Got it through - excellent piece of kit.
Never used a ball-head before but I'm quite impressed. Obvioulsy a much more expensive one would have a bit more fluidity but this works fine in all directions. It has a locking lever to lock the head at whatever angle you need and the quick release plate (you get a spare with it) has a brilliant quick-release catch and a tightening screw to anchor it firmly in place once attached. The plate just slides in, rather than you having to tilt it into place. The acmera in the shot os a EOS D60 to give you some referenbce to size.
The ball head is massive but this means the base plate is equally big so supports the camera well. The plate is rubberised too for good grip. Quality seems very good.
The centre column is circular unlike those on manfrottos, so does spin in the hole a bit, but there's a good-sized locking lever to tighten it down. The centre column is about 30cm long, so there's a little extra height given, but it means you can get pretty low down. It has a cap on the bottom so the centre column doesn't pull out. I'm sure if you wanted to adapt it with a hacksaw to shorten it for really low level shots it wouldn't do any harm.
The main sections of the tripod are made from a cast, powder-coated metal that's really tough. The legs are aluminium and not being too long (there are three telescopic sections) they don't look like they'll warp or bend. Maximum height is just over 1.5m and then you have the extra 30cm or so from the centre column. I would say this is about right for that majority of people to get the camera up to eye-line.
The legs don't use the mechanism for splaying them independantly that the Manfrottos have (that ridged button that you push up), instead they have a knurled bar that's spring-loaded and you push it to allow the legs to pivot. Two of the legs come with neoprene wraps on them.
Ther quick-release on the legs is as good as I've seen. No plastic involved. You recxeive a couple of allen keys to tighten up the bolts holding all the clips and whatnot together - mine needed no adjustment straight from the box. It doesn't come with spiked feet – each leg carries rubberised feet that swivel on a ball that runs on a thread coming out of the leg. I suppose you could uncrew these feet and just use the threaded bolts at the end of each leg as a spike on soft ground.
You also receive a carry bag with the tripod . The only thing missing is an anchor point ont he main body and on the legs to attach a strap if you don't want to carry the tripod in the case. That's not a big thing to me and it's not a feature I used on my Manfrotto either.
Have tried it with my D200 (with grip) and it holds it fine and with the Siggy 70-200mm attached via the tripod mount on the lens, it's equally stable. I don't own any really long, big, heavy lenses to test it with. It has a 2.5kg rating.
All told it cost me a few pence under £50, which is less than some heads on their own. I ordered it Monday afternoon about 5pm and it ws here first thing Tuesday - great comms through e-mail to tell me the ordered has been despatched and super-fast delivery.
All in all, I was a bit dubious about ordering a cheap tripod that was an unknown brand but this really has surprised me and has left me thinking why I didn't order one before.
As a rating this tripod definitely deserves 10/10
thanks for the review.