Knock off Tripods

[poco]

Does this look like a copy of a Silk tripod, $69.39 free shipping.




This is definitely a copy of a Manfrotto, $64.36 free shipping.

[Livewireshock]

Whilst in China earlier in the year, I was astounded by the shear range of tripods available. I had lost the foot off the bottom of my Manfrotto monopod, but for the life of me I could not find a single Manfrotto dealer in central Beijing. What I could find was every conceivable shape and size of tripod. From the lightest of plastics, ready to break with the next sneeze, to over engineered monstrosities that came straight from the Firth of Forth Bridge with about the same weight.

I was made the target of the hard sell in every place I visited. It was not easy to get out of but the long and the short of it is this, there are some very very good close copies out there that could stand the test of time. However there are too many different brands and types to place a finger on what is actually good or not.

As a side note, I found the error of my ways and went to Zhongguancun, north west of the city centre and a couple blocks north of the new Haidian subway station on Line 10. Over a dozen shopping centres all multi-storied ready to sell you the latest in computers and photographic equipment. Including Pentax, but you did have to look for that. Also twenty times the selection of tripods, etc than in the city centre areas of Xidan or Wanfujing.

[Ratmagiclady]

I have an Amvona one much like the lower one, different color, possibly a different size, and I got the Arca-style ballhead. It came with a couple of loose bolts (I went over and tightened them all,) but, that accomplished, it's been good to me, and was a pretty good deal all in all.

The head pictured, if it's by the same company, I've heard complaints about, but the big-ball-style is just nice, anyway, if you don't mind it being a bit fussier to attach and detach cameras. Since I couldn't handle the things in person, I went with as simple and substantial an option I could get... Less to go wrong, and it's hard to mess up with sheer size. My rationale being that to get stable and light and portable, spending more money is often required, anyway. Turned out to be a pretty good deal.

Anyway, I'd say that one is probably worth the sixty five bucks, not much that can go wrong with the legs, anyway.