MEEDEN Tabletop Easel for Painting, Art Sketchbox Easel Holds Canvas up to 28'' Max, Adjustable Beechwood Artist Easel Pochade Box for Drawing and Sketching

I have a much more expensive easel, almost 3x the price, but wanted a second one as I often have multiple paintings going at once. This one is smaller but still easily accommodates my 12”x16” watercolor blocks and I could go much larger. This is well made and seems like it will last me a long time. Unlike my other one, this one is also portable and can carry my supplies so I’ll probably be sticking it in my checked luggage when I go away for work. You cannot beat this price for what you get, great for any studio or even a road trip! It’s not exactly lightweight, under 4lbs without supplies, but still convenient enough to take on the go. Could easily attach a tripod attachment for plein air, I just wouldn’t recommend it for long hiking treks. Overall would definitely recommend to beginners and pros alike!

Let me first say that I do like this tabletop easel and would have given it 5 stars were it not for one glaring issue. That issue being that the two bolts that secure the canvas-holding extensions have a square shape right below the head of the bolt (presumably to keep them from turning) but the holes drilled in the box are round and only big enough for the round part of the bolt to fit into. So you end up with the bolts sticking out about a quarter of an inch higher than they should on the face of the box. I was able to fix this by using a power drill to drill a larger hole to accommodate the wider, square part of the bolts but I don't think that should be on the consumer to do. Meeden either needs to drill properly shaped/larger holes that'll fit the square bolts, or change the bolts out for fully round ones.The other, smaller, issue I had with this product is that the extension arms are placed inside the box for shipping and there is no padding or attempt to secure the extension arms in place so they just move around inside the box. On my particular unit, that caused the support stick that holds the box open when in use to be pushed to the point of bending it's hinge so that it was not able to align with the groove it needs to to hold the box open. I was able to bend it back but even a little masking tape to secure the arms would've probably resulted in less hassle for me as a consumer.That said, the easel/storage box is a fine product and feels pretty well made other than its somewhat minor flaws. Once you actually get it set up and are using it, it's quite nice. It holds much larger canvases/paper pads than other, similarly sized, easels do due to those extension arms which is wonderful. The wood it's made of is a good balance between sturdy and portable. I don't think it's light enough that I'd want to take it on a hike but I'd definitely take it to outdoor locations that I drive to and set it up near-ish my car. The interior storage space holds a good amount of paint tubes and even has room for longer handled brushes.