Thursday 15th December – Sunwayfoto’s Faulty Quick Detach (QD) Strap & Plates

Last month I ordered a couple of Sunwayfoto tripod plates and a strap utilising QD (quick detach) mounts, in order to switch over to using QD mounts for my camera-carrying needs.

Unfortunately—and to my surprise as it normally seems to be good quality—the Sunwayfoto QD stuff is faulty.

Today I received another two QD swivels and a QD strap mount (from AliExpress), all of which are the correct standard size, so decided to finally get around to writing this up and complaining to the seller and Sunwayfoto.

The Sunwayfoto SP-70QB plate that I received is fine—the QD mount in it is the standard size, and it works well. All standard-sized QD swivels fit it.

The Sunwayfoto SP-60QB plate has a QD mount hole that is too small. None of the standard-sized QD swivels that I own will fit in the hole. I visited two nearby gun stores and tried an assortment of expensive, made in the USA, standard QD size swivel mounts to double-check this, so I can confirm that Magpul, Grovtec and Uncle Mike branded QD swivels will not fit in the Sunwayfoto SP-60QB plate.

The Sunwayfoto STR-01 camera strap comes with two QD swivels and has a metal bracket thing with two QD sockets—both the swivels and the QD sockets are all too small. Standard-sized QD swivels will not fit in the QD sockets, and the Sunwayfoto QD swivels are very loose in the SP-70QB plate (and in any other standard QD plates) and look like they might pull out.

They do, however, fit in the non-standard Sunwayfoto SP-60QB QD socket, so it seems like Sunwayfoto has somehow managed to make a strap (STR-01) and a plate (SP-60QB) that use a non-standard smaller-sized QD, while still selling a normal-sized QD plate (SP-70QB)

I’m hoping they can fix this error in their manufacturing as the products are otherwise good and I would like to continue to use them if they can make all their QD stuff the correct size. If not, I guess I’ll need to get a refund and Sunwayfoto must stop selling their non-standard QD mounts as QD mounts and call them something else so other people don’t have this same problem.

Sunwayfoto SP-60QB Quick Release Plate with QD Sling Mount (Faulty)

The Sunwayfoto SP-60QB Quick Release Plate with QD Sling Mount is faulty. The QD socket is too small and normal QD swivels do not fit.

Below we can see a Grovtec QD swivel that will not fit into the Sunwayfoto SP-60QB plate. It fits the Sunwayfoto SP-70QB (and all other standard-sized QD sockets) just fine.

Below we can see an expensive Magpul QD socket that will not fit into the Sunwayfoto SP-60QB plate. It fits the Sunwayfoto SP-70QB (and all other standard-sized QD sockets) just fine.

I also tried Uncle Mike QD swivels, which again did not fit the Sunwayfoto SP-60QB plate.

Below we see two different standard-sized QD swivels (one from eBay, one from AliExpress) that do not fit into the Sunwayfoto SP-60QB plate. They fit the Sunwayfoto SP-70QB (and all other standard-sized QD sockets) just fine.

Sunwayfoto STR-01 Camera Strap with QD Sling Swivel (Faulty)

The Sunwayfoto STR-01 Camera Strap with QD Sling Swivel is faulty. The QD swivels and mounts are non-standard and too small.

Below we see a standard-sized QD swivel that will not fit into the non-standard QD mounts on the Sunwayfoto STR-01 strap as the holes are too small. It is only just too small–with some force, a QD swivel can almost be forced in.

Below we see two photos of the Sunwayfoto STR-01 QD swivel mounted in the Sunwayfoto SP-70QB plate. Note that the swivel is too small and is nearly coming out. The arrow shows one of the balls is outside of the slot it should be in and is almost pulling out of the mount.

Below we see the Sunwayfoto STR-01 QD swivel mounted in a standard (from AliExpress) QD plate. Note that the swivel is too small and is nearly coming out. The arrow shows one of the balls is outside of the slot it should be in and is almost pulling out of the mount.

Sunwayfoto SP-70QB Quick Release Plate with QD Sling Mount

Below we see the Sunwayfoto SP-70QB plate with a standard-sized QD swivel. This fits perfectly and works well.