My BOG is aluminum so I can only speak to that but the legs flex like crazy, I would guess it wouldn't take very much to bend or break them. They are loud, the legs can cross and clang into each other. I've been around a lot of tripods and everything about it feels and looks cheap to me compared to everything else I own, it's not even close in any type of comparisons.
I totally get a quality tripod isn't cheap but once you get a quality tripod you'll agree that the BOG is entry level stuff. Guys that have only owned BOGs get their feelings hurt because they don't know what they don't know....
