I have one. I love it. It's especially great for astrophotography. It's so easy to track the movement of the planets.

Excellent video! Thank you...I am going to get one!

Hi James. Great review. Thank you. You've convinced me to buy one😃

Nice video, James. The Benro is a nice cheap alternative to the more superior, but also more expensive, Arca Swiss D4

Great review mate! Much appreciated, and great tip on the L Bracket. Thank you.

Hmmm, can’t argue about the solidity and build quality as I haven’t owned one but using a plastic adjuster on a metal spline for the plate mount release/ tensioning doesn’t bode well in my opinion! Also noted quite a few people have looseness issues in all the movements fairly quickly! I just don’t think the build quality is there especially if used in outdoors conditions!

In the market for a geared head, and I first looked at Arca Swiss... then Cambo, Linhof and quickly realised these are prohibitively expensive! So I looked down the pecking order starting from Manfrotto upwards and discovered this - Benro 3-Way Geared Head. It was great to hear your thoughts after some time of use, and to learn that there are no major drawbacks with it. Looks like i'll be shopping for this one in the near future. Bye bye ball head....

Awesome review, thanks for the info!

whit i use it for is manually tracking jupiter, for sure an EQ mount would be the best there but i'll leave that until i get a scope, where the 3way works for me is you can make small adjustments and still be precise enough you can keep a planet in the frame, at 1200mm+ with a ball head you can very easily loose a planet as its very small in the frame even at 1200mm, the 3way geared allows you to make single motions rather than everything at once,

i think im gonna get this model for real estate photography. ball head seems to slow me down on the shoot too much.

Good gear head except the highest finger adjustment knob extends beyond the tripod plate's height to contact the bottom of my Gralfex SLR. Got rid of it for a Sun-Foto.

Good portrait lens, I used one for a self portrait on my Facebook page.

Thanks for the review! I'm looking into this head vs the benro hd3a pan head. I do a variety of photography as well as some videography. I was wondering how smooth the pan was with the geared head since it doesn't have an arm to assist with the movement. Thanks so much!! :)

Thank you this really helped. Its been a year since the release of the video. Does the Geared head still work fine ?

I bought one as soon a it came out and its is very good ---- the only issue is that i have worn it out; there is now slop/movement in all 3 axis. The other problem is they are now twice the price so close to competitors

Hi James..thanks for the review I have just ordered mine..it’s a quick question.,I have benro 3 series tma48cxl tripod..is there any extra safety lock available after screwing the head on the tripod or just screw is ok to hold the head with other gear.? I mean we can unintentionally unscrew the head while panning it left or right and that can cause a serious damage ..I am looking forward for your reply.

Hi James , nice bit of kit! Do you think I can mount a small telescope on it i.e. with a vixen dovetail mounting. Thanks

Hi James, you are using the canon 5ds (R) in this video with the Benro. Can you please advise what L plate you are using with this camera. A link to that would be most hepful too. thank you.. Michael

Prob best review I have seen of this head, toying with the idea of getting one rather than a ballhead, mainly shoot landscapes, would you recommend ?

I am using Benro Rhino tripod and i want to buy this product. Few days ago i found a Manfrotto MHXPRO-3WG in mint condition with very good price.Should i choose Manfrotto or this one?

I have a Benro geared head like you and I am a big fan. I use a l-bracket as well. After using it for a few years, my l-bracket starts to slide in de geared head. I can't turn the screw enough to fasten the l-bracket in the slider. Do you have a simular exprecience? Br Ivo.

Hi. Just got one but when I try to unlock , the locking wheel, a spring takes it back. And the knobs are very stiff to move as the spring keeps the locking wheel in place? Is it supposed to be spring loaded. Or is there something wrong?

Hello! You think this head will work in upside down position? Also is it suitable for video, so it doesn't change its position with time?

Hi James, What exactly is that L bracket you are using? I would like to get one. Steve

mine was defective after two months of use... the locking screw for the arca swiss plate has come loose. i was able to repair it myself, as always. i simply have no luck with gear heads..

Mine arrives tomorrow! What L-Bracket do you recommend?

well, there are some good adaptors for manfrotto to arca swiss, so thats just a minor point, isn't it?

Hi you can put links to your gear and get affiliate links to them.. Would love to know what lens you are using there.

anybody knows the difference with GD3WHCN?

How strong it is ?

what is the name and model of the L bracket please?

800g is NOTHING... yeah... no, sorry, 800g is far from being "light" and certainly not lighter than a ball head as you said, or I don't know what ball head you've been using... B00 from Benro which has the same load capacity (6kg) weights 250g. so that thing is more than 3 times heavier. Get your numbers right!