BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK, MANFROTTO - KIRK COMBO
OPINIONS:
When evaluating tripods I found out purely from a writers viewpoint, there's probably as many opinions about tripods than there are Wildebeest during the annual migration.
And some of the things I hear could make a laughing Hyena cry. As with many, the Crocs are waiting at the Zambezi river crossing. Like the Wildebeest and the Crocs, the sounds of a Nikon D3 and a 400mm lens hitting pavement bears a similarity of a neck crunching shot from the Croc.
Most statements I read on the forums are:
A) Carefully copied "points of light" statements made by the manufacturer and then repeated to justify spending so much on something used so little.
B) Some carefully constructed epitaphs depicting and justifying how much money the writer blew on his new kick stand. Mostly and especially tuned to his wife who just looked at the credit card bill.
C) His commentary based on paragraphs gleaned from "A" gave us the opinion "I paid more than you did" thus it is and I am better, and my wife believes it so it is true.
D) Theories and opinions should be formed on the basis of the rules of success, failure, personal trials and even economics, all morphed into the written word and then, only then get adopted as good opinions. Thats not what happens at times. "more is supposed to be better", "I paid more thus I am better.
CUTTING THE CHAFF WITH STONE RULES
Long heavy lenses based on the subject matter determine the need for the tripod. Anything over 200 mm and/or with a converter needs the tripod. You look up and notice the sun has gone down. Looking down you see lots of dark, you can't see your feet. (a true clue). You need the tripod. You are using very slow shutter speeds to accentuate something in the picture like the motion in a waterfall. You need the tripod. You wish to avoid camera shake especially for large prints where "bad" is bigger. You need the tripod.
No tripod is perfect, it hasn't been invented yet. For they are all either under built, or over built and worse over priced and under-built. Rarely does the right one come out of the box unless you really think money buys perfection. I have seen the legs locked up on many a 800 dollar XXXXX.
WHEN SOMETHING HAS THEIR EYE ON YOU

Tripods are great for long lenses when what you are is "edible". Lets take MAX for example, Max was old, about 12-14 or so, thats ancient for male lions, 10 is well into social security in the wild. His age is not exactly known as he could not produce a social security card. He tipped the scales at 360-380 lb. and was the Lord and Master of his domain. Cute…he smiled a lot.
TAMPA FL (AP) — A zookeeper whose arm was bitten off by a friendly smiling Lion at Busch Gardens had been feeding meat to the animal as part of a training exercise minutes before the attack, park officials said Monday.
Surgeons were unable to reattach 21-year-old Amanda Bourassa's arm following Sunday's attack, which occurred as she took her parents and boyfriend on a behind-the-scenes tour of the animal's sleeping quarters.
State wildlife investigators said witnesses indicated Bourassa may have poked part of her hand or a finger through a 1.5-inch opening between the bars when the 364-pound lion grabbed her. Her right arm was severed near the elbow.
The attack occurred outside the view of tourists as Bourassa was giving a private tour available only to zookeepers' family members. The theme park suspended such tours Monday, said Glenn Young, the park's vice president of zoological operations. Busch Gardens officials said the 12-year-old lion named Max would not be destroyed, but said the amusement park's safety policies would be reviewed.
A spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said an initial probe found no violations in how the lion was being caged. The story of biting the hand that feeds you is alive and well. I had briefly spoken with her a couple weeks before it happened. Even with fourteen - fifteen years of human encounter, Max just did his thing. Unfortunately Max passed on in 2009.
NOTE: You handle meat treats and then place your hand in the wrong place. On a much smaller scale, a house-cat named "Abigail" who I am familiar with finds her treats more by smell and that could be the same cause reaction by MAX who is 250 times her size but still a cat. Thus many animal experts tell you to feed animals by placing food near them and not feed from the hand. You never know, I was hand feeding a squirrel in Central Park in NY and he thought my finger was a peanut. You do not want rabies shots.
Basics: Nothing fancy, Nikon D200 with 70-200 VR with 1.7 converter and Tripod. My own combo tripod. And patience. Max like most cats does not take direction. I had to wait on him, finally a funny story about a Hyena got him laughing, no problem, take your time.
I NEEDED A NEW TRIPOD
We all want the best for ourselves and we all have a different version of best. For "Best" really means best suited at the time, best suited for your budget, and best suited to support and integrate with your gear. Obviously as your gear changes so does the tripod.
In my case I needed a new tripod since much of my system involved around one type of Quick Release which fails miserably with the Nikon long glass rotating tripod collars. I had gotten locked into proprietary gear and did not like the setup, frankly, and this is my opinion, it's dangerous. I use the Nikon D3's/D300 series with some longer heavier lenses like the 70-200 and the 400's sometimes with converters. I guess that there's always something that can be done to something to improve things.
That's called an upgrade, the act of taking something to a higher level from a moderately acceptable or feloniously faulty level. Bringing sub level products to a higher level is why the aftermarket does so well in the photography business.
It is also the aftermarket whereas sub level products are made cheaper for price points, and guess what, You take a fall, thrown to the Crocs like yesterdays chicken.
LIGHT MY TRIPOD
Photography is the study of light and the tripod is the natural extension of the camera to capture natural light. It is both the most respected piece of equipment and at times the most hated. In it's simplistic version it serves one purpose. The tripod has a purpose here.
It extends the ability of the camera to record the image under diminishing conditions. It gets a bad rap as it snags on things, gets caught in doors and when not properly set up cause’s severe damage to your camera and your car door if you happen to close it on the tripod. What exactly does the tripod do? It increases the range of the camera in terms of lighting and distance in diminishing conditions.
The PERFECT TRIPOD: LOVE THOSE LEGS:

