After a show where my recording was full of blah blah because I was using a little boom stand borrowed from my PA rig, I got fed up and decided to buy one the same day. A camera shop in Dallas had one pretty much just like the Bogen stands. It had the "pneumatic" feature like a lot of stands do where you can release the friction lock and just watch the mics hiss down to your level. I think it was $70. 9'4".
One thing that's occurred to me since: The stand is black, and that makes it absolutely invisible in a dark club. I'm thinking that if I had it to do over I'd get a silver stand so people might have a chance of seeing the legs.
In the meantime, I think I'll glowtape the ends of the legs. Maybe that'll help.
Chuck