[Dlanor Sekao]

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Then on top of my rant about not buying any more Gitzo tripods......I find this on Ebay with a wrong listing !
Bought it for parts for mine or to at least to swap out Parts....lol
Im such a sucker for punishment....lol
Bogen Model 3126 Tripod | eBay
Its a Gitzo Gilux Reporter Performance (4 leg sections).....just like mine !
Bought it a couple hrs ago for a whopping $39.

[stevebrot]

Then on top of my rant about not buying any more Gitzo tripods......I find this on Ebay with a wrong listing !
Bought it for parts for mine or to at least to swap out Parts....lol
Im such a sucker for punishment....lol
Bogen Model 3126 Tripod | eBay
Its a Gitzo Gilux Reporter Performance (4 leg sections).....just like mine !
Bought it a couple hrs ago for a whopping $39.

That is a very good deal. I assume that the Bogen 3126 is the rather sturdy looking head?


Steve

[Dlanor Sekao]

That is a very good deal. I assume that the Bogen 3126 is the rather sturdy looking head?


Steve

Yes....The head....That I will just re-sell on Ebay for about 25 bucks.
Its the "thing" under it I stumbled across that will help me out bunches for use/parts....lol

I guess I will have two tripods up and running soon , plus the two Sliks's I bought today........ The Reporter Performance Gilux is a very sturdy 4 leg tripod with 3 leg positions. They are identified by the 4 piece legs and twin radius lines on the main base. Sort of like a signature for the compact version.

Without the word "Performance" and the double radius lines it would be a 3 leg section full size with only 2 leg positions.
By modern refrences this would be a series III Gitzo with 28mm main tubes such as the mountaineer/Travel version.

I l;ove the Gitzo designs , but Im still doing a "Burn" over the lack of anything resembling support !

Lets see just how long they take to reply...? Or even if they do.... 3 detailed nice calls and 3 detailed nice Email's just today.......

[panoguy]

The email wasnt sent to Vitek or whatever....it was sent to Gitzosupport at the email listed on the above link

Just FYI, Gitzo is owned by the Vitec Group, who also own Manfrotto. There is probably a single support system for all of their brands.

[wildlifephotog]

When I had to do some repairs to my 190PROB legs, I called Manfrotto.

The site for checking on parts numbers is, www.manfrotto.us/service/spares+parts/
The number I called to order the parts was 201-818-9500.
Had the parts in a week.

They may have parts that cross over to your items.

[Dlanor Sekao]

Just FYI, Gitzo is owned by the Vitec Group, who also own Manfrotto. There is probably a single support system for all of their brands.

I know.....but I have given up.
Im going to attempt to fix the leg that came loose from mount on the CF travel with industrial JB weld , and will just keep the Mono for yet more parts or possibly try cutting it back and doing the JB weld on it too ?........They have lost me forever over this.

[Dlanor Sekao]

*****Update *****
I recieved a call back !!!!!
They DO not offer service or parts for any Item that is not a recent current model !
They will NOT honor the warranty for the CF tripod because it wasnt purchased through through them and the dealer is no longer in business even though I have the original dated receipt !
They will do nothing for the Monopod because even though a current model......I dont have the receipt.
They refuse to honor the warranty directly.....the excuse being it has to be done through the local distributor/dealer outlet.

They do sell a UNIVERSAL parts kit I need for the Reporter and Studex unlisted on their site of course (D-001.JG3 ) but the price is stupid crazy @ $153 bucks for 32 little pieces of plastic for the legs that I already purchased on Ebay for $8.99 !

When I questioned why I had to wait for going on 4 years they said they were sorry , but that there had been alot of corporate changes since being the same division now as Manfrotto they were exceedingly busy. He explained that unless it was an automated order from their site that he was the only person to return all emails and phone calls reguarding questions in regards to parts and service and was completely swamped...... ?????

Oh....and at the end of our conversation......I was offered a 30% discount on my next purchase of a CF tripod !!! RoFlolol....Ha !

He had a very very heavy French or Italian accent and I could barely understand him. On top of that he was rude , curt , and rather uninterested in my dilema.

Ok......Now Im done and have learned a very valuable lesson. CF isnt all its knocked up to be , and this company's reputation is horrifying when you need service or parts !

Gitzo outta my life !

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Last edited by Dlanor Sekao; 12-10-2014 at 03:40 PM.

[enoeske]

*****Update *****
I recieved a call back !!!!!
They DO not offer service or parts for any Item that is not a recent current model !
They will NOT honor the warranty for the CF tripod because it wasnt purchased through through them and the dealer is no longer in business even though I have the original dated receipt !
They will do nothing for the Monopod because even though a current model......I dont have the receipt.
They refuse to honor the warranty directly.....the excuse being it has to be done through the local distributor/dealer outlet.

They do sell a UNIVERSAL parts kit I need for the Reporter and Studex unlisted on their site of course (D-001.JG3 ) but the price is stupid crazy @ $153 bucks for 32 little pieces of plastic for the legs that I already purchased on Ebay for $8.99 !

When I questioned why I had to wait for going on 4 years they said they were sorry , but that there had been alot of corporate changes since being the same division now as Manfrotto they were exceedingly busy. He explained that unless it was an automated order from their site that he was the only person to return all emails and phone calls reguarding questions in regards to parts and service and was completely swamped...... ?????

Oh....and at the end of our conversation......I was offered a 30% discount on my next purchase of a CF tripod !!! RoFlolol....Ha !

