Sorry to be so rude but not just one but seven of the clips have fractured after most minimal of use with pocketable camera (I have several tripods, I know what hard use means). I repair the leg clasps each time with a cable tie. Then another one goes. Three years old. A disgrace to bear the name Manfrotto , hence my title. I use it for a flash mount now, that's all I will trust to it, it's a cheap second hand unit. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. BEWARE OF THE MANFOTTO BRAND. DO NOT TRUST AN EXPENSIVE CAMERA TO THEM. YOU WILL REGRET IT.

We have used the 785b tripod in our laboratory of material testing for 3 years – no problem occurred. Two years ago I have bough the 785b tripod for use by the amateur-photographer. The guy use it 3-4 hours a month at photo-sessions, with Nikon D700 (full frame DSLR), about 50%-50% in studio and at landscape shooting. Today the tripod is in the same condition as two years ago – all locks are operating, all legs are OK.

I agree with the other reviewer's -- the Manfrotto 785B falls apart after about a year of mild use. Cheap plastic -- the leg locks break rendering the tripod useless.

It is a shame too, because the design of this product is excellent, it is light and one of the fastest tripods to adjust of the several I own. Just seems like the material (plastic locks) is not strong enough. Manfrotto should offer a recall.

Bought this just over a year ago since I was looking for a compact tripod that I could stow in my carry-on luggage. Like others, found the leg clips to be flimsy with obvious weak points at the joint. Five of the twelve leg clips are now broken, and Manfrotto no longer sells just the replacement clips, which means you have to buy the whole leg assembly. What a joke, the price for three new leg assemblies comes out higher than the tripod!

Stay away from this! If you're looking for a compact tripod, try to find something with screw-lock legs rather than the flimsy plastic clips like on this one.

I should have researched this a bit more before my purchase, as it's a very common problem.

I can't believe the other reviewers bought the same product I did. The Manfrotto 785B is not intended to be built like a tank. That's the whole point of it. I have used mine extensively for six months and not one part of it has failed or broken. Shattered legs? The reviewer must have driven over his. This tripod is very light and compact but also very sturdy. The legs move out sideways like any tripod, but can also be extended fully sideways so that for instance you can have two legs on the floor and the third on a table top. I take a lot of pics in rivers, shores and streams and this tripod allows you to place each foot individually on three different rocks at different levels and still have the centre column vertical. Very useful. It has a quick-release plate which you can mount to your camera body and then quickly attach the camera on and off the tripod as you like. I bought spare mounts from the agents for other camera bodies. It has a spirit level. It has a very easy-to-use quick release handle for allowing you to pan or tilt the camera to get it level and then lock it in place by pushing one lever. Works very well. It has a ball and socket head. It has the ability to remove the vertical centre column and remount it from underneath so that the camera is now within the tripod legs. This is great for macro work. Someone really had a long hard think about how to build a good tripod before they designed this one. It's a compact, lightweight little 1,5m tripod, steady as a rock, packed with useful features and I would not swop it for anything. BUT - it is (after all) a lightweight. I wouldn't expect it to work well with a big heavy DSLR and a bazooka lens. As a compact tripod that you carry with you anywhere it's great, and always better than hand-held, but for heavy duty work you would have to look at something more sturdy in the Manfrotto range, or others.

It doesn't matter how cheap this tripod is. The sad fact is that despite the fact that it has some really nice features the quality of manufacture makes it completely useless.

My experience of this tripod lasted 5 minutes. I extended the legs and the action of locking the in place caused 4 of the 16 leg locks to shatter! I didn't actually get to the third leg before I stopped.

Why haven't Manfrotto recalled this appauling product?!