Review: Standzfree iPad floor stand serves niche audiences well

Standzout's $100 Standzfree Telescoping Floor Stand for iPad is a tall, upright stand that lets you get your iPad off your desk or table and position it virtually anyplace in your home or office. With its long, flexible extender (which looks something like a gooseneck lamp, only somewhat stiffer), it gives you myriad of ways to position your tablet, and a telescoping tube extends the stand from 36 to 48 inches in height. (You’ll likely bend the neck at least somewhat, taking a few inches off the total height.)

The Standzfree best-suited for passive viewing of your iPad’s screen: watching videos or reading in bed (especially while lying down), sitting on the couch, standing with your instrument in front of musical notation, on the exercise bike, and in other situations where you want to view your iPad close up without having to hold it. That said, the Standzfree is acceptably stable for typing and swiping, if required—the six-pound stand is sturdy, and the weighted, V-shape base does not budge, even on thick carpet.

Like a piece of assemble-at-home furniture, the Standzfree ships in a long box; you unpack and assemble the pieces. This was a very simple procedure—I didn’t need the directions to figure out what went where. A plastic ball joint at the top of the stand fits into the socket on the back of the frame, with a screw cap holding them together. You loosen this screw cap to adjust the position of the tablet in an infinite number of ways—landscape, portrait, or anything in between.

However, as with some of the DIY furniture I’ve used, everything wasn’t perfectly clear when it came to using the stand. Specifically, I had some questions as to how to get the adjustable-height tube section working properly. The answer: Make sure that the first time you adjust the height, you move the inner ring that's on the goose neck part of the stand. Doing so requires removing the ring from the telescoping base, and moving it with your hand. When you place the ring back in the base, it's then easy to adjust the height of the stand and use the screw cap to tighten it in position.

The Standzfree can be used with any generation of full-size iPad. You just slip your tablet into the tiny cradles on either side of the stand’s frame, and then clip the tablet in at the opposite side. The frame holds your iPad securely, and it can be rotated 360 degrees. The stand comes with a foam ring that you can attach to the middle of the frame, behind the iPad, to fill the slight bit of extra space when using thinner iPad models. The company also includes tiny foam pads you can place in frame to better hold the sides of your tablet.

Bottom line

For watching videos and reading in bed—either in an upright or a prone position—or just for keeping your iPad off the dinner table or away from your exercise bike or musical instrument, the Standzfree Tubular Stand for iPad is a fine concept that’s nicely executed.