Summary:1. Ball head does not move smoothly.2. Separate friction dial is just more work.3. Notch for portrait shots is in wrong position relative to ball friction knob.4. Nests quite well between folding tripod legs.5. 200PL-PRO plate is great. Fits Manfrotto RC2 and Arca-Swiss quick release clamps.6. Only accepts Manfrotto 200PL-PRO RC2 plates.7. No compass scale.8. Panning is not fluid.Now, I'll expand on the above:1. The ball head movement is sticky. My Chinese made Oben* BE-113T ball head movement is a smooth as silk by comparison, and it doesn't have the separate friction dial. My estimation is that the Manfrotto lacks smooth movement due to the surface of the ball being painted, thus having a bit of a texture with a higher static coefficient of friction. By contrast, the Oben ball is anodized, thus having a surface as smooth as the metal itself with a low static coefficient of friction. Yes, it's all about simple physics.* Made by company that makes Kingjoy, Neewer, and some other inexpensive Chinese tripod products.2. The design concept of having a separate friction dial in the ball lock knob seems great until you try it. The implementation is poor. Since you must twist the knob to lock and unlock the ball anyway, there is no big advantage to separately setting the friction dial. You can't unlock and adjust the friction with one quick twist of the knob like most other ball heads. If locking and unlocking was a quicker movement, it might be okay, but that is simply not the case. Also, whenever changing lenses, attaching/detaching flashes, etc., the friction will need to be reset anyway. Might as well keep it simple instead of adding the dial.3. Due to the position of the shutter release on all cameras, the photographer holds the camera with their right hand, so will lower the camera to the right for portrait shots. As you'll see in the first picture, when the head is tilted down for a portrait shot, the ball friction knob is on the opposite side of the tripod as the photographer. This is extremely useless.4. Kudos to the design engineers for having folding tripods in mind. They made the post that connects the ball to the quick release clamp a little long so the clamp will be out of the way when tripod legs are folded in. Quite elegant, in my opinion. See the second picture.5. The 200PL-PRO plate is great. It fits Manfrotto RC2 and Arca-Swiss quick release clamps. It also is has a clearly painted label on the underside showing which direction the lens goes. Note that it doesn't have the screw stops to prevent it from sliding off the end of an Arca-Swiss clamp. However, this is a reasonable compromise to keep it compatible with RC2 clamps. Just keep this in mind. I can't wait for cheap copycat plates to come out. It's the only kind I'll buy from now on.6. Before purchasing this ball head, I called Manfrotto Customer Support. The support tech told me I could use Arca-Swiss plates in the clamp. This is entirely untrue, as I've discovered. It was a major selling point for me, so I'm very disappointed.7. For a fluid panning head, it is the oversight of the century to omit a compass scale showing degrees around the perimeter of the base.8. When I attempt to pan, it's sticky, with a high static coefficient of friction. On my lightweight carbon fiber travel tripod, I'm likely to turn the tripod instead of the head.Now, for the skeptics who think I may have just been using too light a camera/lens combo, here's what I tested it with:* Nikon D5300 (18.8 oz/532 g)* Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro Nikkor (19.8 oz/562 g)Total: 36.8 oz/1094 gUnfortunately, I purchased this ball head elsewhere, so can't return it.