Note: This item was provided for review.
Finding a good iPad stand is quite hard. I apparently type with thunderous strikes, and thus I tend to shake about even the best stands on the market. A good iPad stand is something you never fight against, rarely think about because it stays out of the way, and are never trying to bounce your head around like you are watching a tennis match to keep in bounce with the display — it’s sturdy.
Benks has created a very good iPad stand — perhaps great.
Specs
The specs for this are a little scant. It’s an aluminum build which is 720g from the model I have and is stated to fold down to a 11.6” x 5.6” x 1.4” package — decent but heavy. They make this stand in a ton of different options for the different iPad models, so it’s likely that if you have a newer iPad, there’s one to fit yours.
On the 11” iPad Pro the magnetic pad stops just below the camera bump, giving you a good amount of surface to pluck the iPad off the pad. The base smoothly rotates 360° without any skipping on the desk surface. The arm articulates vertically at the attachment on the base, as well as at the attachment to the magenetic pad. The pad itself rotates 360° for the device surface.
The entire thing is really high quality feeling, and the articulation is very firm and it’s not likely to slowly melt out of position. With how I have been using it, I get the iPad bottom about 4.25” off the desktop.
In Use
There’s two things which normally kill an iPad stand for me (my closet is full of failed attempts):
- The iPad shakes as I type.
- The stand has trouble staying in the position I want/need it to.
These are not even remotely an issue with this Benks stand. The iPad stays securely where you place it (with exception to the rotating base) and there is zero bounce in this stand. When you are not trying to reposition the arm on this, it almost seems like it’s a single piece of aluminum with how stout it is.
The fact that it doesn’t slowly lose position is also great, but a small tradeoff there is that it is a very firm action to change the angles on the stand. This feels like the correct tradeoff to me, as anything easier to position tends to be something you are constantly adjusting the position of.
The pad on the base on this stand rotates freely 360°. This is not a feature I’ve ever looked for in a stand, but now that I have been using this stand, I can see the benefit. I don’t use it all the time, but at least once a day I’ll find myself changing the position for whatever I am doing, and I’d put this as a nice to have for me. The rotation is very smooth and easy, but there are clicks the stand makes as you rotate it. I’d love for there to be no clicks, but I assume they add a touch more resistance which is good. The downside to this rotation is that a hard tap on the screen can rotate the iPad stand.
The stand itself is really nicely done. There’s only one spot of subtle branding on the base. The base is weighted well, and large enough that it makes a nice spot for earbuds to hang out. It’s a clean and expensive looking stand — something that compliments my desk well.
I prefer really tall stands, but I’ve found this one to be tall enough. I tend to use my iPad as a second screen when at my desk, and this stand mates up well, provides a solid angle for video calls, and never feels ‘too low’ for me.
Overall
This is a really good stand, and is very well made. It’s perfect for people who want a stand for more than one spot, or who move around/change desk setups often. I wouldn’t want to tote it around in my backpack a bunch, but it does fold flat enough that you could if you wanted to.
I’m a fan, and I need more things that are this stable, but with this free of a rotation.
Buy here, $95 (use code BROOKSREVIEW15 to get 15% off)