have used Gitzo tripods in the past …. until I used them in the wet, shortly afterwards resulting in swollen bushes. I needed to order a replacement kit to get this solved. After this problems remained and I became really unhappy with my Gitzo.
Over the last 15 years or so I use a Berlebach tripod with a ArcaSwiss B1 Monoball, in the cold, the wet, the wind, everything and it never ever has let me down. There are many good things about this tripod, two of them being the combination of stiffness and damping of the wood and the fact that the clamping of the legs is fully on the outside, easy to clean if necessary, no internal bushes that can swell and not dry up. My next tripod? Surely it will going to be a Berlebach again. I like the series with a large diameter ball integrated in the tripod. With this you’re able to tilt the plate over +/- 30 degrees. With this I just may not need to apply the ball head anymore…