Just recently bought a new tripod.
I love wood tripods (well, I clearly don't love to carry them but appreciate the extremely good damping of vibration) and have 2 of them (a large one with 2 extensions going above head level and a small one with 3 extensions). I also have a large Carbon tripod (extending above head level to 2 meters or so).
I wanted to add a really small, lightweight Carbon tripod that fits into hand luggage when flying intercontinental.
Looked at the Gitzo 2 series (of course) ... but finally went with an
FLM carbon tripod (CP30-S4S).
FLM is a small german manufacturer, well known for their extremely rigid, well built ball heads:
http://www.flm-gmbh.de/en/product4a.htmlThe tripod line is pretty new (they produce it since 1.5 years or so):
http://www.flm-gmbh.de/en/product4b_1.htmlNow, I can't (to be more precise: don't want to) come up with a detailed test report ... just suggest to look at FLM tripods if you look for a really beautifully and intelligently made, rigid Carbon tripod at a better price than a Gitzo. Actually it's german engineering and precission (whatever that means to you) at the price of far east products. Indoor tests show it almost behaves like a large wood tripod ... I have yet to test it under windy or under otherwise adverse conditions outdoors.
Only downside: the upper tripod plate is equipped with cork. Initially FLM made the plate without cork but they received many complaints about scratched camera bodies (OMG...). So they were "forced" to add cork. If you don't like that (actually you shouldn't like cork/rubber on the tripod plate) you can remove it and replace it with an aluminium plate.
The legs are 8x Carbon. The tripods come with 10 years guarantee.
Don't know whether or not FLM is available in the US... but in Europe their products should be easily available ...
maybe something to look at ...