Help choosing a new tripod head

[wildman]

I need to get a new head as the one I have met its maker in a rather unfortunate fashion. CUrrently I have a velbon sherpa 555 tripod which I am quite pleased with so I am not looking for new legs.

I use a tripod almost entirely for landscape work, architecture shots and stars / moon shooting. I am starting to get into marco but I think I will get a macro rail for that anyway.

Budget wise I am looking around the 100 quid mark. Gear it would need to hold is an A700 + lens, occasionally it will have a 70-300 on it.

 

[RichGrundy]

Are you looking for a pan and tilt or a ballhead?

 

[wildman]

Are you looking for a pan and tilt or a ballhead?

I am not sure really. I had the velbon Q51 ball head that came with the tripod. It was ok in that it was fairly compact and light. I like the idea of a ball head so I can control the camera 360° using 1 knob. I had a cheap tilt pan before and didn't get on well with it but I think thats mainly due to the fact it was a 20 quid job from Amazon ?

I looked at one of the manfroto geared heads

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manfrotto-4...Q2/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1331669937&sr=8-13

but never having used one of these before not sure if its good or how I would get on with it. I know its a bit otuside the budget I stated but I am prepared to go a bit more for a decent quality product that will last me a good long while

 

[Dayve]

I've used Manfrotto for decades. I currently used the 468MGRC-4 as a ball head (it's a hydrostatic design and lock extremely well). Or the Manfrotto junior geared head, if you've more time with the landscape photography. That's great to fine tuning the levels and would come in handy for macro too.
What I would suggest is spending money on a head (and legs), as they will out last many cameras. I've tried cheaper tripods and just got frustrated with the instability of them.