Hi,

I had the travel angle with a rrs head and found it did a good job with a900 and 70-400mm. Never had a major problem with the legs like you report, just the occassional needs tightening a bit more. Not the rock solid performance of a 5kg tripod, but for the weight I was happy. I lost it late year and being broke but needing a tripod I picked up the triopo version of the same thing from linkdelight for $179 + post for the 1.2kg carbon pod (so slighter lighter) and a ball head.

The twists on the legs dont feel as solid as the benro and the plate on the top of centre column is certainly cheaper (I have benro short column still (which fits this one) so can compare . But then the price is cheaper.

I put to the test the other week and took pics of white water kayaking with the a900/70-400mm and then some 15 second images of a waterfall with the a900 and 24-70mm (about 2.5kg I think), Took a little work to get the tension right for movement for the kayaking images, but for both sets it worked well.

However when I got it out of the box, I looked at the plates and remembered that I got rid of the benro head I was using with the tripod before the benro angle because I could never get stability and often had slight slippage in the plates. I still have the RRS plates and L-bracket so use them and haven't use the one that came with the new pod.

Overall, when I expected garbage, I have a decent working pod and head. It is a compromise weight vs stability - I know I wont get the stability of a heavy pod but this is lightweight enough to carry all day and will do the job I want it do (including 15 sec exposures). I will probably buy myself another rrs 40 head for christmas as they are seriously nice

I really like my carbon REDGED tripod....I have this version  TSC-428 Ultimate Travel Tripod Carbon http://redged.nl/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=8&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=12

With a nice sturdy ballhead of the same brand.

There are better ones of this brand released over the years but still love my little travel tripod.

Got a Gitzo GT2541.  Just came in the mail.  Its a lot bigger and heavier than the benro....but its still pretty carryable.  And it is rock solid steady.   I think I am going to like it.