Well, I got my Benbo trekker tripod today and it seems like a very nice tripod. I followed the directions and had no problem setting it up in normal tripod mode. When I extended the legs so as to get close to the floor, I had some difficulty locking it down. That may be just my reluctance to really crank down on the locking handle for fear of stripping the threads or it may just requre a little bit of a break in, I’m not sure. Overall though, I like it a lot, a very nice piece of kit and appears to be well put together.
I also got the Sirui K-20X ball head. This is the first ball head I’ve purchased, so I don’t have any basis for comparison with other brands, but it seems to be a very well constructed piece of gear and seems built to last. I hope so, I’d much prefer to spend my money on trips to take photographs than on the equipment necessary to capture the images. It will require an adaptor to use it on the Benbo, the stud on the trekker is 1/4” dia. and the hole in the K-20X is 3/8” dia., but the adapter is readily available on Amazon. For the present, I am using the ball head that came with the trekker, and will probably use the Sirui on my old tripod.