This has been a great, affordable, umbrella holder to hook onto my off camera flash for photography. It is extremely sturdy, and holds my umbrella without fear of the umbrella falling off. I use my own cold shoe, a frio, on top of it so I cannot comment on how well it works alone as a cold shoe. You do have to be careful when using it, as it is plastic and not the highest quality. But for the price point, it does the job extremely well.

Perfect

Great!

The base is brittle plastic, be careful while tightening on stand, it can crack.

I had concerns when I read some of the initial reviews about poor quality and craftsmanship of this product, but I figured the low cost was worth the try. I have to safe, I'm glad I took a chance! After receiving this flash bracket and umbrella holder, I'm not sure what product those bad reviews were talking about! This thing is quality built of good, strong, sturdy, molded plastic. The wing nuts to attach it to the tripod and adjust the angle are both solid and hold very well. The adjustable hotshoe slot to attach the flash was easy to tighten, and maintains a firm grip on my speedlite in all positions. The screws to tighten down the hotshoe and the umbrella are both made of quality metal, are large enough to get a good grip and tighten by hand, and have a screwdriver slot big enough that you can use a penny or dime to further tighten it down if necessary.I haven't attached an umbrella to it yet (I don't get my umbrella until tomorrow), but I don't anticipate any problem with that feature either. I attached this unit to the top of my Cowboy Studios flash tripod. I mounted my Newer Speedlight II to the Cowboy Studios remote control units, and attached them to this flash bracket. All without any problems, no falling over/off, no problems!I think this is a GREAT flash bracket for an amazing price!

This is capable of doing the job but you get what you pay for, it's cheaply made. However, it's only holding the weight of a flash. The weakest aspect is the actual clamp for the flash - just a tiny button screw going into a plastic thread and the clamp jaw is a very loose fit, It works OK only if the flash is centered relative to that screw. To use this with a 600EX-RT I shaved off the clamp and holder deep enough so the flash could sit centered (this is due to the rubber flange on the flash that prevents it from being mounted anywhere other than the edge, i.e. I created a new "edge" closer to the center).I'll use it, but won't likely buy another.

It works just fine, however the track to slide the flash into is way too snug that it feels you may break your flash hotshoe if not careful.

I have a continuous video lighting kit with stands and umbrellas and wanted to use these for strobe lighting with as minimum extra expense as possible. These stand adapters fit the bill.The construction is mostly rugged plastic. All of the screw surfaces go into metal inserts save one, and that one is the umbrella latching screw. But my umbrellas have a pop-out tab near the bottom to stop the umbrella from sliding too far down, so I don't need to even tighten this screw.The flash attaching bracket is all metal and its spring loaded. This makes for easy disassembly. The shoe is mounted to the plastic head with four screws, and this appears solid.As pointed out in another review, the tilt adjustment ratchets into a set of fixed positions. But these are one or two degrees apart, so fine adjustment is adequate enough.My one complaint about the unit is the umbrella holding shaft itself: it's too wide for my umbrellas, so I have to insert a 1/4" key or popsicle stick to keep the umbrella in line with the flash. Maybe other brands of umbrellas have wider shafts, so this may not be a problem for you.There are a lot of reviewers who complain about the quality of construction, which is not bad. The holder is tough enough to withstand normal wear and tear, but it will not withstand abuse.What about the pictures? Well, with one flash and one reflecting (not diffusing) umbrella properly positioned, I get outstanding lighting and modeling. It's far better than ceiling bounce. I'm quite pleased with the results.Four stars for an inexpensive, useful adapter. Maybe not precision machined from stainless steel, but definitely sufficient quality for the price.

3/22/2012 UPDATE TO MY ORIGINAL REVIEW -I have purchased 3 of these from Amazon. The 2nd & 3rd times, I just went to the previous purchase in my history and clicked on the first item and ordered again. The first two I got came from seller JRFOTO INC, now known as Fancier Studio. I did not notice the third time I ordered that the item came from a different supplier, HDE. Now, HDE shipped FAST and was great in that respect, and the price was the same as I paid before, but not Prime eligible, just a lower price plus shipping that was the same total. No problems with that seller.However, I have a SIGNIFICANT problem with Amazon representing the third item as the same as the first two! When I clicked on the item I previously purchased to make another purchase, Amazon defaulted to HTE as the Seller, and I didn't even notice the supplier was different. The choice to purchase the item from Fancier is there if you go to look at other sellers. But the big problem is not that the seller is different, per se. The big problem is that the item itself is different. This item I am reviewing from Fancier has two significant differences, in spite of the fact that the items look almost identical in the photos.The one from Fancier (JRFOTO INC) has a METAL shoe clamp, and a slightly larger mounting hole in the base. The one from HTE has a PLASTIC shoe clamp, and a slightly smaller hole in the base. For me these differences are all the difference in the world, as the plastic shoe clamp does not have the range of adjustment that the metal one does, and my expensive Rode SVM microphone will slip right out of the shoe, even with the shoe clamp tightened as far as it will go. Furthermore, the pole on the microphone stand that I am using for this will fit into the mounting hole on the base of the one from Fancier, but the one from HTE won't go on.In fairness, the mounting hole size difference is very slight, and the hole could be enlarged easily with a drill bit of the appropriate size. Also, the shoe on the Rode SVM is a bit smaller and thinner than most, and that's why it wouldn't fit snugly. The one from HTE did tighten sufficiently to snugly hold the other shoes I have. Looking closely, I can see that the tightening screw is bottoming in its hole before the shoe clamp has reached the end of its available travel, and that is what is limiting its adjustment range. So if the screw were shortened just 1mm or so, it would have sufficient travel to snug that smaller shoe on the Rode SVM. Even at that, I found that when I tightened the locknut on the Rode SVM shoe, it held ok.But all-in-all, I prefer the metal shoe holder.So, to me the difference between the one from HTE and the one from Fancier is worth the additional $2 cost (including shipping).Here is my original review:This flash shoe holder is well-engineered, solidly made, and provides a host of mounting and configuration options. It's amazing they can build something this good at such a low price. And the fact that it's Prime eligible is a double-bonus! ~NOTE~ NOT Prime eligible anymore.