I got this so I could handle a $800 microphone from a few feet away.It accomplishes this effortlessly and without the boom arm slowly drooping as some other platforms frequently do.Any microphone, no matter how costly, would fit easily on this boom arm.It is far more durable than my other tripod stands, and I am confident that it will serve my home studio for many years to come.I hardly ever move it, thus I can't comment on its dependability for someone who continuously erects and destructs things (e.g. touring acts).But after six weeks, I must say that I'm impressed! The delivery box typically (always?) arrives with a hole through one end where a support column has ruptured during shipping, as previous reviews have noted.It appears that the manufacturer could solve this problem at that moment with a little extra packing.The hole was present in my box upon delivery, but the support column was unharmed.