I have had this Manfotto 410 head almost 20 years. This is a fabulous head, and I have used the best brands out there. It loosens over time but there is a way to tighten, involving peeling back the circular labels and tightening - I believe with Allen wrench (its been a long time) - and resticking...

Things I like:- the quick release plate is great. it is solid and well engineered- great for fine tune adjustments on your shots (it is a geared head, afterall)Things I don't like:- heavy- knobs get stuck and hard to turn at times- the pan adjustment became wobbly after about a year of use,...

Looks quite sturdy from the outside. Very nice to use but after a while play developed in the gears. When disassembled the 'gears' appeared to be surprisingly flimsy. Product had to be replaced after two years of not very frequent use.

one of the parts driven by the upper worm gear ground itself into uselessness. no heavy use, not professional day-to-day use, just what seems low quality materials (or a defect). lots of online requests for how to tighten up loose fitting adjustments after not a lot of use.

I specifically purchased this head for astrophotography with a sky tracking mount. The Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head is made of aluminum, but is a substantial piece of equipment with thankfully large and easily used axis movement knobs. There was no sag with a DSLR and long lens attached.

I have two of these heads. But today, after multiple years using this head, the locking mechanism hedge loosened in the middle of a shoot. The camera could easily rock back and forth while locked on the head.

The past few years Ihave really been trying to step up my camera gear game. I have been thinking outside the box and trying things that arent in my wheelhouse. One of these accessories is the PD-117 3-Way Pan/Tilt Head from Oben.

This was purchased as a replacement for a 20+ year old Manfrotto 401 head. The new head works the same as the old one and accepts all the quick release plates from the old one. The one feature that is different is the bubble level in the new head is about half the size of the one in the old head.

Its just what I needed.I am using this with my Canon M50 and EOS-R. I wanted something that I could precisely adjust the tilt and rotation of the camera while viewing the flip-out screen from odd angles and in sometimes, confined spaces. Its just the right size for both of these cameras.

Heavy as heck but also stable.