Some of the other styles do have 4 legs... But they don't open as wide as the tripod would, I've seen cranes and rotators that can lift 120tons which only weighing maybe 3-4 tons, and thats because of the outriggers they have in place, even if there was shift in center of gravity of the item being lifted, for example a loaded box truck on its side, the outriggers are designed to overcome that shift in weight, same goes for the tripod, if each of the legs come out about 6-8 ft... Theres less of a chance someone hitting or falling on it, and the head would only really weigh about ~50lbs (not 200lbs)... I will challenge DLSI Jon to come and physically try to knock it over in a typical situation, wind cannot really knock it over unless it was 80-100mph, there isn't enough surface area on it for it to "fly away"... I've tested this tripod method, and by shaking the tripod by its neck 2.5" dia pole, and 8ft base dia between legs, it merely vibrated, if i took took a beating at it, maybe moved 1/2" Some who has a Laserscope, like Jon should come see its stability... (Don't take it as you guys are wrong, I want to know why it wont work, you guys are basing it off of what you have seen in the passed, not an actual build...)