You might also consider a monopod which takes up less room and may be less apt to get tipped over in crowds.
BobQuincy,
I agree that there are some things that feel like they deserve a sticky post and I am happy to oblige. We just need to be careful so we don't get too many sticky posts as it moves the normal content farther and farther down the page. Maybe what we need is a sticky that points to discussions and threads on various subjects. For example, one sticky could refer users to threads that discuss tripods, bags, point & shoot recommendations, SLR recommendations. The individual threads could then ebb and flow but there would be a central place to find the threads without traversing through several pages of posts.
Jeff