*I've posted this on 2 other boards I regular in their photo sections too and rightly so, everyone needs to go to their local shops and see what bargains there are to be had!*
Today I browsed through a local shop during lunch break and noticed sitting in the corner of the store a tripod. A bit of a closer look and it turns out it's a Slik and built to the same non-creeky and VERY rigid quality as the Manfrotto I was looking to buy a while back for over 3 times as much as this cost me.
£15 bargain
The head locks box axis with the handle twist - the base rotates whilst attached to the camera on what I can only describe as an independent lock so it can also be used for panoramics!
Old tripod (Hama Star61) on right
So yeah, go check out your nearest 2nd hand shop,you never know what you could find