I've recently acquired another ballhead in the form of a RRS BH-55 and I thought some people may be interested to know if there is any advantage in paying more for a higher quality camera support.
So I've compared the three tripods and ballheads in all nine possible configurations to see what differences are possible when you match high quality gear with lower quality gear and vice versa.

I personally favour ballheads over three way heads, the main reason being for usability where a ballhead is easier to manipulate via the use of a single adjustment control.
Other reasons are that the they are more compact in not having handles that need to be folded out of harms way when packed up and also of a lighter weight.

Geared heads can be more accurate for framing, and I've only ever used one threeway video type head many years back and I found it clumsy to use in comparison to a ballhead, so they're just no my cup of tea when using them as still camera support.

To state the bleeding obvious, of the combinations possible that I currently have nothing comes close to the RRS BH-55 + Gitzo GT3531.

I'll post the current(17-01-12) summary of scores that I've given the gear and then I'll post individual replies for each of the ballheads with more detail as to what I've found with them.
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Summary:

The point of this exercise is not just to re-iterate what the pro's opinions that quality cost, but more so to what degree it helps.

That is, if you're uses are such that you don't require a support base with superlative results of continental plate rock solid stability, even a cheap tripod is going to give you results.
Thom Hogan's summary of how to save money is absolutely spot on tho. if you're like the vast majority of photographers and have no one specialised use, that is you do a bit of this and a bit of that and you want to branch out into something else too, and those alternative genres are dependant on stability in the support(Macro comes to mind) then save your money on the cheap stuff and get it right the first time around.
It cost you more initially and you end up saving in the long term.
But in saying that, I was the same, in that I wanted something now(back then) and it needed to serve a function(predominantly landscaping at wide angles).
The initial Manfrotto setup I purchased still has a value(for me) and I won't sell it just because I now have a better setup. I will use it for other purposes.
I was predominantly into landscape photography using wide angle lenses, but then I got more interested in other stuff, where the landscape tripod setup was completely inadequate for those uses.. 500mm lens, macro, and abstract imaging where framing may have been critical. I'm not the type of person that shoots and then crops. So my framing requirements are sometimes critical.
I could have gone for a geared head option, but the two versions I would like are either way too expensive(Arca Cube) or bulky and relatively expensive(Manfrotto 400) as a general purpose all rounder.

I also have plans to retire the Manfrotto 468 and acquire another ballhead, of a different brand, and will also do some comparisons between them when I get that other one one day in the future. But that is a long way down the list of things to get now and as it stands I'm 99% satisfied with the RRS head, and it's ultimate ability.


Here's a summary of results (out of 10), with the point that the scores are relative to what I have on hand. So if in the future I acquire more equipment, ie. another set of legs(which I will), I'll then update the scores accordingly. Scores are based on price as well as ability, so even tho the Gitzo is very expensive compared to say a Benro equivalent, if the Benro is as good as the Gitzo, but at a far lower price, then the Benro will score higher.
I'll also included summarised notes on the issues I've had with the gear too.

RRS BH-55: 9.5 (needs time to bed in, may be higher)
Manfrotto MG468RC5: 8.5 (after clean and with plates replaced with Arca Swiss plates)
Manfrotto 488RC2: 5.0 better with a clean, much worse without and probably may not have scored a 1.0 due to it's inability to hold a 300/2.8)

Gitzo GT3531: 9 (close to great, other than I can break it quite easily, which I have done! .. oops!)
Manfrotto NeoTech 458B: 7.5 (best wide angled lens/landscapers tripod in good environmental conditions, but needs regular cleaning)
Manfrotto 055B: 6.0 (no issues with breakage or durability, just feels too flimsy for a 'sturdy tripod' .. compared to the Gitzo leg locking system, this one is a pain to set up)
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This way it alleviates the pain of having to drudge your way through the mire of incessant ramblings that I'm apparently (in)famous for.
But if you have any of the Manfrotto gear I have, it may be worthwhile reading because from the factory, I think they're more flawed than they ought to be.