Review on Compact Ball Head System by BARSKA by Robert Ewing

A bit disappointed with this ball head. On the one hand, it's solid and reliable and easily supports the weight of my full-frame DSLR. When I received the head, however, it had a serious blemish: the connection between the ball and the sole of the shoe was wobbly! Why would a company make a well-built mount and then ruin the design with a wobbly joint? Anyone who buys this needs a STABLE, shock-proof photo platform. Since I was mechanically inclined, I was able to fix it. I opened up the head, unscrewed the large hex screw holding the two pieces together, then mixed in some very strong JB Weld two-part epoxy and applied the epoxy to the end of the screw and around the junction area between the end of the ball and the underside the cleat. Then I reassembled the head and waited 6 hours for the epoxy to cure. (JB Weld is very durable but takes a long time to set up.) So I think the head will work as it should, but the buyer shouldn't. The head needs to be redesigned so that when the socket head cap screw is properly tightened, the head is rock solid.