Jeffrey wrote:
Sorry to hear this. I've used a dozen Gitzos over ten years and never saw this. From the pics, it appears that the unit took a hit or a massive side stress. I'm having a hard time believing it was not some sort of impact, perhaps that you were not aware of.
Awesome, you have concluded from the photos that a "hit or awesome side stress" caused the damage when the owner, who uses the tripod, says there was no impact. You sound like Nikon and the impact damage mantra. Maybe the mighty Gitzo just failed.
unclemikey wrote:
I understand the sense of trust in ones gear. However, I'm sure you would agree that you cannot trust something you haven't tried. The Sirui line of CF tripods has done me very well in a variety of environments. They clean easily and I've never sent one in for service by Argraph. I've also never had one fail, not ever.
over the past few years i have had a few pieces of gear tossed in my direction to work with and comment on. i also go to shows like Photo Plus in NYC. i get to see whats out there and handle it before making decisions. you are right you can't make a decision
until you've been in contact with it. i have. in fact i have been in contact with a group of import tripods from China that for all intent are identical in design and build except for minor add-ons to differentiate them from each other. your "brand " was amongst them
there are places where i draw the line. this is one of them.
my other work involves a great deal of contact with metals and composites so i am reasonsably invested in knowing whats going on with them
A 1000.00 tripod, designed for professional use, should not fail. They should carry a limited
lifetime warranty and should be repaired no charge. If the tripods were as good as Gitzo claims them to be,
the cost to the manufacturer would be minimal. However, that's just the crazy world that I live in.
If I were you, I would vote with my pocket book and try RRS. Sorry, that I can't think of anything else to suggest.
Merry Christmas.
Looking at the close up of the aluminum lug, the white powder is aluminum oxide...basically, aluminum "rust". That aluminum has been corroding for a while and you can see where the protective paint layer (or whatever they use) has become de-laminated from the aluminum. I work on boats and see a lot of this aluminum corrosion. Salt water and aluminum do not mix and when they do...the results are never good. You probably did not clean all the salt out after the dip in the Caribbean...some got under the aluminum and some got under the protective coating and started to corroded the aluminum from both sides.
The actual failure may have been caused by a number of factors but the corrosion definitely exacerbated the problem. There may have been moisture between the lug and leg which froze and caused the lug to split or maybe it just split due to the weakened aluminum under stress (weight).
In any event, I don't think this is a Gitzo problem (in my opinion) but a user problem. These tripods are not built for salt water environments (actually nothing really is impervious to salt water...even most stainless steels). I don't have feelings one way or another about Gitzo, but I would not grant a warranty claim if I saw this. Sorry.
If you plan on being near or in salt water, next time use a tripod made for it (http://www.gitzo.com/news+%26+events/news/Gitzo+introduces+the+new+Ocean+Tripods+Collection./26235706) or use a "disposible" tripod. And if you read Gitzo's write-up on the Ocean tripods you can see that even though they are designed for salt water water use...they use the term "resistant" rather than "impervious". Even the Ocean tripods won't last forever in salt water conditions. Ask any salt water boat owner about how long things last out there.
jim allison wrote:
A 1000.00 tripod, designed for professional use, should not fail. They should carry a limited
lifetime warranty and should be repaired no charge. If the tripods were as good as Gitzo claims them to be,
the cost to the manufacturer would be minimal. However, that's just the crazy world that I live in.
If I were you, I would vote with my pocket book and try RRS. Sorry, that I can't think of anything else to suggest.
Merry Christmas.
you mean a unlimited even user induced issue warranty?
oh, by the way, as a RRS user even they would not warranty that issue nor would i expect them to. but then there is less likely the issue
would occur due to the material they do use. corrosion can happen on their products too. they will not held responsible for that sort of damage.
the RRS warranty is 5 years against defect in material and workmanship. no more no less.
corrosion is not a defect in material. it is a chemical reaction induced by contact between materials
that don't react well together.
Thanks for the link. I guess I should have said "before the company was bought out by a multi national holding company." While the name is the same, in my opinion, the company changed.
So explain why normal use has caused this from fresh water? On the other leg the carbon fibre failed at the end of the leg and caused binging when extracting and retracting. Not hit or banged and not my fault, defective material as far as I am concerned!
if i had it in front of me there is a fair chance i could. with regrets you can try to claim as you wish but you are going to have a tough time. fresh water will not do this. the remnants of salt based water or something that is reactive with Mg alloy got under the paint may have. it doesn't take much and we are talking a relatively small area. i truely hope you can.
From what you gave spent on this Gitzo, $1,000 + $300 repair, and here you sit with it broken again...run from Gitzo. You could have purchased 3 Feisol tripods for the price you spent on this Gitzo. Take my advice, ditch this lemon and pick up a Feisol. They actually stand by their tripods with excellent service...something I cannot say I had when I owned my Gitzo.
My Gitzo 1325 failed in a similar location without the corrosion. The bracket did not crack, but the leg became loose and was no longer reliable. I sent it in for repair and a new CF leg was swapped in for the old leg. Gitzo took nearly 3 months for the repair, indicated the CF leg cracked in the interface between the top plate and leg. Price was nearly $300. I live in MN, shoot in frigid temps and travel to the tropics to shoot throughout Costa Rica.
I'm assuming that the regular use and broad climatic / humidity swings caused the leg to fail.
At the price of a similar replacement tripod, $300 seemed like a bargain for the repair. The only real alternative is RRS and they are crazy expensive!
bruce
Jeffrey wrote:
As the owner of a high precision CNC and prototype machine shop, I can tell you that reverse engineering and making those parts from 316 SS is going to cost WAY more than $300!
Interesting. I run the family machine shop with my father. Hes had it for 33yrs, ive been involved for 8. Cool to see another machinist / photographer.
And yes i agree that making a one off replacement for the cast parts would be more than $300. Especially if they wanted it to look the same. Parts could be made easily that function the same but not look like the gitzo originals
Tyler, great to hear that. I've been machining since 1972 and running my own businesses since 1987, the current one since 1992. I know Rodney at Next Intent. I don't know who makes all the parts for RRS but I thought it might be in SLO. Thanks for the comments.
Jeffrey wrote:
Tyler, great to hear that. I've been machining since 1972 and running my own businesses since 1987, the current one since 1992. I know Rodney at Next Intent. I don't know who makes all the parts for RRS but I thought it might be in SLO. Thanks for the comments.
OwlsEyes wrote:
My Gitzo 1325 failed in a similar location without the corrosion. The bracket did not crack, but the leg became loose and was no longer reliable. I sent it in for repair and a new CF leg was swapped in for the old leg. Gitzo took nearly 3 months for the repair, indicated the CF leg cracked in the interface between the top plate and leg. Price was nearly $300. I live in MN, shoot in frigid temps and travel to the tropics to shoot throughout Costa Rica.
I'm assuming that the regular use and broad climatic / humidity swings caused the leg to fail.
At the price of a similar replacement tripod, $300 seemed like a bargain for the repair. The only real alternative is RRS and they are crazy expensive!
bruce ...Show more →
A 58" 3-series RRS tripod w flat plate is $925! Maybe that sounds reasonable, but a $300 repair + my original purchase price is still less than $925. I've been using the same set of legs since 2003
