SmallRig x Potato Jet TRIBEX Hydraulic Carbon Fiber Tripod

Great idea that is defeated by its unreliability

Arrived and worked great out of the bag. Stood it up collapsed it a few times, it's a good concept. The next day I brought it to a shoot (indoors) and set it up to shoot. One leg would not collapse back down even though it had the night before when I received it. I couldn't get the tripod lowered enough for my interview shot and was nearly an hour away from home without another backup tripod. Interview shot was way too high and looked terrible. Went back to the studio and now the other two legs won't collapse either. Sand can't be the issue because I didn't use it outside whatsoever, yet when the first stage collapses you can hear grinding as if there is debris within the legs somehow. I want this product to work and everything I heard around it made me pretty excited for it. This is one of the biggest disappointments I have ever purchased as it appeared reliable on arrival and then failed me on a shoot the very next day. I am going to attempt to return this and hope that this is just a defective product but with all the other issues I have heard around this tripod, I would recommend people to just get a standard tripod instead.