3 Legged Thing Tripods

Amp34

Amp34

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I started a thread earlier about travel tripods http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=448423

However I came across a company I've never heard of and was wondering if anyone has any experience with them. They look great pieces of kit for travel tripods, light, pack down small and have a good load carrying capacity however they seem to have gone up in price significantly in the last couple of years.. Still worth it?

http://www.3leggedthing.com
 
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Amp34 said:
I started a thread earlier about travel tripods http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=448423

However I came across a company I've never heard of and was wondering if anyone has any experience with them. They look great pieces of kit for travel tripods, light, pack down small and have a good load carrying capacity however they seem to have gone up in price significantly in the last couple of years.. Still worth it?
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as far as in know there tripods and other accessories are made exceptionally well and the build quality is fantastic.. I'm currently looking into the 'Brian' (all there tripods are named)
Just do a you tube search and you will find loads out about them :thumbs:
 
Just Dave said:
What 3 Legged Thing Tripods? how would we know that! surely it would have been better to say that in the thread as it just looks like title of a thread
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I know what you mean lol. Yeah the company is called '3leggedthing' I thought they were pretty well known if I'm honest, do a search and check them out! There good! Search google and YouTube and will find out what there tripods can do! :) I'm saving for one!
 
Just Dave said:
What 3 Legged Thing Tripods? how would we know that! surely it would have been better to say that in the thread as it just looks like title of a thread
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Well in some ways if you don't know that was a name then you're probably not going to be able to comment on their products.:)

On the other hand I will add the website to the OP just in case people are interested without needing to search for the website.
 
CarlEvans said:
I know what you mean lol. Yeah the company is called '3leggedthing' I thought they were pretty well known if I'm honest, do a search and check them out! There good! Search google and YouTube and will find out what there tripods can do! :) I'm saving for one!
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Ta as said Ive not heard of them hence the confusion, but will look at the link give by the OP :thumbs:
 
CarlEvans said:
as far as in know there tripods and other accessories are made exceptionally well and the build quality is fantastic.. I'm currently looking into the 'Brian' (all there tripods are named)
Just do a you tube search and you will find loads out about them :thumbs:
Click to expand...

They do look very nice indeed, I'm interested in the Adrian and the Brian too, the Adrian perhaps more than the Brian due to cost. Not sure about going for a head as well though, the legs seem ok priced without and at least with a Manfrotto head you can use the same QR plates, just depends if they can fold down still. I've had a google and there are one or two reviews, not many though! I will have a quick youtube search as well.
 
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Are these the ones named after well known rock guitarists?

Guessing they are with Brian and Adrian, pretty sure I saw an Eddie advertised in a magazine

So that would be May, Smith and Van Halen then

Why no Jimi, Ritchie, Angus or even better a Slash?
 
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I saw them at Focus at the beginning of the year, if I hadn't had to spend so much sorting my car out I would have bought one by now. I was looking at the Jack model
 
Amp34 said:
They do look very nice indeed, I'm interested in the Adrian and the Brian too, the Adrian perhaps more than the Brian due to cost. Not sure about going for a head as well though, the legs seem ok priced without and at least with a Manfrotto head you can use the same QR plates, just depends if they can fold down still. I've had a google and there are one or two reviews, not many though! I will have a quick youtube search as well.
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Cost is the issue with these 'things' :lol: jared polin does a pretty decent review on the Brian but there should be plenty more.
 
I was looking at the Jack model
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Who is Jack then?

Can only think of Bruce, but he played Bass

Just had a look at their website, what's with the crazy long centre column on the travel tripods?

Bedfordshire is mentioned, but guessing they are made in China or somewhere very similar, look a bit pricy to me for far east kit. Fancy colours and names probably being the only difference between them and other similar cheaper products on Ebay and the like.
 
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CarlEvans said:
Cost is the issue with these 'things' :lol: jared polin does a pretty decent review on the Brian but there should be plenty more.
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Annoyingly the seem to have gone up in price significantly fairly recently, the Brian seems to have gone from £270 with head to £350 ish!
 
tijuana taxi said:
Who is Jack then?

