Gitzo vs. Feisol (and the World)

Being cheap, I always bought cheap metal Bogen tripods that broke after a few years, but I finally bought a carbon fiber tripod to see if the lighter weight would truly be noticeable. It is noticeable, in spades, and I'm in love with CF. But sticking with cheapness I bought a Feisol. I have a few issues with it, and I'd like to know if other CF pods share these, or what.

First off, the rubber feet on the bottom. The first set of three fell off and were lost on the first trip to the mountains. Feisol sent me a new set for free, and I have superglued them on. Twice. Luckily, I have caught them coming off before they were lost. I'm getting ready to glue them on for the third time.

One of the reasons the feet come off, I believe, is because it's sometimes very difficult to withdraw the lower leg sections. You pull and you pull, and sometimes the leg is just really hard to extend, and then you pull the rubber foot loose, if not off. There's nothing like having a bobcat come into view and you have to wrestle with your tripod so long the cat grows old and dies right before your eyes.

Finally, the legs used to be firmly in place at the angle adjustment. You could hold any one of the tripod legs horizontally, and it would stay put. No flailing tripod legs. Then they started to loosen up and flop around, and now I have to carry an allen wrench with me at all times because they come loose again soon after tightening.

So is this simply "life with tripods"? Or do you really get more if you pay more?

I have a Manfrotto 3221wn aluminum tripod that has been bomb proof. It was a bit pricey when I bought it, but I feel it was an excellent value. I've been looking at Manfrotto CF's for the weight reduction, and they appear to be a good value. Lon Overacker has one that he seems to be pretty happy with.

The Manfortto tripods use lever locks on the legs. I find these to be much easier to operate and less prone to binding than the twist type locking colllars. Additionally, one can easily adjust the locks.

--P

John I have a Feisol CT-3371 and have none of your issues. Did you just get yours? They recently changed to brass lock washers for the legs into of plastic ones, that they did use, for the reasons you mentioned. I use it outside a lot and have only tightened my legs once.

Hey John, sorry to hear your having these problems, I've owned the Feisol CT3372 for about nine months and have not had any issues with the tripod. Good solid tripod.

I own the Feisol CT-3442 and have had issues with the rubber feet coming off.
However, a dab of white glue soon fixed that problem. Haven't had any of the other problems that you've encountered. I'm cheap as well, but the Feisol has been a very sound investment for me.

John, I'm also a Feisol fan, and have had none of your problems. Sorry that you are!
My other tripods have lost feet with almost every trip until i hot-glued them on. Simple superglue did not work for me.
cheers -
Sandy r

Regarding "super glueing" feet on. Super glue is very thin and brittle. No wonder that the feet keep coming off.

Try affixing the feet on with clear silicone. It is easily reversible and should last a lot longer.

I prefer the "clip" lock and will only buy a tripod with "clip" locks. They are faster to work with and I have never heard of anyone complain about them.

I have a Feisol handcart for my camera equipment. Can't figure out why more photographers don't use them. Especially the older photographers!!

I have (had) the same problems. After only two hikes my rubber feet were lost - I realized their disappearance too late and they might be in some river now. Feisol sent me a replacement (they were the wrong ones though) together with the screwable spikes for the feet. I screwed the spikes in and of course they are very solid. I use them all the time now as I mainly do nature photography anyway.
Especially now in winter I have problems to extend the legs of the tripod. I'll now try to grease them somehow - maybe that helps a little.

Cheers, Andreas

As others have said, they changed to lineup just recently and have a new construction. Money wasn't a factor for me, and I still went with the Fesiol. I liked it better than the Gitzo.

I've had one for about 8 months now with no issues.

Thanks for all the replies. My wife suggested hot glue, too, so I'll try that next. I bought my tripod this fall, so it's pretty new. The occasional difficulty of extending the legs is probably the biggest problem. It's the only one that appears to have no fix at all. It could be weather-related, I guess. Sometimes they stick like crazy, and sometimes they come out fine.

I actually like the twist knobs vs. levers (no accidental pinching!), but I do hate struggling to get the legs extended. It's not always an issue, but in certain terrain I have to open and close the legs quite a bit to be able to move around safely.

John wrote, "I'd like to know if other CF pods share these, or what."

The feet have never come off my Gitzo 1325, and the leg swivels have never loosened up. In fact, I had to loosen the leg swivels several years ago because the were too stiff. No further adjustments have been needed.

Regarding pulling the feet off when pulling the legs out, I never fully collapse the lower legs. I always leave a hands-width, about 3", sticking out. I makes it easier to get a good grip on the legs because sometimes they get a little bit stuck. Also I use my tripod in wet, muddy, and/or sandy conditions. Keeping the lower legs slightly extended this way keeps the lower leg joint out of the mud/water/dirt.

Your problems sound familiar. I had a Feisol, the legs always loosened, the rubber foam on the legs started to rip and the mecanism that locks the legs in the different angles broke twice. I finally gave up and bought me a Gitzo and never had any problems. Feisol sucks.