[iNicole]

Hello,

This morning, I was holding my Benro C2680T tripod by the head (at the top) while it was fully extended. I am not sure why, but the extending part at the top completely detached from 3 legs.... This has never happened before, and I've never doubted the built quality of this tripod... So I'm really confused.

It is NOT supposed to fall off, usually there's a little hook at the end of the extending part which is for putting bags/weights. In the pictures I unscrewed that so that the broken part can be more visible. Now, I can't LOCK the extending part in place anymore, no matter how much I twist the twist locks, it just won't lock!

2 small pieces fell off from the part where the extending part and the legs are attached. I took pictures of everything.
How am I supposed to fix this? It looks like those parts were just glued onto the tripod, and that I could potentially just superglue them back on... but I have no knowledge about these things so I wanted to ask before I did anything.

There are 3 photos: one of the extending part, one of the hole where the extending part goes into (thats where the 3 legs and extending part connect), and one of the 2 parts that broke off.


(It seems like a really simple fix, I just don't even know what the small parts are supposed to go and do... I don't really want to bring it to a random ass camera store and get it fixed because they're probably going to charge me a lot of money just for a little thing)

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[Docrwm]

Benro has a 3 + 2 warranty system.

Register Here
It's free and only takes a minute (for US residents only)

• Extend your warranty by 2 years. This is in addition to your 3 year warranty, for a total of 5 years.
• Check warranty status of older products.
• Manage your personal user profile information.
• Product Upgrade Notification. Registering your product can help us to contact you as product upgrades become available.
• Product Safety Notification.
  Registering your product can help us to contact you in the unlikely event that a safety notification is required

Create an Account

or if you have registered the tripod you can go here:
Service and Repair of Benro Products
Limited Warranty Coverage
Your Benro product has been carefully manufactured, has passed many quality assurance checks and has been thoroughly tested before shipment. If bought new in the USA it is warranted by us for 3 years from date of purchase to the original owner, against defects in materials and workmanship. By registering online, your warranty is extended 2 years, for a total of 5 years. The warranty does not apply to damages caused by mishandling, dropping, or leaking batteries, nor modification or servicing performed by others.

Requesting Service
Benro products purchased in the USA requiring service may be sent through your local authorized dealer or directly to the Benro Service Department. International Shipping is not covered under warranty service. Products must be carefully packed and insured, and sent together with a description of problem and details on the best method to contact you. If requesting Warranty Service then proof of purchase (copy of dated bill of sale) must be included. After we receive and evaluate your product we will contact you to discuss the service options.

Where To Send for Service
MAC Group
Benro Service Department
75 Virginia Road
North White Plains, NY 10603
Phone: 914-347-3300
Fax: 800-321-2205
Repaired equipment is subject to a 90-day limited warranty, covering only re-repair if necessary and not consequential damages.

The foregoing warranties are exclusive and are in lieu of all other warranties, whether written, oral or implied. There is no warranty of merchantability in any respect other than expressly stated above and no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. Benro shall in no event be liable for losses, direct or consequential damages, or inconvenience caused by the failure or malfunction of this product.

For service outside of USA please contact your local authorized distributor for support.

[iNicole]

Benro has a 3 + 2 warranty system.

Register Here
It's free and only takes a minute (for US residents only)

• Extend your warranty by 2 years. This is in addition to your 3 year warranty, for a total of 5 years.
• Check warranty status of older products.
• Manage your personal user profile information.
• Product Upgrade Notification. Registering your product can help us to contact you as product upgrades become available.
• Product Safety Notification.
  Registering your product can help us to contact you in the unlikely event that a safety notification is required

Create an Account

or if you have registered the tripod you can go here:
Service and Repair of Benro Products
Limited Warranty Coverage
Your Benro product has been carefully manufactured, has passed many quality assurance checks and has been thoroughly tested before shipment. If bought new in the USA it is warranted by us for 3 years from date of purchase to the original owner, against defects in materials and workmanship. By registering online, your warranty is extended 2 years, for a total of 5 years. The warranty does not apply to damages caused by mishandling, dropping, or leaking batteries, nor modification or servicing performed by others.

Requesting Service
Benro products purchased in the USA requiring service may be sent through your local authorized dealer or directly to the Benro Service Department. International Shipping is not covered under warranty service. Products must be carefully packed and insured, and sent together with a description of problem and details on the best method to contact you. If requesting Warranty Service then proof of purchase (copy of dated bill of sale) must be included. After we receive and evaluate your product we will contact you to discuss the service options.

Where To Send for Service
MAC Group
Benro Service Department
75 Virginia Road
North White Plains, NY 10603
Phone: 914-347-3300
Fax: 800-321-2205
Repaired equipment is subject to a 90-day limited warranty, covering only re-repair if necessary and not consequential damages.