Bedfordshire is mentioned, but guessing they are made in China or somewhere very similar, look a bit pricy to me for far east kit. Fancy colours and names probably being the only difference between them and other similar cheaper products on Ebay and the like.
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Careful what you say fella, I hinted at such a thing on another forum a while back and a representative of the company joined and was thoroughly unpleasant about it.

It turns out the tripods are reported to be manufactured in the UK and apparently folk can even get a look round their factory.

However I judge a company very much on their public image and in that instance 3LT put themselves in a very bad light. Rather than take an opportunity to promote themselves when I apologised for my error they resorted to intimidation attempts - and lost themselves a fair few sales from me & other forum members as a result. Their products may be excellent, but based on my experience with them as a company I would never buy from them.
 
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I've had one of these for a little while now. Great bit of kit. Sturdy, stable, light, well made and folds up quite small for travelling. I done a fair bit hunting around before settling on one of these. Mine is the Adrian with head.

Richard I also remember such an event. Not a finest hour.
 
They're made in China, same as almost every other tripod these days comes from East Asia, with the notable exception of Manfrotto and Gitzo. Those are made in Italy, and both owned by the British Vitec Group, so that's as close to a British made tripod as you'll get.*

3 Legged Things are good tripods, marketed by the same folks as Elemental studio flash.

* Actually I think Benbo (not Benro) tripods are made in Britain.
 
Careful what you say fella, I hinted at such a thing on another forum a while back and a representative of the company joined and was thoroughly unpleasant about it.
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Thanks for the advice and if my guess was wrong apologies to 3LT

Would have thought a reasoned response might have been advisable especially if it cost sales.
 
RichardtheSane said:
Careful what you say fella, I hinted at such a thing on another forum a while back and a representative of the company joined and was thoroughly unpleasant about it.

It turns out the tripods are reported to be manufactured in the UK and apparently folk can even get a look round their factory.

However I judge a company very much on their public image and in that instance 3LT put themselves in a very bad light. Rather than take an opportunity to promote themselves when I apologised for my error they resorted to intimidation attempts - and lost themselves a fair few sales from me & other forum members as a result. Their products may be excellent, but based on my experience with them as a company I would never buy from them.
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I wonder if they loose sales by using only male names for their gear? Perhaps they don't realise that women take photos as well as men.
 
tijuana taxi said:
Who is Jack then?

Can only think of Bruce, but he played Bass

Just had a look at their website, what's with the crazy long centre column on the travel tripods?

Bedfordshire is mentioned, but guessing they are made in China or somewhere very similar, look a bit pricy to me for far east kit. Fancy colours and names probably being the only difference between them and other similar cheaper products on Ebay and the like.
Click to expand...

Do some research and you will find out about them as a company, where there products are made and what the tripods can do.
 
The company is quality
I got "Kirk" from them.. very heavy Tripod as my sponsor in St.Helens couldnt afford the price they charge for Graphite.
Thier CS outside the UK leaves alot to be desired unless your way up the top of the pro shooters.
I wish Danny & the team all the best but for me, Ill stick with something lighter and less "fiddly"
 
jkp said:
I've had one of these for a little while now. Great bit of kit. Sturdy, stable, light, well made and folds up quite small for travelling. I done a fair bit hunting around before settling on one of these. Mine is the Adrian with head.

Richard I also remember such an event. Not a finest hour.
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Don't suppose you could weight it for me could you..? I'm intrigued to know how much it weighs without the head (is that the 1350g they mention) and also without the centre column. Not essential but if you have time...:lol:

Otherwise the more important question, what do you shoot on it? Any 300mm lenses for example, heavy kit? Thanks!

HoppyUK said:
They're made in China, same as almost every other tripod these days comes from East Asia, with the notable exception of Manfrotto and Gitzo. Those are made in Italy, and both owned by the British Vitec Group, so that's as close to a British made tripod as you'll get.*

3 Legged Things are good tripods, marketed by the same folks as Elemental studio flash.

* Actually I think Benbo (not Benro) tripods are made in Britain.
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Are you sure the component parts (for example the carbon tubes) aren't made in China then cut and assembled in the UK? There seems to be a lot of suggestions on this from made in china to just being rebadged chinese generics.. If they really are made in the UK then I can see why the owners may occasionally lose it a little with lots of people saying that they are basically frauds...
 
