You have to have realistic expectations.
Yes you do. I use both Benro and Gitzo tripods and one of my Benros was bought as a backup for a similar Gitzo model. After a year of using both I sold the Gitzo because the Benro is actually the better tripod. Hard to believe but it's true - better specs too. So you can buy for value and the product will occasionally exceed expectations.
Having said that not all tripod manufacturers produce both good tripods and ballheads. RRS does, Benro and Gitzo don't. The best value ballheads I've seen and used briefly are the K-20X thru K-40X heads from Sirui, better than Photo Clam which is a favorite on this board and which I also used for a short while. However I'm not a fan of Sirui tripods but I've only seen and tried out their smaller versions, I know quite a few on this board have medium to large Sirui tripods and like them but I haven't used one of their larger models so can't comment on them.
