velbon wx-851 tripod
 

Anyone know much about the velbon wx-851 tripod?

Found one on craigs list for $125 but cant find ANY information on one...

http://i26.tinypic.com/2ir0lll.jpg

Thats it with slik twin pan handles on it.... any information would be nice.

Velbond the name makes me shudder still :-) paid $75 for my very first tripod a velbond and it should have only been used for stills ever. but not having money i had to mod it 3 ways and suffer miserably through its terrible head untill i did enough work to go with the mini type fluid head of the cheap bogans.

If you used a pod like that shown in your pics for lock downs, solid shots, zooms only, and stuff like that it would be ok. if your going to pan and tilt live, then you would shoot yourself in the foot, especially after paying that much.

on e-bay you can find used 3040 3066 bogen stuff for less than that, and it sure isnt viten or those other wonderfull heads, but you can fully survive with those. with a velbond you wont make it out of the gate.

on the other hand i had to put about 89HOURs in a few weeks of shooting on that nasty velbond i paid to much for, and was the wrong thing for what i was doing. and i got Very Good at tracking and staying smooth and all, then when i finnaly converted to something for video panning and tilting i was a Master :-)