Amp34 said:
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Are you sure the component parts (for example the carbon tubes) aren't made in China then cut and assembled in the UK? There seems to be a lot of suggestions on this from made in china to just being rebadged chinese generics.. If they really are made in the UK then I can see why the owners may occasionally lose it a little with lots of people saying that they are basically frauds...
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They are manufacturered, made, assembled, produced, whatever, 100% in China. The UK contribution is cosmetic design only. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, they're good tripods.

Say what you like about the marketing, but the products are quality. I've tried most of them and made 3-Legged-Thing a best buy in a group tripod review I did for Digital SLR magazine recently. They're not Gitzo quality, but neither are the prices, and they're certainly up there with Giottos, Benro and Manfrotto.

Any new tripod brand today would be mad to have stuff made anywhere outside East Asia, unless they're Really Right Stuff and can charge $1000 for a tripod with a Made in USA label.

Giottos, Slik, Velbon, Red Snapper, Vanguard, Benro, Induro, Hama, Kood, Feisol etc etc, all made in China or East Asia. In my conversations with Danny at 3LT, I suggested (semi-seriously!) they should actively promote the Chinese made aspect and call their top of the range model 'Mic' for Made in China - IMHO it says quality and value.
 
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tijuana taxi said:
Thanks for the advice and if my guess was wrong apologies to 3LT

Would have thought a reasoned response might have been advisable especially if it cost sales.
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Indeed, at that time the thread was on page on of the google search not far below the 3LT website. It could have been turned into a really good opportunity for them... oh well.

What amuses me is despite all that, Richard (Hoppy) actually has info from 3LT saying they are made in the far east after all. Why couldn't they just have been honest from the outset?

Well I still wish them luck... bar that incident they seem to present themselves well.
 
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A quote from their blog, about a trip to Ningbo in China, the implication here is that they're made there:

I boarded the aircraft to Ningbo. Ningbo has been dubbed &#8220;tripod city&#8221; by industry insiders, as tripod manufacturing is to Ningbo, what concrete cows are to Milton Keynes. Ironically, we don&#8217;t use a tripod manufacturer to make our products. We had so much of our Intellectual Property stolen from our first generation by one of these manufacturers that we vowed never to give any one factory a complete product to make. As such, we have one factory that makes our mag alloy components, another that does all of the stainless steel parts, and another that makes our carbon tubing. We then have a fairly convoluted process by which all of these components are rounded up and assembled at a separate facility.

http://www.3leggedthing.com/blogsite/
 
viewfromthenorth said:
A quote from their blog, about a trip to Ningbo in China, the implication here is that they're made there:

I boarded the aircraft to Ningbo. Ningbo has been dubbed “tripod city” by industry insiders, as tripod manufacturing is to Ningbo, what concrete cows are to Milton Keynes. Ironically, we don’t use a tripod manufacturer to make our products. We had so much of our Intellectual Property stolen from our first generation by one of these manufacturers that we vowed never to give any one factory a complete product to make. As such, we have one factory that makes our mag alloy components, another that does all of the stainless steel parts, and another that makes our carbon tubing. We then have a fairly convoluted process by which all of these components are rounded up and assembled at a separate facility.

http://www.3leggedthing.com/blogsite/
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In which case, I may have to ammend my assertion that 3LT tripods are made in China. That was based on the original 3LT tripod line, and if that's changed they could be made/manufacturered/assembled etc anywhere in East Asia.

I really don't think it matters. Making a decent tripod is not rocket science, all you need is sound design, quality materials, and precision engineering.
 
Reading between the various lines...

Sounds like they design the tripods here in the UK, then have the individual components made in separate factories in China, then assembled in another one.

Which is fine, once again shows evidence that they are meticulous in making sure their stuff is built correctly.
 
That would explain why someone mentioned they were apparently a rebranded version of horusbennu tripods. I'm guessing they are the equivilent the Benro is to Gitzo.

They may still all be assembled in the UK though, either way it doesn't really bother me, I just want a good lightweight tripod that works!
 
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