ball head question!

i have been looking for a ball head just for using on my travel tripod,i like the better eqimp.so i have been looking at the markins Q or M-20 and kirk heads but came across matthews BH-30,has any one have experience with this head !as it seems like a real good copy of the markins /kirk heads,thanks any one.

Not seen that one but it looks like a Sirui head, or perhaps the Sirui was copied from it?
When I am travelling I use my Triopo RS3, to which I have added an Arca type QR clamp. The reason I take this head is that it is small, pretty light (14oz inc clamp), holds anything and has the best lockup of any head I have yet tried.
It is small, light, simple, very cheap, extremely smooth and it WORKS!
Attached are a couple of low quality pics of my tests of my RS3 - unfortunately the lens was too light and the tripod too bendy to see if there was any creep on the head.

blanex1@netzero.com wrote in post #17275091
i have been looking for a ball head just for using on my travel tripod,i like the better eqimp.so i have been looking at the markins Q or M-20...

That's a full size ballhead, too big for a travel tripod. Markins makes a very popular ballhead - the Q3T - that's specifically designed for travel tripods.

I Have the smaller of the two Kirk ball heads made. Its a solid piece of gear, could probably survive an apocalypse. It also probably weighs twice what your travel tripod weighs. Id look into something a bit smaller.

well,after getting this matthews BH-30 ball head i'm vary pleased with it as its solid quality built,and i think it would stand toe to toe with the kirk BH-1 ! its milled out of solid billet T-6061 and the settings have no creep with a load on the ball head,it pans vary nicely with easy to read marking at the base and it locks solid with easy to grab and large dials,i'm not totally in love with there quick release plate though,i'll most likely replace it with ether a RRS or the kirk one! i would love to do a total review of this ball head in next week or so,thanks to all who care regarding there gear.