The foregoing warranties are exclusive and are in lieu of all other warranties, whether written, oral or implied. There is no warranty of merchantability in any respect other than expressly stated above and no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. Benro shall in no event be liable for losses, direct or consequential damages, or inconvenience caused by the failure or malfunction of this product.

For service outside of USA please contact your local authorized distributor for support.

I live in Canada! And I don't think they sell this tripod anywhere in Canada (I didn't buy it here), I don't have the bill either.

[Docrwm]

I live in Canada! And I don't think they sell this tripod anywhere in Canada (I didn't buy it here), I don't have the bill either.

Uh oh! Contact these folks and see if they're willing to help:
Canada

Gnigami Ltd.
468 Queen Street East, Suite 201
Toronto, Canada M5A2T7
T. (416) 644-8000
sales@gnigami.ca
www.gnigami.ca

[iNicole]

Uh oh! Contact these folks and see if they're willing to help:
Canada

Gnigami Ltd.
468 Queen Street East, Suite 201
Toronto, Canada M5A2T7
T. (416) 644-8000
sales@gnigami.ca
www.gnigami.ca

Thanks for the help!!!

I think I just fixed it, I just put the pieces back in place and now it locks again... I still need to superglue the half circle part that broke off and I think it will be OK!

I'm really surprised it broke, I payed a lot of money for it and it doesn't feel cheap by any means! Oh well, at least it was a relatively easy fix... Now I'm nervous to break it again in the future

[Sagitta]

As an aside, I'm not sure I would trust a tripod once it did that. If it happened once, who's to say it couldn't again, only with your camera and an expensive lens on it next time?

I'm not saying don't get a Benro (you probably just had horrible luck here), but that particular one may be trash bait at this point if you can't get it fixed under warranty.

[iNicole]

As an aside, I'm not sure I would trust a tripod once it did that. If it happened once, who's to say it couldn't again, only with your camera and an expensive lens on it next time?

I'm not saying don't get a Benro (you probably just had horrible luck here), but that particular one may be trash bait at this point if you can't get it fixed under warranty.

Well I had an Canon L lens on it this time. My most expensive lens...
But the piece that broke off is an extremely thin plastic, and it was just meant to keep the other piece (the important one) in place. So I'm assuming that if I can super glue it back on there, then it should work just fine. I have it taped on there right now, and it's working normally.

If it ever becomes a problem again, I'll just sell it for parts. I hope the carbon fiber parts are recyclable or reusable... But I'm pretty confident that it will be okay.

[Docrwm]

Well I had an Canon L lens on it this time. My most expensive lens...
But the piece that broke off is an extremely thin plastic, and it was just meant to keep the other piece (the important one) in place. So I'm assuming that if I can super glue it back on there, then it should work just fine. I have it taped on there right now, and it's working normally.

If it ever becomes a problem again, I'll just sell it for parts. I hope the carbon fiber parts are recyclable or reusable... But I'm pretty confident that it will be okay.

You might contact them, provide a picture, and they could possibly send you the part in question.

[panoguy]

Hi Nicole,

It looks like the center-column (the extending part) alignment stud (to keep it from rotating while extending) came off after the retaining ring (that washer-looking thing that broke in half) failed. They should both be metal parts, held in place by a screw going through the alignment stud and into the cast-metal spider hub (the big metal part that all three legs attach to). As you noticed, without this alignment stud there, the center column will rotate as you try to lock it, and never lock down.

However, just so you know, tripods are not assembled with superglue! You may keep it from falling apart for now, but the next time you use the tripod in a normal fashion, it will break again. Superglue gets really brittle after a few days, and those parts are intended to take a lot of pressure (but more than you can apply, which is odd, since you broke them).

Rather than continue using it, contact Benro directly (sales@benro.com) and explain what happened with photos, but be sure to explicitly ask for "a replacement spider hub and center column." Your legs are still good (!), and can be unscrewed from the broken hub and put on another one of similar size in about five minutes using two tools that come with all the tripods. The manual for the tripod even has instructions on how to do this!

If you don't hear back from Benro in China (usually takes a day or two, outside of Chinese holidays), then PM me and I'll give you the contact info for the owner of the Canadian Benro distributor. I know him and deal with his staff for lots of different products as a reviewer, but I also know his office won't have spare parts on hand, so he would end up contacting Benro for you, that's all. So if you don't get a response, he certainly will!

