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Benro make really nice tripods, no doubt, but they aren't really a very cheap alternative anymore.
I went myself with the chink tier dic & mic p303 because of this - It was 160$, and the equivalent construction(load/weight) Benro or Sirui would have cost me about triple the price. Weight was important, as was load capacity, so aluminum was not an option for me.
The P303 is lightweight enough to carry around anywhere for an entire day, and sturdy enough you can prop a Mamiya Press with the 250mm f5 lens on it and have it stay stable. I've had the tripod for about 1 year now and also taken it on several trips abroad - So far, so good.
In the name of fairness though, I have a couple of beefs; The locking latches (that lock the angle of the tripod legs) are way more crude than what you see on a Benro or other better-tier tripod, and a bit wiggly, but that doesn't really impact operation. Makes it feel a bit "cheap" in feel, but as long as it works as it should, well, why be bothered? It was cheap, after all.
I also had to tighten one of the legjoint screws a bit; I didn't quite have the correct size key for the hole (inch vs mm versions, i guess?), so while I managed to get it tight enough for my liking, it also ate away fairly easily on the screw hole edges - I got the feeling that what ever metal is used for the screws themselves is rather soft. Made me wonder if you could get replacement versions from somewhere?
Verdict so far is that "you get what you pay for", but as long as its primary intended function works, I'm OK with that. I would rather spend that extra 300 from the price difference on lenses, film, or something else.
