Robus RC-5570 Review

Pictures of disassembly at bottom.

I’ve used the Robus RC-5570 (Series 3) heavily for nearly a year so I thought I'd share my findings.

Very little information in the form of real world use was available for the Robus brand at the time of my purchase. Durability, internal design, and rigidity are what I value in a tripod and after nearly a year it has shown me its positives and negatives. I hope this information helps future tripod shoppers with their decision.

I do not baby my tripods. Short of breaking one of the legs, I will place the tripod in any position to get the shot. Because of this I am hesitant to spend $1000+ on a tripod I know in the future will probably see its last day. So I gave Robus a chance as they are half the price of their direct competitors.

My Overall Impression

The Robus RC-5570 is a fantastic tripod that is worth all of its $550 price. This tripod will fully cover the needs of a majority of photographers, being overkill for a few as well. While not the lightest in its class, the 70" height, 55 lbs load capacity, and 4" minimum height provides 6'1" me with the flexibility that many shorter tripods do not give.

The RC-5570 is a series 3 tripod while its bigger siblings the RC-8860 and RC-8880 are series 5 tripods with 77 lbs load capacities. There is also a RC-5558 model for those not needing extra height. Each of these tripods comes with three sets of feet and a video bowl. Rubber feet, rock points, and flat indoor video feet are provided.

When I end up buying another tripod I definitely will first look to replace it with another Robus if their value is still there. A few of these newer companies have raised their prices once they've established a market foothold which has made their value look less attractive compared to the premium tripod companies. I'd be surprised if these tripods aren't making RRS and Gitzo a little nervous. Beyond brand recognition, the Robus tripods are doing an incredible job showing that you don't need to spend $1000+ on a quality tripod.

Rigidity and Vibration

This tripod has excellent vibration dampening in the carbon fiber tubes. I have placed it in a fast flowing creek with water at waist height @ 200mm and vibration was a non-issue at this focal length. Vibration only becomes noticeable to me when I shoot with the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM (8.6 lbs), but no more so than any other high-end tripod like a Gitzo or RRS in the same series 3 range. This is just a factor of the focal length since the tripod does a fantastic job in this regard. Wind vibrations do become more visible if choosing to extend the tripod fully at the bottom section but at 6'1" I only need to extend the bottom section by 3" to keep the camera at eye level.

For those photographers not using 8 pound lenses, the RC-5570 excels at being a stable platform to shoot from. Twisting and rigidity of the legs is probably equal for a high-end series 3 tripod. Twist locks being the weakest point in most tripod systems, the 1/4 turn required to loosen and tighten them does not detract from the overall rigidity of the legs. For those of you who are shooting with super-telephotos, you may notice some twist if you lock down your gimbal and apply pressure to the camera or manually hold the legs and twist. This does not bother me and is what I expected choosing to use a 600mm on a series 3 over the RC-8880 series 5.

Durability

Durability has been great so far. Factory lubrication of the locks was less than I like and dried up after a month of use in rain and water submersion. An application of synthetic bearing grease from the local auto parts store quickly restored that. The foot threads for the three types of feet that ship with this tripod are glued into the bottom tube with a metal weep hole pinned through the side to lock the threads in place and allow water to flow out of the tripod. This metal weep hole seems to be in a spot where it could be prone to corrosion so I make sure to dry it out and clear it with canned air after wet or sandy environments that may clog it.

The leg angle locks have a very simple design that are not spring loaded. This style I prefer as there is less likelihood of failure. A simple push from underneath the spider will unlock the leg for adjustment. A large bolt sits in the leg angle lock's guide channel and travels into the upper tube, holding the silver lock mechanism in place. These locks are tough to adjust when under weight of the camera so taking weight off the leg you're adjusting might be necessary to adjust the angle.

Internal Design

All of the Robus Vantage series tripods offer an anti-twist design that makes using the oversized twist locks a breeze. Two ridged tracks running the inside length of each tube sit opposite each other and form the male portion of the anti-twist design. On the top end of of each tube a plastic sleeve locks into the two holes punched into the tops of the carbon tubes (see picture). These sleeves have two channels forming the female portion of the system and slide over the ridges that sit inside the larger tube. Overall this makes an effective system that is commonly shared by other companies, albeit with their own twist in the design.

This design makes cleaning the tripod very easy and with practice can be done in about 15 minutes. HOWEVER! If you are shooting in a sandy environment, whether submerged or laying in the sand, DO NOT retract or extend the legs once they have been exposed until you are able to rinse the tripod and take it apart for cleaning. The plastic sleeves that act as the female channel sit directly on the inside of the carbon tubes and once sand and grit gets between this sleeve and the carbon wall it will scratch the hell out of the inside of the tubes and not extend smoothly until ALL of the sand is removed. This is a tedious cleaning process that takes well over an hour. My advice is to use a junker tripod that you're willing to shoot in a sandy environment if you're laying it on the ground.

Overall I'm happy with the internal design, its simple and allows for a quick cleaning process. The plastic sleeves are a little tricky to remove as they're very well held in their holes. I need to use a dental pick to reach in to the tube to pop them out as the top of the sleeve is too small to fit a finger in. Some companies (RRS) have a better design in this aspect as their sleeves are two halves of a cylinder cut length wise allowing them to fall off the tube once its disassembled. Is this less ideal design difference worth $500+ more? I don't think so but its only fair to mention it.