3 Great Budget Carbon Fiber Tripods - do you agree?

[cagenuts]

Ask most people what they want in a good tripod for shooting landscapes and general outdoor photography and they’ll probably say Carbon Fiber. There’s a reason for this, and not just because CF is sexy. Carbon fiber offers excellent strength to weight ratio and good vibration damping, which is why they build mountain bikes and fighter jets out of the stuff.

Do you agree with these recommendations?

[Yogotta B. Kidding]

It is not damping, but weight. CarbonF is very strong in a certain direction, but once that crumbles it goes like a biscuit. It is a huge weight saving and that is more important, when you are trekking

[Forgiss - Sean Nel]

I will not ... ever... willingly shoot on a aluminum tripod again... I have a large Benro for the bigger lenses and video, and a small travel version (under 2kg) which has been in more countries than me (assuming it was made in China or Korea and not Botswana or Namibia)

[Anonymous]

I'm almost tempted to get a tripod, though I doubt those prices listed bear any resemblance to local prices.

[peterah]

Do you agree with these recommendations?

No, I don't. I have a Manfrotto - in my opinion I will never buy another Manfrotto with the click clips to lock the legs as I had 2 clips break on mine. One of them snapped off on day one of a 5 day Drakensberg summit hike - had to carry a useless tripod for 4 days - I was not impressed by that. The other clip broke during a wedding

The Slik on the other hand looks like it has the same rotate to lock mechanism that Gitzo has - I would tend towards that if I was in the market for another tripod.

[Peat]

I agree Cagenuts, the strength to weight ration of carbon fiber is legendary.
I have ridden thousands of Km's on carbon fiber bicycle frames and wheels and various other components they are very strong and do not just crumble.
I have to date not bought a carbon Fiber tripod, but am seriously considering it.
I am an Optomechanical designer and do frequent trips on a BMW GS Adventure into Lesotho to take pictures. Weight is crucial to my trips. I have just acquired a canon 7D and started taking HDR landscape pictures. My next acquisition, will be the sturdiest lightest carbon fiber tripod I can get my hands on!
Do you have any recommendations in this regard?