I recently had a chance to use a variation of one these tripods. The one I played with had an extra leg segment and was at least 2 feet taller than this one (the tallest tripod I ever saw - could barely reach it fully extended!). I really loved that tripod, but having one that tall didn't really have a benefit for me so I was excited to find that this one was available - same quality and features, just a more standard height for a little bit less money.Now, I've never been one to spend hundreds of dollars on a tripod, but I have owned at least a half-dozen really goods that are in this class , but this is the most impressive of them all.Its flexibility is unsurpassed - from all the standard moves, to being able to inverse the legs or the center trunk, and for the telescoping transverse arm that can be used for product photography or macro photography. I attached a heavy DSLR with a mid-size lens at the furthest extended reach and it held well. It can even convert to a monopod, but I haven't tried that and it looks a little complicated.The ball heads (2!) for the transverse arm and the standard one for holding the camera are very good and lock into place tightly without any significant play. All the controls are of better-than-standard quality: the cool colored aluminum, to the nicely textured rubber bits.10 years ago, if you could even get a tripod this nice, it would have cost twice as much (or more). This new crop is a great value, with this being one of the best.Yes, you can get lighter, but for such a full-function tripod, this isn't bad. All aluminum. Lighter would mean losing the features that give this such value, or paying many times more in price.In my limited time playing with it, I cannot imagine a better tripod in this price range. If you can afford it, I'd lose all the junky economy tripods, get this one for studio or local photography work, and maybe a low-feature, but ultra-light if you're into hiking/backpacking landscape photography. If I could only have one - this would almost certainly be the one I'd keep of my half-dozen different tripods.Hope this helps!