Velbon tripod, any good?

Perhaps not!
 
This seems very expensive. Amazon have the Sherpa 250 for just over £50, and the 600 for about £70. The 250 has a geared column, which I don't like.

Jessops had the 600 on special offer for around £30 a year ago. I didn't manage to get one at the time - we live in the sticks - but I bought one from a TP member. It's fine, and I've had no problems with it at all, but I've never used a Redsnapper or a Manfrotto. These are the brands most people seem to recommend.
 
The only problem with, "I've bought this, please validate my decision" threads is, what do you do if someone reckons you've bought a crock after you've already bought it? :D

I have an old Velbon Delta bought second-hand a couple of years ago (amongst several other tripods).. looks essentially very similar to the Sherpa except it doesn't have the geared column (a geared column can be very convenient for indoor work). The only criticism I have of this type of Velbon design is that the legs have a fixed angle of operation that restricts the minimum working height (minimum being more important to me than maximum, your needs may vary) unless you reverse the centre column and hang the camera upside down (works with a DSLR, less convenient with a WLF). However, the fixed leg angle makes for a very stable platform. And I do like the Velbon pan/tilt heads.
 
The Sherpa 600 has three leg positions, which helps a bit. I don't know about the 250. I agree with you about the pan/tilt heads and, by and large, I prefer them to ball heads. Depends what you want to do with them I suppose.
 
I havnt bought one work did and i was looking at the redsnapper ones but this veron looks ok so wondered which i would be better off getting.
 
I got one in the Jessops sale a while back. Think it was £20. It is just a decent basic tripod. The pan head is quite nice and was worth the £20 alone. If it had been full price I would have looked elsewhere.
 
Velbon seem to be popular with the birders at my local patch.
 
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