[iNicole]

Hi Nicole,

It looks like the center-column (the extending part) alignment stud (to keep it from rotating while extending) came off after the retaining ring (that washer-looking thing that broke in half) failed. They should both be metal parts, held in place by a screw going through the alignment stud and into the cast-metal spider hub (the big metal part that all three legs attach to). As you noticed, without this alignment stud there, the center column will rotate as you try to lock it, and never lock down.

However, just so you know, tripods are not assembled with superglue! You may keep it from falling apart for now, but the next time you use the tripod in a normal fashion, it will break again. Superglue gets really brittle after a few days, and those parts are intended to take a lot of pressure (but more than you can apply, which is odd, since you broke them).

Rather than continue using it, contact Benro directly (sales@benro.com) and explain what happened with photos, but be sure to explicitly ask for "a replacement spider hub and center column." Your legs are still good (!), and can be unscrewed from the broken hub and put on another one of similar size in about five minutes using two tools that come with all the tripods. The manual for the tripod even has instructions on how to do this!

If you don't hear back from Benro in China (usually takes a day or two, outside of Chinese holidays), then PM me and I'll give you the contact info for the owner of the Canadian Benro distributor. I know him and deal with his staff for lots of different products as a reviewer, but I also know his office won't have spare parts on hand, so he would end up contacting Benro for you, that's all. So if you don't get a response, he certainly will!

Thank you! You are a really nice person.
I just e-mailed them. I'm not sure how this would work, I certainly cannot afford to buy a new center column, the whole point of buying benro instead of a cheap tripod was to have it last at least a few years (I bought this tripod in July 2014 and barely had the time to use it)... I just checked in the bag that it comes with, and I have a little warranty card but I cannot understand it because everything is written in Chinese!

I really hope that they're a responsible company and that they can help me out, I didn't use it out of the ordinary...

[Docrwm]

Thank you! You are a really nice person.
I just e-mailed them. I'm not sure how this would work, I certainly cannot afford to buy a new center column, the whole point of buying benro instead of a cheap tripod was to have it last at least a few years (I bought this tripod in July 2014 and barely had the time to use it)... I just checked in the bag that it comes with, and I have a little warranty card but I cannot understand it because everything is written in Chinese!

I really hope that they're a responsible company and that they can help me out, I didn't use it out of the ordinary...

I hope they are too. Keep us informed.

[panoguy]

I just checked in the bag that it comes with, and I have a little warranty card but I cannot understand it because everything is written in Chinese!

The basic warranty on all Benro products is 2 years (no matter where you live, or where you bought it), and if you bought it in Canada, it is extended to 5 years by the distributor. That said, from my experience with Benro, they will try to make it right no matter the circumstance.

I had a similar experience with Sirui, when a ball head knob literally fell apart in my hands. After I sent them photos of the failed part, they quickly shipped me a replacement ball head, and then a few days later the customer support person in China actually sent me a FedEx label to ship the defective head back to them so they could analyze the failure. A month later, I got another email stating what the problem was (!), and that it was isolated to a small run of heads and their retailers had been notified. At that point, I didn't really care since I had a perfectly functional head, but some companies take QC and support very seriously, and I hope Benro does this for you!

[iNicole]

The basic warranty on all Benro products is 2 years (no matter where you live, or where you bought it), and if you bought it in Canada, it is extended to 5 years by the distributor. That said, from my experience with Benro, they will try to make it right no matter the circumstance.

I had a similar experience with Sirui, when a ball head knob literally fell apart in my hands. After I sent them photos of the failed part, they quickly shipped me a replacement ball head, and then a few days later the customer support person in China actually sent me a FedEx label to ship the defective head back to them so they could analyze the failure. A month later, I got another email stating what the problem was (!), and that it was isolated to a small run of heads and their retailers had been notified. At that point, I didn't really care since I had a perfectly functional head, but some companies take QC and support very seriously, and I hope Benro does this for you!

Hi,

I e-mailed them the same day that I posted this thread, and I just remembered that I still haven't received any e-mails back from them... I sent an e-mail to sales@benro.cn (the e-mail address on the papers that came with the tripod) and sales@benro.com
I think all I need is a replacement washer, that's the only part that is broken/cracked, but I could be wrong since I really don't know too much about how tripods are made...

And I really can't afford to buy a new tripod, the whole point of getting an expensive tripod was so that it would last a while. I'm a poor college student!

Please let me know if there's anything you can do,

Thanks!
Nicole

[drypenn]

Those are actually plastic rivets. They are usually lightly snapped into the leg preventing the sections from coming apart.

My theory is the legs were probably unscrewed, and either because of the insufficiency of Lithium greasing, and/or a grain of (sand, particle) has been trapped in between the rivet and the body. Now, after further cycles of loosening and tightening, the rivet cracked.

(I have an instruction on how to disassemble and reassemble a Benro tripod)