A worthy Peak Design challenger around $200

APBaker wrote:

I found out about the XT-15 last summer and liked it, and did a bit of a dive into it.

There have been three slightly different versions. The first had a flatter head that wasn't removable. I was told there was some legal umbrage over that design (which looks remarkably like an RRS head), which lead to the more kettle-shaped head seen in your photos here. Also, for the second version they made the center column into two parts, with an optional adapter to use other heads. That version was only in production about six months. Evidently the legal dust up settled, as they went back to the flatter head, but kept the new column design. As far as I know that's the current model.

(For my landscape-painting purposes -- attaching painting gear to the tripod, not a camera -- I prefer the kettle-shaped head, so I tracked down a spare just in case.)

Much as I'm a fan of the tripod, I confess I did have a leg lock give out on me -- it just popped when I tightened it, and didn't hold that section of leg in place any more. I had purchased it directly through Marsace's AliExpress store so contacting them about it was easy. The leg wasn't user-servicable so they sent me a replacemnt leg under warranty, but made me cover $9 shipping. I thought that was fair enough.

Mine must be the earlier flat-head design with a single part column. Might be why it was sold an Amazon under a different name (although the box and tripod have Marsace labels.)