The last time my wife and I went to Yellowstone we took four tripods. Two for our Wimberleys and two for our Ballheads. Some may ask why well there were times we had our long lenses on the Gimbals and found that we wanted the ballheads and wide angle lenses. We had the room and it was less of a hassle to have the four tripods alread set up than changing back and forth between the gimbals and the ball heads. Still I got tired of taking four tripods so this what we did.
It works for us and may not for others.
We put RRS quick release plates on our tripods and RRS dovetail adapters on the ballheads and Wimberleys and they can be changed back and forth in amatter of seconds. My concern was how steady would everything be. It's steady, no movement what so ever.

Cool idea , but then I guess some will say that's what a sidekick is for .
But then I guess your lens arsenal is longer than a sidekick can handle .

No doubt what some folks will say

Thanks Ian

Rod

As a Sidekick owner let me chime in. The problem you identified was my main reason for going with a sidekick over a full gimbal. The switch between the ballhead and adding the "gimbal" is quick and painless. The problem, however is that as nice as a Sidekick is it's not a gimbal. I've had balance issues with my 500 and was sure I was going to need to just suck it up and deal with the switch time. About a week ago I stumbled onto this option from RRS. I'm glad to hear from someone using this clamp and that they seem steady.

It's a solid setup other wise I wouldn't use it.

I too own a sidekick, and have also used the full gimbal. I love that RRS has solved the problem of switching heads. That's why I downgraded to the sidekick!

Too many people seem to complain about the price of RRS product...but in my opinion they are worth every single penny. Designed and manufactured in the USA means something to me, and I am happy to support them whenever I can.

Excellent idea, Rod! Thanks for sharing.

I've been thinking about doing that with my gimbal and ballheads... I don't have the full gimbal so I regularly connect my L plate to the side of the gimbal and use it instead of my ballhead...