Spec me a tripod

I found a Manfrotto 294 with ball head in PCWorld for £55 a week ago. Not on display, but tucked away as it's going ex-display.
 
I've been in the market for a tripod for 10 years. I've given up now. I bought a travel tripod, the Redged series. It's handy and fits in a small bag. Nice weight, sturdy and seems well built.

I just cannot be arsed searching anymore. Unless you've got a chunk of cash to spend, there seems to be something wrong with all of them. It annoys me immensely.
 
Update 1: the 7 Day Pro reveals its first Achilles' heel... the screw action legs which only have an easily gripped rubber section on the extreme end. Minor adjustments when crouched under a camo-net waiting for kingfishers to turn up is a pain in the backside. I'd rather it had clip action joints, and hadn't considered this when searching.

Overall though it's a decent upgrade (smaller and more flexible) from the tripod I had before, and I'm definitely a convert to ball & socket heads.
 
ElDude said:
I've been in the market for a tripod for 10 years. I've given up now. I bought a travel tripod, the Redged series. It's handy and fits in a small bag. Nice weight, sturdy and seems well built.

I just cannot be arsed searching anymore. Unless you've got a chunk of cash to spend, there seems to be something wrong with all of them. It annoys me immensely.
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It's the engineering triangle with tripods. Cheap, light, strong, pick two. If you buy cheap you cry twice so if you can't stretch to new and still want good support for your expensive gear I would look for a used carbon fibre Gitzo that you will still be using in 10 years time.
 
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D.P. said:
I hope you mother is OK.

Life is liek that with expenses. I purchased the D800 instead if the D800 E (the E has no anti-aliasing filter so is sharper) because it was $500 more expensive and I thought that money would be better sent on a lens. A few days later a large stone cracked the winds screen of my car and I spent $400 repairing it, a month later after a long road trip trying to park in the dark I backed into a concrete post and spent another $450 repairing that, due to the stress of that I totally forgot about an offer on furniture that I wanted so I missed the discount and spent another few hundred to get it at full retail. Then I look at the $2000 I pay on mortgage and the $1000 a month on child care soon and I kind of think damn, should have gone with the E model!


I know what you mean about no perfect tripod. What I wanted to ensure was complete stability and easy of use from the head. I compromised on having something that is not that light, not quite tall enough, and doesn't collapse that small. But I can live with thee compromises. Simple physics and mechanics will show you can't make something much lighter relative to the weight of what it must support, and to make something collapsing then you typically compromise on stability, e.g. a 4th telescopic leg section will have to be smaller than the 3rd, so that will be less strong, Something taller will always be less stable than something closer to the ground.
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What tripod and head do you have?
 
If anyone's tempted by the 7Day, the gits have knocked a tenner off it this week, so £40 delivered. Might be useful to someone looking for a compact, lightweight reserve.
 
Andrew_McP said:
If anyone's tempted by the 7Day, the gits have knocked a tenner off it this week, so £40 delivered. Might be useful to someone looking for a compact, lightweight reserve.
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The 7day range aren't that bad, especially for cheapo stuff. I bought their monopod, purely because it was £5 and if it sucked, who cares, it's a fiver? :D

Turns out it's pretty decent, supports decent weight and has various adapters so can be used for mountain walking, etc.
 
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