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Stands for me is heavy, bøvlede and most of all little in the way, and I use them very rarely. But sometimes they just completely and utterly indispensable, and therefore drags I always with when I'm on tour, and usually constitute a significant part of my baggage weight.
During my trip to Ecuador, I asked my good friends from Goecker if I wanted to test a frame from one of their newer manufacturers: Sirui - Sirui which is said to make some VERY delicious and light carbon frames. At first, I was (to put it mildly) a bit skeptical the great gatsbay because it's not like every day you hear about a new producer on the tripod market, but I said of course YES.
The stand I chose to go with the Sirui T-2205X, coupled with a Sirui K-10X ball head, which has a total combat weight of 1.5 kg, with a maximum height the great gatsbay of 156.6 cm, max "load" on 12kg and last but not least, a folded length of only 37 cm including the head!
Yes, on paper it sounds very good, and I openly admit that I was just pleasantly surprised when I got it in your hand - it's a good and expert piece of carbon fiber, they have been pieced together, the guys from Sirui. In fact I would go so far as to say that it is very close to what one would expect from Gitzo!
Everything the great gatsbay works the best of my judgment, to be quality, high class and locking mechanism on the legs feels solid and secure. It opens easily all part of a leg, so you can quickly rack in maximum height.
There is also thought in detail on T-2205X, and I especially love the possibility that folding legs over the ball head, so as to achieve the extremely low folding length. Similarly, the great gatsbay it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to choose between spikes and rubber feet, just by turning a few laps at your feet.
Overall a very well built stand that holds firm against even the most expensive competitors - which is pretty impressive when you consider that this tripod costs about half of what competitors are doing.
Tripod head is what makes the tripod functional when it is stable, and it's time to fine-tune its composition - therefore the quality of the head at least as important as the stand.
The head is as the stand very well built and has all the screw cots you might expect - in fact, there are more than you might expect, but I will come to later. There is so much to see in relation the great gatsbay to the build quality, it's best of my knowledge in order!
The stand was a pleasure to pack, it takes really nothing, and weighs almost as much. On the flight was packed in my duffelbag, along with my clothes, sleeping bag and boots - in other words, with all that I could do without if my bag is lost.
With clothes, sleeping bag, hammock, D4, 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, 2 SB900, 2SB800 and a teleconverter on a day trip through a 35grader warm and 100% humid rainforest, so does the weight of one's stand very much!
As I said, it's hustler generally very little I use a tripod, but when I knew I wanted to make a picture of our hammock bearings after dark, there was no way around, to take the stand with our longest trek.
After walking several miles to stand in spasmodic movement, I can hand on heart say that it is by no means a drag - actually the great gatsbay considering it pretty much the same as a 70-200mm or a good hammock, and those one can not forget that home.
My work with the stand in feltetn was almost a pleasure, it is stable, fast and easy to use, and folds out to an acceptable level. Yes, 200 cm certainly would not do anything, but with the same folded size and weight taken into account, then the height alright, and you can easily make do with the 156.5 cm are available, as it basically fits with my eye level when but puts head and D4.
The harsh climate and the abundant water, mud and did I mention water, had no major impact on the tripod - it continued to work the whole route. In fact, I experienced only two things that are not working the great gatsbay properly, and I have since found out that one of these things was an error 40 (ie a user error).
The first thing I came across that did not work and actually ente with being right