HAND WARMERS
I gave little thought for the hand warmers for those frigid Florida winters with the Carbon legs, BUT those hand warmers are nice when you shoulder the tripod with camera attached and the legs don't dig into your shoulder. They possibly also may aid in cutting down vibration. My scientific friend explained to me.
CARBON FIBER
So I went Carbon fiber with three leg sections. I had to try carbon fiber. Trekkers like four and some even five sections on a backpack. Understandable! But I believe less is more, as each joint gives a little. Three sections is less twist in, more stability, less cost too. The significant savings in weight with Carbon Fiber over aluminum is negligible, it's more of a selling point. Frankly I found the aluminum faster to set up and collapse. With aluminum I used gravity. With carbon fiber I had to close the legs manually.
NO PLASTIC
The 055 MF3 arrived with the OPTIONAL leg warmer and the optional super short center head support. Basically it is steady as a rock even with a fairly heavy camera aboard, works well, very well made, easy to maintain, does vertical and horizontal, two legs on ground, one against a wall, you can adjust for wear and REASONABLY priced.
The PERFECT TRIPOD - The HEAD / QUICK RELEASE:
NEGATIVE CLOSE CALL
I had on hand a couple of Bogen Compact Ball Heads Part 486RC from a previous tripod so I decided to use one of them on my Bogen leg package together and grabbed my D2H and Nikon 70-200 VR, converter, and headed out for Busch Gardens. It was almost a disaster.
The lower phenolic ball head of the 486RC works fine, but the rectangle Quick Release is a dog. It, the plate part, will swivel, and it can work loose. You can lose a $2300.00 lens. It was sheer under kill. The bigger lenses have too much leverage for the head of the RC2 release. I tried anti-seize bike tube rubber, nope, I made an intermediary plate, nope, and milled out the RC2, but it raised the whole thing too high. Too many connections to make this work. This is a bad mix on an otherwise good unit.
SOLUTION
I stripped off the quick release plate top of the Ball-Head 486, it unscrews after a few seconds of hot hair dryer (wear a glove if needed so you do not burn your hands) if it is stuck. I made something else out of it. I have the only multi-tester with a quick release.
The 486RC top is Manfroto's receiver for their plate, the 3157N. It leaves a nice 3/8 screw thread which is the standard of the industry. I ordered from KIRK ENTERPRISES a new Quick Release bottom plate with SWISS-ARCA type mount, 3/8 inch threads, a little Locktite blue and I'm in business.
I already had the ball head so it was the connection I was looking to upgrade. Let me repeat myself. For all intensive purpose the Bogen ball head is fine, I did not like the Quick Release (QR) setup that comes on the Bogen preferring the Swiss-Arca style.
The cost was $85.00 and you may order it direct from KIRK on the web and it works on the Bogen - Manfrotto ball head like that glove worked at the O.J. Simpson trial. So now we have the best legs for the buck, a fairly good working head with the 486 and an ARCA SWISS mount for flexibility and strength. The specialty plates I ordered from KIRK for the cameras and lenses will eliminate two other parts and compress the whole rig.
The plate shown below fits Nikons and goes on the bottom of your camera, there are about 80 different ones but the advantage is no-slip, no twist, no fail. The bigger 70-200 has it's own plate or you can get the combined part as shown below for a few dollars more.
In other words: The problem with Bogens Quick Release Mount and the Nikon foot is too many components stacked in a column. The combo creates a series of parts that can come loose at:
a) the tripod collar
b) the foot that connects to the tripod collar
c) the plate that connects to the foot
d) the same plate that now connects to the head.
Sounds like the shin bone connected to the leg bone connected to the hip bone connected to the.... Too many connections and too many chances to work loose and crash. Lens repairs can cost as much as bone doctors.
All in all, four connections. I couldn't live with this. It never stayed tight, I would not leave the house without a pair of pliers in my back pocket. The new setup is simple, the lens, is now coupled to KIRK ARCA head on tripod. I eliminated a plate, a weak head, a weak tripod mount and three 1/4 x 20 screws.
MORE PLATES
Nikon 70-200 VR
I repeat, the Kirk solution removes two problems. The First “too many connections that can loosen and drop the gear”.
The Kirk Plate eliminates one complete plate and head assembly from the "stack", thus you get more stability and less top weight and wobbles. Second: It does lower the profile.
The Kirk foot is heavier and more robust than the Nikon foot which with one touch can send the lens slipping off.
SCREWED AGAIN

LARGER NIKON COLLAR SCREW
Nikons screw for the rotating collar on the 70-200 VR is abysmal. Again KIRK comes up with a solution and it works great because you eliminate the need for a rotating bracket. Just loosen and turn the lens comfortably. it gives you leverage. Less parts more fun. Incredibly, simple solutions from Kirk.

DIY CORNER:
Here is what we do with leftover plastic one inch wide. We make hangers for the tripods, monopods and light stands.
Just bevel the edges with a file, add a connector and a 1/4 x 20 loop at the top and a carabiner from Home-us Deport-us.
In my studio/workshop all tripods, lightstands, monopods and booms hang from these devices and variants in a closet. Your gear lasts longer and I hate putting stuff in bags. No warping.