Review: A tale of two benro tripods

I just purchased the A373F legs and S8 head, and I agree with him that the leg locks and getting the legs set up is a little bit awkward (coming from similar Manfrotto legs). Horizontal panning is really smooth, while the counter balance/vertical panning is okay. The spring in the head can make some noise sometimes during vertical panning.

My plan is to put a 24" slider on it, so I'm hoping it will support slides without too much of the dreaded rainbow effect.
 
Came across this post on a BENRO search. Must agree that the S8 is enormous. Was in Samy's here in LA and walked by it, backed-up, and stared for about 30 seconds. Price for tripod system is up now to $495 but still... Quality of Benros in general is on-par with price. I would not be interested in Benro if I was still working and had silly money under the couch cushions. I own their top-of-the-range monopod and it can handle (rather I can handle) a C100/II w/70-200 f/2.8 and a LB200 support, no problem. Speaking of leg locks, I wonder how long those plastic bits will last on the flip-lock model...
 
I just picked up two Benro sets of aluminum legs to support my new Rhino EVO slider Motion and Arc system. One of the tripods tipped over and gently hit the ground. Immediately after, one of the legs wouldn't extend because the leg tube got a slight dent in it. So far, not impressed with Benro. Sure, it's Aluminum but the tripod barely fell over onto a garage floor with a rubber mat. Had to send it back, then the model I had one remaining of was discontinued so I had to order a similar model but it had more leg sections. Ughh, now my starting point to the level the Rhino will be different before I even extend and tripiod legs. I've checked out the Benro heads, they look and feel cheap, like they aren't going to last really long under professional usage. Guess I am still stuck with my Manfrotto 500AH head and Bogen MDve heavy duty legs for travel and my Sachtler DV-6SB and Miller Solo DV carbon legs for local. I hate cheap tripods, but I cannot bring myself to surrender my Sachtler and Miller combo to the goons at the airlines so I make due when I travel with my cheap Bogen/Manfrotto
 
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Oh, it's not a professional work every day product. They are built to a price point that even Vitec can't beat. My S6 and whatever legs are good enough for what I need, but they pale in comparison to our old "cheap" Manfrotto 510 heads, even compared to our cheap Libec heads.
 
I was seriously looking at the A373F with the S8 head but reading about the dents makes me rethink my choice.

The most I put on my tripod is the C100mk1 with 70-200 and maybe an external recorder (but rarely).

So something like Manfrotto MVT535AQ and the MVH502A would be a better choice?
 
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