List Price: $499.99
Sale Price: $369.99
Today's Bonus: 26% Off
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I have an older Vanguard GH-100 Pistol Grip Ball Head, which has been my workhorse the past 2 years. I've gotten A LOT of use (and abuse) out of it, and I've grown to love it almost as much as I love my Canon 7D. I was really excited when Vanguard came up with a new version of this pistol grip -which comes included with this tripod. The new pistol grip (a VANGUARD GH-300T), IF purchased SEPARATELY, costs half the price of this Vanguard Abeo Pro 283AGH Tripod!
My excitement quickly turned into dismay, however, as soon as I found that the new pistol grip didn't handle as smoothly as my old Vanguard GH-100. The problem: With the "trigger" depressed as far as it will go, the ballhead still has *a lot* of resistance (even with the tension knob -a separate lever on the back of the grip -set to the minimum). When the resistance on the tension knob is set to the max, the ballhead won't budge even with the trigger fully depressed!
On my old pistol grip, when the trigger is depressed all the way, the ballhead is able to move about almost as freely and smoothly as a Gimbal Ballhead and when the trigger is released, the ballhead is locked firmly in place.
The new Vanguard pistol grip is a big disappointment. The excessive resistance on the new pistol grip will be particularly problematic if you're shooting fast action (such as sports or wildlife) on a telephoto lens, which requires you to position your camera on a dime! Even on other types of photography (such as landscape and portrait), the extra effort you expend to move the ballhead will start to get irksome after a while!
The fit and finish of the tripod (minus the ballhead) is very, very good. Once the center column and legs are locked in place, there is absolutely no play. The height of the tripod, fully extended, is about 52" from the ground to the camera base plate mount. The camera mount is Arca-Swiss compatible.
Aesthetically, the tripod would look really polished if it wasn't for the cheesy silver plastic buttons and flip lock (for adjusting the angle of the legs and the of the center column, respectively). They do make the tripod look cheap and plasticky. The leg locks are flip-locks, not quarter-turn twist locks (which I find more convenient, but I suppose that strictly a matter of personal preference).
Overall, this tripod is functional and quite well built, but it's definitely NOT a cut above tripods you pay a lot less for. The biggest disappointment about this tripod is the pistol grip (which constitutes about half the price of this tripod). 3¼ stars.
0 comments:
Post a Comment