The tripod is two pounds lighter than the one I've been using, and much shorter when folded up. I really like that! However, when I tilt the camera head toward the locking nut, it can interfere with the base of the quick release plate. I found that you can pull out the spring loaded handle to reposition its position, but there are two problems with doing that. 1. It's tedious and hard to get in there with my large hands, and; 2. I'm right handed and it seems like the handle is attached on the wrong side. I have to work it with my left hand. Flipping the camera over to swing the handle to the right brings it in front of the camera where it's hard to see, not to mention that the ball slot (used to release the ball stem and tilt the camera forward) is now on the back of the camera. There it's pretty much useless unless you're taking photos of the sky. I considered swapping the Manfrotto ball head from my other tripod since it has the clamping handle on the back and is easy to access, but I felt like I would lose the weight advantage, so I probably wouldn't have bought it if I had known how inconveniently placed all the control/clamping handles were, but again, I like the weight savings. WEEKS LATER: After using this tripod for a while, I'm getting used to avoiding the design issues that caused the glitches. However, as a product designer myself, I realize that "workaround" shouldn't be in a designer's vocabulary. K&F contacted me and told me they discussed the design issues with the team, so I've added a star to the review.