A great aluminium based tripod for use with a high powered telescope for birding. Feels very sturdy. Height with legs just extended is perfect for my angled scope, with no need to extend the central column. Doing this would give me an extra 20 centimetres if I need to get above the crowd. And, it is at least 500 grams lighter than my old Manfrotto tripod of 15+ years. If this one lasts as long as the last one, I will be very happy. Nothing to fault, excellent for the purpose of mounting a telescope on a simple fluid video head 123RC model.