Manfrotto for sale at Wally World!?

Yep. Was in there yesterday and seen it. Tripods and monopods for sale. How long has this been going on? Was not at my local store the day before

Interesting...Emart (the Korean equivalent of Walmart) has been selling Manfrotto bags and tripods for a year or two here as well!

Nothing on their web site. I'll have to take a look the next time I get courageous/desperate enough to walk in there.

quality accessory camera gear at Walmart ?
strange but interesting

Must have hired a photographer in sporting goods...

Costco has had them as well. Must be stretching their demographics I guess.

watt100 wrote in post #15906874
quality accessory camera gear at Walmart ?
strange but interesting

Buyer beware. I bought a Sony handicam a few years ago, friend of mine bragged how he got it at Wal Mart $75 bucks cheaper. When we looked closer mine had tape and a memory card slot, his was tape only. They had the exact same housing, you could see where the slot was supposed to go. Same model # but he had a 'B' for a suffix. Wal Mart tells a vendor we will sell your item but we will only pay xx for it, you do what you have to do to get the cost where you need it.

My parents bought me a manfrotto tripod/backpack combo for christmas from Sams Club (same company as walmart) last year (after I had already bought better versions of both ). it seemed to be pretty chintzy and very entry-level stuff, and still sold for $100 for the combo. the backpack was designed for a DSLR, but I wouldn't trust the tripod with anything heavier than a base level rebel and a kit lens. it seems they are selling in walmart, but only their most basic stuff.

Walmart definitely has Manfrotto tripods. The Benson, Arizona, store has them, and Benson is just a small town (5163 people in the last census).

I know for a fact that Home depot sells power tools of the same brand and model number, but with different construction and different internal parts.

I'm not saying this is happening with Manfrotto at WalMart, just agreeing with the idea proposed by Ace that this sort of thing is happening. when you go for a Contract with the likes of Wally or the HD, you are making a deal with the devil, and will sell your soul. To provide things at the prices Wally demands, you may be forced to compromise your QC.

Future Shop and Best Buy also sell Manfrotto, but I wouldn't buy the specific products they are carrying...

As an employee of good ol' wallyworld, I can verify we're selling them too. I went looking at memory cards after my shift the other night and noticed the new display. I will admit to knowing next to nothing about tripods, but I would bet that whatever we're carrying is lower-end Manfrotto stuff. We only had one tripod in stock (no idea of the model number) and it was somewhere around $50.

If they're anything like any other electronics item we sell, it will be either: a) a discontinued model, or b) a model specifically designed for wallyworld with fewer features/cheaper parts.

I've see the tripods at walmart and wouldn't buy one.

tripods are easy to buy:

1. Light
2. Cheap
3. Sturdy

you only ever get to choose two of those options

mike_311 wrote in post #15913860
I've see the tripods at walmart and wouldn't buy one.

tripods are easy to buy:

1. Light
2. Cheap
3. Sturdy

you only ever get to choose two of those options

Not really...depends on your definition of those three....I got a small/light (and yet still full-size) Horusbennu (Korean brand) carbon tripod with a fluid Arca Swiss ballhead for like 170 bucks...by CF standards it's very cheap, it's very light and it's had absolutely NO issues whatsoever with being sturdy enough for my 5D2 and L glass.

LowriderS10 wrote in post #15913873
Not really...depends on your definition of those three....I got a small/light (and yet still full-size) Horusbennu (Korean brand) carbon tripod with a fluid Arca Swiss ballhead for like 170 bucks...by CF standards it's very cheap, it's very light and it's had absolutely NO issues whatsoever with being sturdy enough for my 5D2 and L glass.

exactly, we are talking about walmart standards. where a typical shopper isnt going to drop $170 on a tripod and if they are they aren't buying it at walmart.