Having only an old and kind of heavy tripod—but using lighter mirrorless cameras these days—I needed to find a lighter tripod. I checked out several brands. The Vanguard gets my vote.
>> Legs
Out of the box, they are neither too stiff nor too lose. They feel just right. In the event they need tightening, the company supplies a tool for that purpose.
When the tripod is set up and everything is tightened down, it feels super solid.
>> Ballhead
This looks like a high-quality item to me, but it uses a proprietary attachment system—it isn't Arca-Swiss-compatible. Newer Vanguard tripod/ballhead kits all seem to have Arca-Swiss-compatible heads. I don't want to discard my camera's great hand grip with its Arca-Swiss base plate. Fortunately I have a good replacement ballhead that I can use instead.
Too few manufacturers pay enough attention to the feel of their tightening knobs. The ones on the Vanguard ballhead are comfortable to hold and turn.
>> Proprietary ballhead attachment system
I might not be able to use it myself, but that aside it's clearly well made. The supplied camera plate has a sensible design for the attachment screw, so you aren't out of luck if you need to attach it but don't have a flat-head screwdriver or coin handy. The plate slides into place and locks there. Press a small button at the open end of the clamp to release it—the mounting plate slides right out. This seems like a very solid design, surely capable of holding a fairly heavy DSLR with the ballhead remaining locked down nice and tight.
>> Center column
The column is hexagonal, not round. It feels solid when it's tightened. It can't be turned within its housing, but when you have it upright, you can use the swivel adjustment elsewhere on the tripod.
>> Release levers for changing leg angles
I'm used to seeing levers that stick out at the tops of tripods' legs—you push them inward or pull them downward to change the legs' angles. Some have a pretty flimsy feel to them. The Vanguard tripod has wide push-levers instead, mounted flush to the sides of the legs rather than projecting out from them. This arrangement works very well, and there's no metal gizmo sticking out the sides of the tripod to snag on anything. Thumbs up for this feature. (If it matters: the legs move silently as you change angles—no loud CLICKs.)
>> Tilting center column design
Some reviews I've seen complain a bit about the steps needed to move the center column from vertical into tilt "mode". Judging by video reviews, Vanguard's later models seem easier to tilt.
But it isn't _that_ much more work. Set the column at the desired angle, then lock it by tightening a lever. With the lever down, the column locks securely and without any "slop". To unlock it, slide a small plastic slider a short distance. This frees the tightening lever, which you then lift to change the angle.
Moving the column from vertical to "tilt"—or removing it entirely when you want to reverse it—does not require removing the spring-mounted hook at the end of the column. Thanks for that, Vanguard.
When the column is in tilt "mode," you can swing it around until it's parallel to the vertical axis of the tripod. Then, adjust the distance from head to ground via a single tightening knob. Thus for reversing the column you don't have to pull it all the way out of its housing and then re-insert it upside down.
>> Flip-lock levers for extending the legs
I have one tripod with inexpensive-looking and -feeling levers, and they worry me. But the Vanguard's levers seem very well made. The tool supplied with the tripod enables you to tighten them if need be.
This model has only two flip-locks per leg to get to its rated maximum height. That's great.
>> Monopod capability
It's all the rage in recent tripod designs and it sure is handy. The Vanguard does not have such a feature. The legs can't be removed. But I knew that when I bought it. Nice to have, but not a deal-breaker.
>> Carrying it around
Vanguard doesn't make the tripod to be folded back onto itself after the fashion of Three Legged Thing tripods. But, you can shorten it a lot by moving the center column to tilt "mode", extending it all the way, turning it parallel to the legs, and locking the tilt angle. This shortens it quite a bit. (If you fold it up this way, you probably shouldn't pick it up by holding only the center column. Hold the legs instead.)
>> Nice touch
Good deal: All three legs have foam wraps.
>> Carrying bag? Nope.
Nice to have, but not a deal-breaker.
>> Nit-pick: Documentation
The documentation is almost entirely pictorial and the diagrams are not the easiest to read. You do, so to speak, get the picture after a while, but the documentation could stand improving. (And hello, Vanguard: The PDF version of the documentation needs to be output again at higher resolution!)
>> Nit-pick: Set screws to hold the ballhead in place
While this is a good idea to keep the ballhead from becoming unscrewed accidentally, it's a bit of a pain to loosen and tighten those set-screws within the mounting plate. But ok—it isn't as difficult as landing a rover on Mars. You won't have to do it often. The "multi-tool" supplied with the tripod comes with an Allen key of the necessary size.
>> Overall impression <<
This reasonably priced tripod is well made and very solid. The tilting design is excellent. I expect that the product will last a long time.
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