I'm finally retiring my Manfrotto heads - a 488R2 and a smaller version on my monopod. Both of them require a strong hand to get them tight enough to stay put, and then they droop down about a 1/4", no matter what. Needs a frictioner setup most badly too, as you turn that knob to loosen the head, and you keep turning, and suddenly bang, you'd BETTER have a hand under your lens!
I was initially sold on the locking mechanism in a store, and the fact that the plates were relatively cheap and had the ring that removes a need to find something to tighten them on cameras.
BUT, I've lived with the inevitable droop after setup and am tired of it. I used to think all ballheads did that but I tried out a Vanguard SBH300 and bought it cheap. I've got an RRS clamp on the way to install on it because I want everything standardized to the 38mm Arca Swiss size and think that with it's friction control I have a decent low cost solution (even with the RRS clamp costing $80.).
I put my 400mm onto my 5D2 and locked the Vanguard at a weird downward angle and focused on a small thing that was meant to see if it would hold. Two days later it hadn't budged. It took some fooling with it to find a balance between the friction and the lock but now I can set it so that I can move the camera and it'll stay wherever I let go of it.
I had heard mostly good things about the 488, and thought it was rather well regarded; although nobody was equating it with the likes of Arca Swiss, RSS, Kirk or other similar high end manufacturers.
So has the 498 alleviated the concerns of anybody who was disappointed with the 488?
I know this is an old thread but I have three 488 RC2 and I have zero droop on any of them. OK OK, I don't have long telephoto lenses attached, just short zooms, but from the sound of some of the replies above droop is inevitable with the 488 RC2 and I've not experienced that at all. I also have a 498 RC4 and it doesn't droop either.
