Everyone has their own ideas about tripods, as it should be. But I can recommend this: Check for used ones. I've recently bought some '70's vintage Vivtar tripods, Made in Japan, fabulous quality, two (the monstrous 1321, and the smaller 1240), both as new for less than 50 bucks total. These are sentimental faves for me for personal reasons. But while I was tripod shopping, there's lots of EBay and CL listings on any and every brand you can think of for way less than new. And if they're like new and complete, why not?