I have just published the reviews for the MeFoto GlobeTrotter Carbon Fiber and Aluminum models. These are mid grade tripods, and they perform and handle as such. Their best feature is a very compact folded length, enabling travel with these tripods. They are still quite bulky, but if overall length and budget are your constraining factors, these could be good tripods for you.
Unfortunately, I have lost count of how man
y friends have brought me their broken Mef
oto tripods to try and fix for them. I can’t rec
ommend them due to their seriously poor b
uild quality.
For a trustworthy, compact and lightweight t
ravel tripod, check out the Slik Lite CF -422
or 522. Only ~2lbs including the head, and
much stiffer etc.