Opteka 70" Full Size Professional Photo / Video Tripod: Customer Reviews & Product Details

Yep, broke the first day. When my back was turned my 5-year-old got a hold of it and one of the parts snapped off. It didn't render it unusable, but in the weeks since (I've had it about 6) it's becoming more flimsy by the day. I'm actually on Amazon to look into getting a better one.

Bought December 20th 2007. Seemed like a decent enough tripod at the time.
But now it's pretty much unusable. The gray crank wheel has broken off,
so it's hard to raise and lower. Also, one of the metal supports for
one leg had broken off from the center. So even though it has some
solid construction, there are indeed some weak parts, that after time
are likely to fail.

so large bigger than a door works great is very especific has the bubbles to now is is perpendicular is perfect and works great

For a modest sum, this is a huge upgrade from my tripod it replaces; however, having said that, I cannot give it a 5-star review. The head and the quick-release camera plate are plastic. There is only so much you can do to tighten things down. If I need to shoot hand-released shots (say, for bracketed exposures beyond the +2, -2 that my Canon 20D will shoot automatically), the camera can be the slightest bit squizzy. I can either be very careful, or work-around with time-release, mirror lock-up, etc.. Next time I upgrade, I'm going to go into a store and look at, say, the Bogen/Manfrotto.

A Great tripod for such a low price.
I am not an expert but it serves its function.
The only negative aspect is that there is a tendency for the camera to drop down when i am not holding it. I dont know if this is user error or a problem with the tripod but overall I am happy with it.