VALUE-ADDED TRIPODS
TRIPOD kits that comprise a set of legs and a head range in price from around £10/$15 for a flimsy, often unbranded option, to about £1,250/$1,500 for a top-of-the-range option. But how much do you need to spend to get a good one?
With an eye on stability, load bearing capacity, features and performance, we’ve selected eight sturdy yet sensibly priced tripods, costing around the £200/$300 mark – a little less in some cases. But while the prices are fairly close, there are some fundamental differences in design.
All of the tripods in this round-up weigh between 1.4kg and 2.6kg, so they’re lightweight enough to be easily carried. Each comes with a ball head, apart from the Benro Mach3, which bucks the trend with a three-way head. They also all have a maximum load rating of at least 5kg; some are rated at twice that or even more. Let’s take a closer look and find out which kit will best suit your needs.
THE CONTENDERS
1 Benro Mach3 £213/$260
2 Benro Travel Angel £216/$224
3 Kenro Karoo Ultimate Travel £160/$225
4 Manfrotto 190XPRO £229/$299
5 Manfrotto 290 Dual £149/$179
6 MeFoto GlobeTrotter £180/$199
7 Novo Explora T5 £199/$279
8 Sirui NT-1005X/E-10 £180/$250
Benro Mach3 £213/$260
The Mach3 is a stickler for tradition
BENRO has The idea behind the Mach3 is to keep things simple, combining a conventional feature set with high-grade materials. As such, the legs don’t swing up for compact storage, which is a fundamental difference from the Benro Travel Angel, also on test. This TMA28AHD2A kit comes with a 3-way head, but a TMA28AB2 kit is also available, with Benro’s B2 ball head.
