The Benro IT25 is a very well designed photography tripod, with a sturdy construction, offering great value for money. A combination of tripod and monopod that I was looking for, making it ideal to bring on hiking and/or in situations when space and weight are to be considered. Very easy to understand the way it works that I didn't really bother to read the manual. What a change over my Velbon VTP-787, which is light as a feather BUT not sturdy at all for a heavy DSLR like my Pentax K5 with all metal Takumar lenses. I searched the net and compared quite a lot of other tripods, but none really met all my expectations as this one did, especially when it came to selling price. One word about FotoSense : great service, fast delivery (especially as I am living in France, Paypal, online tracking of package. Will order again from this seller, for sure!