I had high hopes that this was going to be a good replacement for my old tripod, which has served me for about 50 years, albeit only with occasional use! However, on opening the box and starting to unpack the tripod, I noticed that one of the clips on the tripod legs looked strange (I wasn't wearing my glasses at the time, so I couldn't see too clearly). Looking closer, I could see that the clip, which was only made out of plastic, had a piece missing. At first, I thought it might be a manufacturing defect, but then I could that something had broken off. I checked in the bag that the tripod had been wrapped in and sure enough, the missing piece was in the bottom of the bag. Given that this tripod didn't even withstand the journey to my home, I didn't have any confidence that it would have lasted very long. Pity really, because it was a nice-looking tripod, but obviously I had to return it due to it being broken.Update 12/12/16: I did decide to give this another go because I do need a tripod for occasional use and I liked the style of this one. The replacement arrived in good condition, so I'm just hoping that if I'm gentle with it, it will give me reasonable service. Time will tell.