Eyeballing those straight forward and affordable Davis & Sanford tripods, and wondering if their FM18 video heads are heavy duty enough for a HVR-Z1U?

Looks like their FM25 is the next step up.

Tripod listings tend to give load specs, but reading here and there leads me to believe most manufacturers push those numbers higher than what really works well...

Thoughts and experiences???

They're a little lightweight but they'll do. I used to use them on my FX7s but now I use them on their rolling dollies for a couple of Z5s. I don't pan the heads but rather just roll the dollies around and they're okay. The tilt mech tends to suffer under the weight of the cam, which can be a bit difficult to balance unless you have an extended plate.

Biggest problem with the D&S, I've found, is that the hardware tends to strip or snap off if you crank it down too hard.