Only talking from experiance my Giottos when fully extended is too high for me and I'm 5ft 9 so I wouldn't have thought your OH would have a problem with it as I haven't used the Manfrotto I couldn't comment but I am sure it will tell you in the spec the maximum height it extends to.

In terms of the quick release pretty much all of them should have the quick release mechanism as part of the spec as most photographers expect this as a feature.