional metal spike or rubber foot to create a regular (feet-less) monopod. Monopods without feet are the norm, being more lightweight and smaller to pack up.

With monopod and spider apart, the (included) additional plate and screw can then be attached directly to the top of the spider, creating what is essentially a mini-tripod, completely independent of the monopod. 

Essentially you are getting three devices in one really. 

The mini-tripod is actually rather useful. With up to 20° of tilt, the ball joint rotation of the spider acts like a tripod ball head, which can be held in place securely with the screw lock. By and large the supplied plate is sufficient because of the ball joint, meaning an additional tripod head is non-essential. 

Sirui claims the P-204S monopod has a max load capacity of 8kg. There are not many camera/ lens combinations that exceed this weight. Certainly, in our experience the monopod supported a full-frame DSLR with 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and 2x teleconverter attached, with consummate ease. That is a 3kg combination. 

We have not tested the monopod with a heavier combination, but in theory a full-frame DSLR with monster 600mm f/4 lens or similar should be supported sufficiently too. 

A soft and grippy foam rubber is found on the top section. Alongside and just below the top plate is a wrist strap, which is a handy way of carrying the monopod without a camera attached. 

The P-204S features 4-leg sections which provide a maximum reach of 1600mm. The smallest leg section has a diameter of 19mm. All in all this is a sturdy monopod, as indicated by its impressive 8kg max load capacity.

Once packed down to its minimum folded height, the monopod measures what is a lengthy 700mm. We have seen better minimum folded height to maximum reach ratios elsewhere. 

There is a 6-leg section version available, the P-326S. It does not provide a greater reach, but a smaller folded height of 555mm. 

Also in the range is the P-424S beast, which provides a greater maximum reach of 1910mm and supports up to 12kg, yet its folded height is even larger than that of the P-204S at 790mm.

All this to say, there are other options in the Sirui PS series of monopods, should you need a smaller monopod or one with greater reach.

The P-204S is the only monopod in the Sirui PS series that is made from aluminium rather than carbon fibre. It is therefore the least expensive. However, we were surprised to see just how little a difference it makes in the overall weight of the monopod.

The Sirui P-224S monopod is identical in every way to the P-204S, except that it is made from carbon fibre and weighs a mere 100g less (and costs £50 more). We would save the money and buy the aluminium version, but that’s us - maybe even gram counts to you.

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