Varizoom T100A (100mm tripods?)

VariZoom T100A

VariZoom T100A

This is Tom from VariZoom. It is a great deal for the money and price will be going up in the near future.

Also we have a mid level spreader version coming in a couple months of the same with convertible spike/rubber feet.

Stop by NAB booth and check that and some other products out.

Tom

Huy Vu said:
I would like to know this as well. Looks like a good deal for the money.
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I went ahead and bought this and here's my initial impression:

1) This thing is huge! It makes all the other legs I've used so far looks like toys. Definitely a plus as far as the looks department is concerned. You will look like a pro using this.
2) Surprisingly light.
3) All the advantages that comes with this type of design: 100mm bowl for leveling, quick lowering/raising of the legs, low minimum height and pretty good maximum height.
4) Twist lock leg mechanism. Eh. It works but it's not the best way to do it. The knobs themselves doesn't seem to be very solidly attached and I can see them becoming loose after heavy use. Another disadvantage is that the knob is VERY close to the spike feet joint, which creates a problem when taking off and putting the ground spreader back on. Trying to stretch the rubber and putting it on the spike feet isn't very easy when the knob is just an inch above; hard to apply leverage. This means that I have to raise the tripod leg to put the spreader back on, which is more setup time.
5) Not sure if this is a problem with all unit, but the rubber connector on my ground spreader is VERY rigid. In fact, once I've taken the spreader off (with considerable effort) I'm unable to put it back on the tripod because two out of three of the connectors don't stretch enough for me to put the spreader back on the spike feet. I'll be contacting Varizoom to see if I can get the ground spreader replaced.

Conclusion: Not a bad tripod leg for the money. I've been looking for an upgrade to my 3046 leg for a while, and the cheapest stick I've found with similar features costs much more than this. If Varizoom can resolve my ground spreader issue I consider this tripod leg to be a good budget investment.
 
Just an update, Varizoom sent me a replacement spreader and it does exactly the same thing. It took two people 20 minutes and a screwdriver just to get it on to the tripod feet, which definitely isn't right. Not only that, during field use, the spreader tends to twist out of alignment (while still staying on the spike feet) and unbalance the tripod. I called Varizoom back to request another replacement and they assured me that each spreader was personally tested before they send it out. So I can only assume that this is how the ground spreader actually is.

I'm still happy with the tripod leg, but the spreader is simply extremely poor. I will be looking at another ground spreader solution.
 
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