Gitzo outta my life !

Ouch. I've got an old 80's or 90's Gitzo that I got used and its a fantastic 12lb beast of a tripod. When it dies (if ever), I don't think I'll be going with Gitzo after this horror story.

[Dlanor Sekao]

Ouch. I've got an old 80's or 90's Gitzo that I got used and its a fantastic 12lb beast of a tripod. When it dies (if ever), I don't think I'll be going with Gitzo after this horror story.

I love their tripods....BUT....Parts wear out and I never expected this with a Company touted as the BEST !
I doubt I will ever buy CF again. I just bought a really nice used Reporter Performance just to get more parts for $59 shipped.
One thing for sure....It wont be a new Gitzo again for 100's of dollars for me........ EVER !

[TaoMaas]

They DO not offer service or parts for any Item that is not a recent current model!

I'm a big Gitzo fan, but this was something I found out, too, after I bought an older model and tried to order parts. It seemed really odd to me since the metal Gitzos didn't change all that much over the years. You'd think they could carry some basic parts and it would encompass about 50 years of tripods. lol But I guess that's not the case.

[bigdavephoto]

az1895, if you really want to have some fun with your complaint about Gitzo, post it up on Facebook. I just looked and Gitzo has a page, so go public with everything that happened and see what they do.

[emalvick]

I appreciate the updates on this thread. It makes me glad that cheapened out and purchased the Feisol I bought instead of a Gitzo a few years ago.

As a side note CF is a bit of an overblown marketing gimmick when it comes to a lot of things. When I was in engineering school about 15 years ago, I took a basic materials engineering class which exposed the cons of CF as a material. It is light and strong, but the strong is only relative to it's weight. It is a flexible material but when it reaches its limit for flexing it tends to break (fracture or tear) rather than bend (like steel or aluminum do).... in engineering speak (yield vs. rupture strength). I won't go into details, but I'd imagine people could look it up. They are usually related to a stress, and CF products tend to have a smaller area so the strength in terms of force ends up comparable to steel or aluminum.

I now live in a town that has one of the most bicycles (or perhaps the most) in the US (Davis, California). I've seen a lot of people by CF bike frames, and I've seen even more people where a crash basically destroys the bicycle. I've never seen a metal bike frame break; I've seen them bend, but in many cases, they are still usable or can be made usable again. CF needs replacement once it's broken.

The moral, you pay twice as much for CF and any accidents are twice as likely to render the item useless. That being said, my current tripod is CF... I don't think a CF tripod is as likely to have an accident as something like a bike, but I have noticed that the lighter tripod isn't always as steady as an older steel one which weighs more. Weight does help with stability.

[Dlanor Sekao]

The moral, you pay twice as much for CF and any accidents are twice as likely to render the item useless. That being said, my current tripod is CF... I don't think a CF tripod is as likely to have an accident as something like a bike, but I have noticed that the lighter tripod isn't always as steady as an older steel one which weighs more. Weight does help with stability.

Amen to that !
I fell prey to the carbon fiber trap and paid about 4X too much. Now Im more concerned about a tripod being compact rather than weight.
Since my post I have stuck with 2 more vintage Gitzo's from ebay for less than $60 each , and 2 new SLIK Pro tripods.
Sure they are almost a couple pounds heavier , but I feel safer and don't have to weight my pod as much or as often.
I repaired the CF Gitzo tripod with JB weld and sold it on Ebay for $190 shipped.....It sold in 17 minutes with full disclosure of the problem (good ridence)
The CF mono Im still using with the cracked CF and just put tape around it but its gonna go real soon to Ebay heaven also !

[stevebrot]

I now live in a town that has one of the most bicycles (or perhaps the most) in the US (Davis, California). I've seen a lot of people by CF bike frames, and I've seen even more people where a crash basically destroys the bicycle. I've never seen a metal bike frame break;

I had to laugh. I was about three blocks into a century bike ride (100 miles) a few years back and was passed by a guy on a high end CF bike. About 15 seconds later both top and down tubes simply broke and the bike collapsed under him at about 25 mph. He was not hurt, but got very little sympathy from those of us still riding steel.

As for metal frames not breaking, that is generally true of steel and titanium if well-butted, but aluminum can be prone to failure, particularly at the wall thicknesses used by some makers. My friend's aluminum city bike suffered a failed down tube while riding around town. It looked like a torn aluminum can.


Steve

[emalvick]

I had to laugh. I was about three blocks into a century bike ride (100 miles) a few years back and was passed by a guy on a high end CF bike. About 15 seconds later both top and down tubes simply broke and the bike collapsed under him at about 25 mph. He was not hurt, but got very little sympathy from those of us still riding steel.

As for metal frames not breaking, that is generally true of steel and titanium if well-butted, but aluminum can be prone to failure, particularly at the wall thicknesses used by some makers. My friend's aluminum city bike suffered a failed down tube while riding around town. It looked like a torn aluminum can.


Steve

That's true... I didn't mean to imply that metal can't break, but as an engineer, I do know that most failures occur at joints, except when I've seen carbon fiber fail. Interestingly, it should be quite a strong material, but that strength is exploited and compromised through using less of the material. Having a #### psi (or kpa) strength doesn't mean much if the cross section isn't adequate to provide a strength larger than steel or whatever other metal you might use.

I do think it is important for people to realize that carbon fiber is not some magical material that is invincible. It's marketed as such, but it's never built as such. Every material has its limits.