I have been a user of Gitzo tripods for many many years, and have been very fond of their carbon fiber models.

Carbon fiber is the preferred material to use for making durable yet lightweight tripods, however, they are typically very expensive. A few years ago Gitzo developed a new material that offers many of the same advantages of carbon fiber, but at a fraction of the cost.

Check out this video where I explain a bit about the tripods that I am using now made from Basalt, and why I now prefer them over the carbon fiber models.