Gitzo Tripod Sham

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi All,
Just recieved my final response from Gitzo....I will be going into it more in depth in another thread tomorrow giving you the correspondences I have had with them.

Here is the short list.....all CF tripods will corrode in salt water and without the maintenance, will probably become useless or like mine, considered totaled and unrepairable.

You can use WD40 on the CF tripod....they do.

My final assesment which I will go into in depth on the next thread is to not buy any Gitzo CF tripod if you plan on using it in salt water. Why? There are now many more manufacturers out there that make CF tripods for $100's less than Gitzo or Manfrotto......if they are also going to fail, may as well save yourself some $$$ and get another less expensive model.
Personally, I will save myself some more money and go back to an aluminum tripod. I have an older Manfrotto, 14 years old, that I have placed in the same environment. All I have had to do in all those years is change 1 leg lock (i did it myself) for around $5. Only rinsed in fresh water and dried.

As you can see from above comments, the photography community has accepted this from Gitzo for many years now and I have always wondered why? Considering their stance and the cost of their tripods, I am now looking to other manufactureres who may have a better customer service.

Through my own personal experience I hope this lets you make your own informed choice B4 spending their money on a tripod!

A am now a former Gitzo tripod owner.

[Charles Glatzer]

Just an FYI-

http://www.uline.com/BL_2103/6-Mil-H...ty+Poly+Tubing

[Roman Kurywczak]

Great info and link Chas! How do you seal the ends......I want to add a link you gave me in my next post and a how to if you don't mind?
I want other to know their options!

[Don Lacy]

You can use WD40 on the CF tripod....they do.

Thanks for the clarification on this Roman, nice to know I have not been destroying my tripod over the last two years:)

[Roman Kurywczak]

To make informed choices when shopping.......more interesting reading on this thread regarding the tripods:
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...238#post512238

[Doug Campbell]

Has anyone ever bought a new car and received a manual that told you not to drive it into a tree?

[Gavin Spooner]

I live in Florida and have had many many visits to Little Estero Lagoon which has got to be one of the best spots in the country to destroy your gitzo in saltwater.

I had a Gitzo tripod leg snap. Lots of use in saltwater (with cleaning too) but i used it as a brace to lever myself up out of the water, which while i'm sure the leg was corroded, the weight of my 190lb body led to the failure.

I was able to get the entire leg replaced for around $130.

I then did some research and came across the drypods. This is a great solution. I'm still on my original set of sleeves (nearly 2 yrs). The best news was that Rod Wiley the developer of the drypods lives basically around the corner from me. I went and bought them out of his garage and had them cut short (i don't usually extend my legs more than 1 extension). No leaks except for when i have allowed the water to come above the sleeve length. In the bargain I got to meet Rod, an immensely accomplished photographer and great guy, and got to chat about his ghost orchids shots from Corkscrew sanctuary.

I agree. it does suck for such an expensive piece of equipment to fail and be replaced, but after learning of the saltwater maintenance requirements I realized this is an environment that tripods are not built for (except for the saltwater version). The maintenance was laborious but the drypods were a great cheap investment to protect my even greater investment in the gitzo legs.

cheers
Gavin

[Arthur Morris]

Here's the funniest part. The current Gitzo rebate offer shows a guy standing in saltwater with his tripod with waves breaking in the background. If they think that you even went within ten miles of the beach they void your warranty :)

[Arthur Morris]

As I believe that I have stated elsewhere, my experience is that the CF tripods do 1,000 times better in saltwater than the aluminum ones. I have been somewhat abusive to all of my current 3530s without any damage. So far.

Go ahead and buy the cheap ones and let us know how they do :)

And what's that about your not supposed to be driving your new car into a tree? I never hear that one before.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Here's the funniest part. The current Gitzo rebate offer shows a guy standing in saltwater with his tripod with waves breaking in the background. If they think that you even went within ten miles of the beach they void your warranty :)

That's funny! At the time when this all started.....the ad running was with a guy in the salt water.....they said it was for the ocean explorer only.......can you post a link to the promo? BTW.....been using my Gitzo tripod in water......but only fresh! :cool: