The JOBY GorillaPod Hybrid and the Square Jellyfish smartphone mount work together to create an excellent tripod solution for your iPhone. The GorillaPod is flexible and strong to grasp nearly any surface or large object while the Jellyfish is secure and fits all the way up to the iPhone 7 Plus.
Buy JOBY GorillaPod Hybrid and Square Jellyfish Mount:
➤ JOBY GorillaPod Hybrid Tripod ($36.28 from Amazon)
➤ Square Jellyfish Smartphone Mount ($14.95 from Amazon)
Five years ago, it was general knowledge that the iPhone’s camera was good, but nowhere near ready for professionals to take advantage of. Today, with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus especially, it’s much harder to make that argument. In fact, two members of the a cappella group Pentatonix just released a music video shot entirely with an iPhone 5 and iPhone 6. But to take absolutely amazing footage with the iPhone, you need some accessories starting with a good tripod.
The Wirecutter took a smorgasbord of tripods and mounts out on the town to figure out the best one for smartphones. They came up with this combo plate as the winner: JOBY’s GorillaPod Hybrid tripod with the Square Jellyfish metal tripod mount for smartphones. The Jellyfish mount is necessary for the GorillaPod to work with your iPhone or any phone.
I managed to get ahold of both accessories to see if the GorillaPod really lives up to the hype as best iPhone tripod.
JOBY GorillaPod is as Flexible as You Are
At first glance, the GorillaPod Hybrid probably doesn’t look standard. It looks more like a bizarre toy than a tripod, but that’s attributed to its versatility. Its three legs bend pretty much any way you want them to. That means the tripod is ideal for outside use when placing it on a flat surface isn’t always possible. The legs can stretch and twist to accommodate rocky surfaces. They even wrap around tree branches and vertical poles, and I got it to somehow cling to a thin LED TV. It goes pretty much wherever you need it to go.
Plus, the top part swivels to allow your iPhone to hang however it needs to. It supports 90-degree tilt and 360-degree panning. The built-in bubble level is a nice feature too ensuring the iPhone is always parallel to the ground for a straight shot, though you can just crop and straighten photos later on. I didn’t encounter any problems where the tripod couldn’t support the weight of my iPhone 7 Plus.
Panning is nice and smooth as well. It’s trustworthy for solid panoramic shots or capturing video. The ballhead didn’t jolt or stutter like with cheaper tripods.
My one gripe about the JOBY GorillaPod Hybrid is that as flexible as it is, maneuvering the legs back into straight position is a tad annoying. If you just got done wrapping the tripod around a weird surface and now have to place it flat on a table, it might take some time to get all three feet lined up and level. The legs are hard to flex perfectly back in place.
That said, the stability this GorillaPod demonstrated throughout my testing on different objects really amazed me. I even left it wrapped around the back of a chair with my iPhone dangling off on its side. Skeptical it’d eventually surrender to the weight of the phone, I left it there for a half hour. It was precisely in place when I returned.
Exploring the Square Jellyfish Smartphone Mount
The great perk of buying a regular tripod instead of one designed only for smartphones is compatibility. The JOBY GorillaPod targets regular cameras, but as soon as you twist on the Square Jellyfish smartphone mount, it works wonderfully with smartphones too.
The Jellyfish has great build quality and the clasp fits even the widest phones like my iPhone 7 Plus. You just have to pull to stretch it apart and then slide the iPhone in. It does a great job of gripping tight on the phone.
As a bonus feature, the mount also has a knob on the back for loosening the support rod from the clasp. Doing so allows you to slide the clasp around to a different position so the iPhone sits a little higher, lower, farther left or right on the tripod. Then you just twist the knob again to tighten once more.
Really make sure that when you place your iPhone in, you press it all the way against the back of the clasp before letting the sides close in. I found it the phone to be a little loose otherwise.
The Jellyfish is a simple, but stable smartphone mount that pairs delightfully with your tripod. That tripod, speaking of which, ought to be the JOBY GorillaPod Hybrid. It’s stable and versatile for nearly every situation and both are compact enough to throw in any travel bag. The combination tripod and mount doesn’t break the bank either.
Buy JOBY GorillaPod Hybrid and Square Jellyfish Mount:
➤ JOBY GorillaPod Hybrid Tripod ($36.28 from Amazon)
➤ Square Jellyfish Smartphone Mount ($14.95 from Amazon)
