Induro Tripod BHL-Series Ballhead 88lb Load Capacity

Induro tripods and monopods have been my faithful companions for years. All perform flawlessly. I thought an Induro head would be a good investment. But my overall impression is not that great.Build quality is good and on par with similarly priced heads of both domestic and foreign manufacture. Movements are smooth.The highly textured finish is not a great idea on a head. Clearly it was done to match the aesthetics of the brand's tripod. But the rough texture attracts and holds dirt. It is not easily cleaned off in the field. Collecting dust and grit on the knobs and outer shell makes it likely that grime will find its way into the inner ball area. That would cause an ongoing maintenance headache.Functionally the head works smoothly and locks quickly. However, the head claims a support capacity of 20kg. I put a 1kg camera and lens on it and found the head settling out of position after locking. Adjustment to the drag made no difference once the ball was locked.I have found that heads and tripods rated several times above my maximum expected load are the most stable for me. While the BHL-1 is the smallest of the Induro heads it is still rated 20 times above the load I applied. I was in no way pushing the limits according to the specifications. Yet the head sagged under load as if I was near its maximum load. I do not believe the 20kg rating is accurate.The BHL heads are a "split shell" design. The outer shell of the head has a vertical slot cut into it. Tightening the locking knob compresses the shell horizontally around the ball. I find ball heads that use a "lifter" design where the shell is solid and the locking knob lifts the ball into the reduced neck of the shell provide a more positive lock.Weight savings of this head compared to others offering substantially better support is negligible. I have not used the larger Induro heads so I cannot compare to those directly. I do own other brand ball heads that are only slightly heavier than the BHL-1 which offer considerably better support. My Sunway XB-44 weighs 460g compared to the Induro at 430g. Yet the XB-44 holds a 2kg load with zero sag on the same Induro tripod.

Took three tries....My first order arrived with a broken plate release knob- Amazon replaced it and had a new one to me within 2 days.The second one arrived with the silver ring from the tension knob floating loose in the box. At this point I was really doubting my choice. Third attempt arrived flawless, with no issues of any kind.Had the third one arrived first- I would be very please with Induro and gave it 5 stars after using it. I do really like this product as well as the AT-314 legs I bought with it.I had to dock a star for Induro's customer service. I should have docked them 4 stars.I emailed them after the first arrived to let them know what happened (wasn't looking for anything free!), as it was a serious manufacturing flaw- no answer or response.After the second flawed head arrived- I emailed them about that issue as well as the previous issue- assuring them I wasn't looking for anything free- and still no response.This was weeks ago.Looking through reviews- I feel like I was the only person to have ever bought a dud, and I got two of them- so i feel this is very isolated, and the tripod head really is great.Unfortunately- any time someone asks me about the gear- I won't have any problem telling them about company's customer service and support.

I purchased an Opteka TH40 ball head last summer. It cost me 25 dollars and is well built, smooth and for how I use it (fitted on a monopod and free moving with a little drag for sport photography), it is more than excellent. My very positive experience with Opteka TH40 ball head lead to my acquiring of 2 other cheapo ball heads in the past months in searching for a match with my Benro C328n6 tripod. They are priced for the budget-minded but not small by all means, rated @ 15kg and 20kg support capability, in fact much bigger and more expensive than Opteka TH40. I tried them on the Benro C328n6 tripod and ended up with nothing but frustration. On top of not very smooth moving, they just don't lock tight enough to keep my camera and lens steady and safe. The cheapo ball heads also move a little when tightening. All these have been very annoying; especially the lacking of locking power is a deal killer.I finally broke down and ordered an Induro BHL3 after gotten sick and tired of endless fiddling with the cheapo. WOW! It fits perfectly on the center post of my Benro C328n6 tripod. It is in fact light weight considering its size, and feels very strong and solid in my hand. The big main lock knob with integrated lock limiter tension control is brilliant. The lock limiter functions as the drag force knob you see on other ball heads but better, much better. With other ball heads, making the drag knob and main lock knob to work together can be a real pain. With Induro BHL3, having camera mounted, tightening and adjusting the big main knob to have the drag force that you prefer, then use a fingertip to turn the lock limiter tension control to set it and VOLA! A quarter turn of the main knob is all it takes to change from lock dead tight to free moving with preset drag and vice versa. I really love that design. The high precision ball and socket is silky smooth during composition and does not move or sag at all when tightened. It holds rock steady my 70-200 f2.8 w/D600+battery grip plus a SB600 on top at various angles pointing downward using the tripod connection on the battery grip not the lens tripod collar. I was more worry about the lens mount than BHL3 not being able to hold it. I did this test just to show BHL3 has a lot of locking power, and you should always use tripod collar on the lens. Being a budget-minded cheap person, I wish it is 200 dollars instead of over 300, but overall, I am very happy with investing an Induro BHL3 and I don't think I'll ever need to buy another ball head for the rest of my life.

This head is a really good, tough and a well made product. The design is good... simple and precise. The only thing that does seem cheap and a bit crappy is the camera plate, which I would go to the point in saying is a bit useless. I found that it would come loose very frequently and gave up on it. Don't let this put you off.....and to save yourself the time that I have spent researching non twist L plates. Get a SUNWAYFOTO Aluminium L Plate Bracket (on amazon is £59) to fit your particular camera. Or really right stuff do some good plates but do not sell in the UK and are £££. This will then be a 10/10 tripod head. I personally found arca swiss ball heads to be over engineered and would really rate the large nobs on this head that make life that little bit easier.

I didn't like the spongy feel of the ball tightening mechanism or the cheap looking foam between the joint. It's a perfectly usable tripod head, but I just didn't like the feel of it so I returned the item.

OMG I'm in love with this ball head! I've read reviews where advice is given about the size of the actual ball being a guide to a strong and sturdy head. Well what I don't understand, is how they did it! How they packed all that punch into this small head. It's solid as a rock! I'm quite a strong guy and I decided to see how much I can get this to move by putting all my strength into forcing movement... it didn't budge!

Quite simply an outstanding piece of quality engineering that will last you a lifetime! This will probably see every Camera you will ever own! A pleasure to use.

Absolutely brilliant. Very well engineered. So solid you could hang a cow of it and it wouldn't move.