Honestly, what I really think bears discussion is that lots of stuff will work. This isn't a complicated device, we just tend to overcomplicate it.
Even though I broke my $400 Leofoto 364C a couple times, it was a cheap plastic internal part that I could swap out in two minutes. I bought like 20 of them for $14. It was the retainer that kept the leg extensions from pulling all the way out. I never had an issue with using the tripod, it never functioned in any manner other than as intended. The RRS failures were the same, a cheap part in the joint that didn't effect performance, they just needed to be replaced.
If you want a tripod that will function just like every other tripod you don't really have to spend a lot of money. If you want it to have a cool dude name brand written on the side, you'll pay a little extra for that.