S Dilworth
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I had an FLM Centerball 38 FT, with more knobs than I knew what to do with. A few photos of mine (since sold):
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The pan base worked well, but the other knobs were of dubious value. You’re right to opt for the simplest model that will work for you.
As you can guess from the photos, the quality of the materials and finish is pretty good (but see below). When you pick it up it feels like a high-quality item. I’m sure it would last a long time.
However, it doesn’t work as well as you might think. The ball movement isn’t terribly smooth, as gardenvalley said, and mine required enormous force on the lock-knob to actually lock the ball firmly. So although the materials look good, they might not actually be best-suited to their purpose.
The FLM compared unfavourably with my replacement heads: a Markins Q3 Traveler (impressively strong, light, and smooth), and an Arca-Swiss Monoball Z1 (a much bigger device, but with phenomenal precision and locking power: you can clamp it with your little finger and it’ll hold a charging rhino!).
That said, for light duties the FLM head might be okay. It certainly looks the part. And the one you’re looking at is ‘only’ a hundred bucks.
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