Benro Mach3 £213/$260

The Mach3 is a stickler for tradition

Benro has been designing increasingly innovative, exotic and diverse tripods over recent years, but this isn’t one of them. The idea behind the Mach3 is to keep things simple, combining a conventional feature set with high-grade materials. As such, the legs don’t swing up for compact storage, which is a fundamental difference from the Benro Travel Angel, also on test. The Mach3 TMA28AHD2A kit comes with a 3-way head, but a TMA28AB2 kit is also available, with Benro’s B2 ball head.

Although very traditional, the Mach3 isn’t entirely devoid of clever tricks. One of the legs can be unscrewed and used in conjunction with the centre column as a monopod. However, the 3-way head makes the conversion less than ideal. Smart extras include interchangeable rubber pads and metal spikes for the feet, and everything’s supplied in a smart padded soft case.

As with heads in all but the Manfrotto kits on test, the Benro comes with an Arca-swiss compatible quick-release plate. It’s a long one in this case, providing a particularly good platform for both camera bodies and the mounting feet of big telephoto lenses.

Performance

Thanks to having four rather than three leg sections, the Mach3 folds down to a reasonably compact 60cm, despite lacking swing-up legs. The triple-angle facility for the legs is quick and easy to operate, and a secondary short centre column enables very low-level shooting. Stability is very good, even at the maximum operating height of 167cm. Accurate levelling is also made possible by a bubble level on the tripod legs and three spirit levels on the head.