Hi

I'm considering getting a tripod for my Coronado PST with the expectation that I can sometimes use it with my Canon EOS.

I tried a friend's Orion XHD Paragon-Plus and it seems fine but then I looked around and found some other mid-range tripods at camera shops and they seem as good and a bit less expensive than the Orion. Specifically:

Slik Pro 340 $110
Sunpak 9002DX $50 (?!?)

The Orion is $142.

I expect most folks here may be more familiar with the Orion one than any specific tripod from a camera shop, so the question is ... would you recommend the Orion over *any* similarly priced and equipped camera tripod? Do you believe the Orion may be a bit overpriced?

To be clear... I'm looking for a pan-able mount to make it easy to adjust to re-center the sun, a max height in the 55"+ range and a load capacity of 5 lbs or more.

Thanks

Mike