Everything is a compromise. The Spiderbrace does require you to use your arms to hold up the camera, but in my experience it is steadier than a monopod in most situations. If you tuck your elbows in at your waist, it's not hard to hold for extended periods, plus some of the weight is going to your shoulder. The real trick is that you need to have a focus/zoom control device mounted to it. It's too hard to hold it with one hand and try and zoom and focus with the other.

Focus & zoom
 

That was going to be my other question. :-)

Jason

Yeah, I've gotten to where I can stay steady and use the manual focus ring on the lens, but the zoom rocker requires my other hand, so I can't do both at once. Even with the controller, I can only do one thing at a time because I only have one thumb, lol.