Anyone know anything about these tripods? ZoMei Z818C, Davis & Sanford TR654C36 & Oben CT-3451

Well...with tripods you pretty much get what you pay for. You either buy a decent one and have it for many years, or keep buying cheap ones every few years.

I can't tell you if the brand is good or not, as I am shopping for my first tripod as well. What I can tell you is that for your gear which is less than two lbs. most of the people I talk to said that the tripod you get should have a loading capacity of 2X your max camera and lens weight.

For what you have now, I think that tripod will be an over kill. If I were you I think I would get a well known brand but cheaper one, like the manfrotto compact advanced.

but ZUMEI do have higher end tripods that will cost an upward of 300 dollars. I took a look on TaoBao and see that not many people have bought this brand of tripods. So, I think the reviews and sales figure you see on amazon are probably generated by the low cost of the tripod.

I am not familiar with ZoMei tripods but I have seen them and many of the other Chinese brands showing up on Amazon. I don't think they've been out long enough to understand long term durability. There is an old adage on buying a tripod. It basically states that you can only choose 2 of the 3 requirements below:

Stability

Low Cost

Low Weight

The ZoMei tripod you bought is a travel size tripod so it will not be as stable as a full size tripod. Some considerations to think about when choosing a tripod:

Carbon Fiber - CF is considered desirable because it is a relatively lightweight and stiff material so it is good at dampening vibration and offering lower weights. However many of the cheaper CF tripods may use low quality materials for many of the non-leg components to save costs. Also not all carbon fiber are the same. Manufacturers use inferior material to mix with CF so the benefits of carbon fiber are neutralized. I am guessing your ZoMei tripod falls into that category given the price.

Number of Leg Sections - in general the lower the number of leg sections, the better. The tripods with multiple leg sections will typically have thinner legs - especially the lowest leg section which is a potential stability problem and point of failure. Also with travel style tripods such as that ZoMei, the leg spread isn't as great so that also adds to less stability.

Leg Height/Center Column - raising the center column will make a tripod less stable and also add a source for greater vibration. If you can get a tripod where you don't need to raise the center column that would be the better option.

With all that being said, the ZoMei tripod may be fine for you. The advantage of Amazon is you have a 30 day return window so that gives you some time with the product. You can actually purchase a different tripod during this period and do some comparison. FYI, Oben is B&H's in-house brand and I am guessing they are Chinese made based on the prices.

An alternative full size tripod would be the Vanguard 263 series. This would be more stable then the tripods you are looking at but will be heavier and bulkier. The ballhead is not the greatest and there will be a little sag with a full size DSLR and a heavy lens but still can handle a decent load. Vanguard is also a Chinese manufacturer but they have been established for a long time and generally have very positive reviews. Here is a link to one of the tripods:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...rd_ALTA_PRO_263AB_100_Alta_Pro_263AB_100.html

This is a newer version of the above tripod but is a little more money:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1332555-REG/vanguard_alta_pro_2_263ab.html

Good luck.

Randy

This thread is probably old however for those who are jumping in now like me, the Zomei Z818c pod is a decent lightweight travel pod, 3.3 Ibs. For reference, I have Slik 700 , Vanguard Pro 263AT before it. I got the Zomei when I was looking for a decent travel pod, since one of the regional airlines limit was 40 Ibs, not giving you room for much checked in luggage. The tripod has served me well. for 2 + years The heaviest lens I have used on it, is Nikon 14-24 f2.8 with D810. I have had no problems with it, in terms of stability. I am 6' 1" and the maximum height I think without the central column is 65" which has been more than enough for me. At the folded length of 19", it fits into my carry on easily but I prefer to check it in with my main luggage. However, I recently added Nikon 300 f2.8 VRII lens to my collection as well as Tamron 150-600mm so I upgraded my tripod to Gitzo 3542LS (discontinued) which is hard to get even on eBay. On Amazon,I have read some reviews of buyers who have used the Sigma 150-500 lens on the Zomei without issues but I will not recommend it especially if you add a gimbal head to that. The Zomei tripod comes with an impressive well padded bag.I will recommend this pod if you are not going to use it with a telephoto lens that is not more than 200 mm in focal length or with a medium format camera, even though it is rated to carry a maximum weight load of 39 Ibs..

mark112 said:

This thread is probably old however for those who are jumping in now like me, the Zomei Z818c pod is a decent lightweight travel pod, 3.3 Ibs. For reference, I have Slik 700 , Vanguard Pro 263AT before it. I got the Zomei when I was looking for a decent travel pod, since one of the regional airlines limit was 40 Ibs, not giving you room for much checked in luggage. The tripod has served me well. for 2 + years The heaviest lens I have used on it, is Nikon 14-24 f2.8 with D810. I have had no problems with it, in terms of stability. I am 6' 1" and the maximum height I think without the central column is 65" which has been more than enough for me. At the folded length of 19", it fits into my carry on easily but I prefer to check it in with my main luggage. However, I recently added Nikon 300 f2.8 VRII lens to my collection as well as Tamron 150-600mm so I upgraded my tripod to Gitzo 3542LS (discontinued) which is hard to get even on eBay. On Amazon,I have read some reviews of buyers who have used the Sigma 150-500 lens on the Zomei without issues but I will not recommend it especially if you add a gimbal head to that. The Zomei tripod comes with an impressive well padded bag.I will recommend this pod if you are not going to use it with a telephoto lens that is not more than 200 mm in focal length or with a medium format camera, even though it is rated to carry a maximum weight load of 39 Ibs..

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How do you like Slik 700? How does it compare to more expensive options?

I've got the zombie 818c had it 2 years using it with a nikon d750 and a nikon 600mm F4 vr ii lens had no problems.

k56mgw said:

I've got the zombie 818c had it 2 years using it with a nikon d750 and a nikon 600mm F4 vr ii lens had no problems.

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4 year old thread. The OP hasn't posted anything in over 2 years. So, I'm quite certain the OP has made a purchase.