I love them because they all clip together for transport. Makes carrying them much easier. Their funky design also makes them seem more stable than typical stands (at least to me).
i use the cheetah stand C8's
-quality product.
-i like the weight on them...not too heavy, not too light
-great customer service. the owner follows paul c buff's mentality on customer service.
-best part is weaving through chairs/tables like a lotus elise during a wedding and not smacking guest's legs on the dance floor.
-i usually don't travel with them as they don't fold that small, but def not long by any means (i use manfrotto nano's when traveling)
-do not get the cheetah bag...poor quality zippers/materials...don't understand why they use those
I really do love the stands, can't image going with non-collapsing stands anymore....highly recommend them.
I use two 8ft Impact lightstands that came with a $150 lighting kit I bought like 8yrs ago when I was in college. The lightstands are the only things that lasted and they really aren't bad. I keep them in a 36" tripod bag along with two 40" shoot thru umbrellas. Always ready to go.
My old 10-foot PCB light stand has held up for about 5+ years now, so I am pretty sold on it being built well enough. Same for the cheapo Impact "heavy duty" 9.5' light stands I have, they are very big and have a large footprint but they haven't failed on me. $40 each...they just aren't as convenient as the cheetahs etc...in my typical style I transport them in an ugly golf bag.
Another local photographer I assist/second shoot for uses a cheetah stand for her PCB ring flash. I don't know how old it is, but the connector joints for each ascending bar are failing/need tightening because they no longer adequately grip the bar on the low end most of the time, meaning when you attempt to extend it the joint separates from the bottom bar...so it can't be raised much. The joints may just need tightening.
I see that Cheetah's C-stands are only $100 with grip arm included. This is cheaper than most C-stand-with-grip-arm setups that I've seen. Anyone have any Cheetah c-stands and if so are they any good?
