I've been looking at tripods lately since my current one has a nice creep to it with my heavier lenses and I'm not sure if the benefits of either really outweigh the other. I curently have one of both and they both have their merits but I was kind of wondering what all of you think of it.

Rapid Pro's: quick and easy to adjust and less expensive

Rapid Con's: requires two hands at all times and is awkward to use while looking through viewfinder

Geared Pro's: quick and easy to adjust, can use one hand to adjust height while looking through viewfinder and easy to maintain height before tightening

Geared Con's: more expensive

Any other Pro's and Con's I'm missing?

I've used geared columns but have never desired to own one. I currently use my tripod without any center column.

Your poll sucks.

NO center column FTW!
They're shaky at best, so unless you need that height with the legs full out you shouldn't use them anyway. I have yet to miss it with the 2 years with my current legs. Lighter and more stable FTW.

Ben, do you have some kind of center column delete? I have the Kirk center post replacement for my Gitzo, it has a bubble level in it!

I have a gitzo that comes w/o the center post on it's own. And it has the bubble in it OEM y0!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/l...ges/475949.jpg

I use the center column a lot when I decide to shoot macro, so I couldn't do without it.

But, I could never use a "geared" one, that just sounds weird. I rarely put it up more than a couple inches anyways (to give me more room).

I rarely move mine up either. My next tripod will have a 2 piece center column, which I will remove the bottom half of it so I can get my tripod to the ground for some North shore sweeping landscapes.

I actually cut my center column on my first tripod to about 5 inches. Since I only use the legs for adjusting height, I figured what the hell and it worked great, i could get my camera so low i had to lay on my stomach to compose.

In my opinion, the geared columns seem cheesy, kind of like the cheap tripods that have "Stability" bars that fold out from the center column to the legs.

Yeah, I didn't realize geared was actually more expensive. It seems way cheaper to me.

Hmmm. Are twist locks on the legs as inconvenient as they look?

Originally Posted by Geekybiker

Hmmm. Are twist locks on the legs as inconvenient as they look?

I bought a small, lightweight Carbon fiber tripod for travelling that has twist locks recently. I won't buy a tripod without them now. way more convenient and easy to use.

I picked these up for $74 shipped. Sturdy, just a bit small for every day use, perfect for travelling as they are small enough to fit in a Suitcase.
http://www.amvona.com/?page=shop/fly...roduct_id=3000