freetime101 Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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Well, queue the told you so's, I've had the tripod a week now and it's pants.
Ok so maybe that's a bit harsh, it's ok for the price, but not as good as I was hoping, it's mid range price wise but the design is poor and the 14kg rating is optimistic to put it politely - it struggles to hold my 40D still... Here it is in a bit more detail:
The tripod comes with a nice padded bag with two external pockets. Thanks to the reverse folding legs the tripod still fits in the bag with a head attached. You also get an allen key, bag hook and three metal spikes to swap for the rubber feet. This is probably the best bit.
The tripod gets reasonably high and very low - in terms of a flexible design it's brilliant. You can position the camera more or less anywhere you want it. It's keeping the camera still that's the problem.
The B2 head:
Not bad, not great. The ball moves smoothly and holds my 40D with 24-105L in place when the tension is set to around 7. However when the locking knob is tightened the whole thing droops, not sure why. Easily worked around but not ideal. There is also a tight spot on the panning base, not a disaster, but not the precision but of kit I was hoping for. I did a quick comparison with the gorilla pod ball head and think the gorilla pod is better despite being smaller and cheaper...
The legs:
First impressions are good, the legs are nice and thick, feel sturdy and have beefy twist locks. The rubber feet can be swapped for the (included) metal spikes and, my favourite bit, to change the leg angle you pull out a metal tab and push it back in to lock the legs at one of three angles. I prefer this to other tripods where you push a button to unlock and a spring locks it. The benro seems simple and robust, however...
I've used them once in the field and broken them already... thumbs down Benro, your durability sucks. The legs have a none rotating design which is great for the twist locks but after one day out one of the legs now clicks and can be twisted all the way around. Poor.
The column:
This is the tripods greatest feature, but worst bit. The whole design lets the tripod down completely. The column can be rotated 180 degrees which is great, but is only held in place via one tiny clamp so the whole thing wobbles terribly. I expected this when the column was out at an angle, but not when it's fully retracted. There is plenty of room underneath the central base to add a stiffening collar. This wouldn't help the column when it's out at an angle but would stabilize it when used vertically. The wobble introduced through this poor design makes the whole tripod (rated to an optimistic 14kg) less stable that my cheap Manfrotto which is only rated to 2 or 3kg.
Also, it's nice that they include a bag hook, but the hook catches on the base clamp preventing you from rotating the column - you have to take the hook off every time you want to rotate the column. Stupid design, poorly thought through. Easily fixed with a bit of string and a carabiner but whoever designed this bit needs a slap.
The monopod:
One of the legs unscrews from the tripod and can be attached directly to the centre column to make a monopod. I think this is a great feature and works well. No complaints about this bit.
So in summary:
Am I expecting too much from a £239 tripod? Probably.
This doesn't come close to the performance of better brands, but it's not priced to either. The build quality and design feels better than the Vanguard, but the performance is about the same so for half the price I'd go with the Vanguard.
The Gitzo is still out price wise but I think overlooking the Manfrotto was a mistake - there's a reason they're so popular.
With a few small tweaks the Benro could be excellent, but for me, the FGP28A doesn't justify it's price.
I'd love for Benro to read this review and tweak the design, if they do I'd love to try the mk II. But I won't be holding my breath...
As for Cameraworld. they quote 2-4 working days delivery, but I placed my order at around 11 o'clock on Saturday night and it arrived Tuesday morning - that's next working day - can't complain about that!
I haven't tried to return the tripod under warranty for the broken leg though, not sure I'll bother as it still works.
Cheers
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