Review on 📷 Andoer Camera Tripod Handle Ball Head: 3-Way Fluid Head with Quick Release Plate, 360° Rotation, Max Load 6Kg by Adam Walsh

It's a piece of crap as delivered. But with a little effort you can make a great tripod head out of it. Here are the problems I had: 1. When the head was mounted on my Manfrotto 3443 carbon fiber tripod, tightening the 3 set screws on the underside of the tripod mounting plate (which prevent the head from unscrewing) resulted in the panning movement becoming blocked, also on friction panning. / The lock handle is loose. Loosening these 3 set screws will allow the head to rotate again, but even with the friction/pan lock knob tightened, the head will still have play.2. The notches on the locking button for the horizontal/portrait adjustment of the quick release clamp are a nuisance with the long Arca Swiss.3 plates. If the friction/tilt lock knob was not tightened so that the tilt was locked, the head wobbled. This made it difficult to record video and move the camera smoothly. The oscillation affected both the pan and tilt axes. I really wanted this head to work well because it's light, small (ie perfect for travel) and strong enough to carry my Nikon P1000 superzoom camera if it could be corrected. . Even at the unlimited price I could not find a more suitable head. So here's what I did to make a silk bag out of this pig's ear: 1a. There are 6 screws holding the swivel mechanism together. The manufacturer didn't tighten them because that would lock the head (so it couldn't turn). To fix this I attached the plate with three internal screws. This prevents the rotating parts from being crushed against each other when tightening the screws. I made my spacer out of a 5 mil thick brass spacer, but you can cut one out of a sheet of 24 inch printer paper, for example. It's round with a hole into which each of the three screws goes. 1b. The end of the steel bolt on the friction/fastening pot handle was dished so it could cut into the cylindrical aluminum base to which it was connected. This is not good as the craters that form on the cup as you tighten the knob will soon cause the pan to snag (not be smooth). Also, there was a lot of play (wobble) in the grip as the internal thread was enlarged (loosened). To fix these issues, I discarded the original handle and retapped the hole with a ¼-20 tap. To prevent the new thread from tightening, I stopped threading before the tap had cut the thread to its full depth. I replaced the handle with one I found from a Kipp 06652-10006 Mini-Wing M6-Through Female, Metric, Boss Stainless Steel, 28mm Diameter (10-Pack)" that I cut again. to ¼-20, and then screwed in a ¼-20 brass bolt (cut from a brass screw) with a flat (ground) end and coated with epoxy. The pin now presses the inner cylinder of the pivoting movement against the outer cylinder. without making a crater when you tighten the knob. Panning is now smooth and locking is solid.2. I replaced the original landscape/portrait locking button with another "mini wing" from "Kipp 06652-10006 mini wing with M6 continuous internal thread, metric thread, stainless steel bushing, 28mm diameter (pack of 10)". I can now slide my long Arca-Swiss mounting plate back onto the tripod head to center my P1000's center of gravity on the center of the tripod and can still switch from landscape to portrait mode when the camera is on the tripod. .3. To fix the pitch friction/lockup wobble, I had to expose the pitch locking screw. It's under a gold-colored cover that's made of aluminum and snaps into place. I couldn't grab it to take it off, so I punched a hole in it and ripped it off. You don't really need it as the guts under that lid are done and looking good when uncovered. With the cover off, a very slight tightening of the tilt hold screw eliminated any wobble and set the minimum tilt resistance to a decent level. The end result is that after these modifications I am very happy with this tripod head.