I really wanted the two arm, or articulating arm stands, but went over budget on stepping up a notch or two on the microscope. I really had my doubts about this single armed model properly holding the microscope head, but it's been solid. Doesn't take much to get enough friction to hold the microscopes position, so zero regrets on getting this model.The one thing I will say though, with the two armed model, you'd be able to just leave the horizontal arm loose to move about as you need to. With this single arm, swinging the head back and forth is no issue. There's a memory lock which holds the hight just fine, but sliding in an out is where the double arm would be beneficial. With that said, if the microscope is in the right position the difference between two will be negligible, as there will be far less use for the arm to slide in and out. Once set, it should remain. Just something to consider, if you're contemplating the extra spend.