VANGUARDAlta BH-250 Ball Head

Just received this ball head and I was really surprised. I am replacing a Bogen 3047 head that weighs a ton and is a PIA to use. The Vanguard is also a beast, much larger and heavier than I realized but a heck of a lot lighter than the 3047. I attached it to a Bogen Manfrotto 3030a tripod I bought in 1985, took out the adapter from the bottom of the Vanguard, and attached it to the 3/8 screw on the Bogen. It fit like a glove! The Bogen tripod really likes this unit. I attached my Pentax K30 to the head and it fit as solid as a rock. Now for the real test.I tried out the movements on the new Vanguard head. Smooth as butter on an Arizona summer afternoon! I made a few minor adjustments, tightened everything up, and it was rock solid. No movement, no slop, just does its job and does it well with surprising ease. This ball head should last long enough to pass on to my son.I then attached the head to my cheap Targus monopod. Attached easily, but this monopod is not suited to this head. I'll need a better monopod.Wish I had bought this ball head sooner. You may prefer the Vanguard 250 which is smaller and lighter, but either way, you cannot go wrong with either this one, the 300 or the 250. Highly recommended. Amazon has the best price and with Prime, you will get free shipping. Do it.

The Vanguard Alta BH-300 ball head arrived today and I couldn’t be more pleased. Construction is top notch, all controls function perfectly, connected to my Slik tripod with no issues, rubber grip on all 4 control knobs and the ball has a nice smooth feel in rotation. When everything is locked down, you can throw the tripod over your shoulder with no fear of the camera moving or falling off. This thing is SOLID with my heaviest camera setup. See photos. I did a ton of research before purchasing and you will not find a better ball head at this price point. 5 stars all around.

I've been using this ball head for several months and I like almost everything about it. It moves very smoothly, and locks down firmly. The friction control adjustment is excellent, and the locking lever works well. The only issue is access to the camera plates locking knob. With camera body in place, there is very little room to turn the knob to either secure or loosen the plate. A thicker plate or an extended base would go a long way to making this easier to use. That aside, this is an excellent ball head.

Exceeded expectations. Very strong, well built. Love the bubbles both horizontal and vertical. The tension knob is an added bonus. I like this so much, I’m buying one of their tripod legs.

I wanted a ball head to replace my trigger ball head because of its bulk and weight. I have not made this purchase lightly as much research and one prior purchase/return was involved to get to this ball head. I didn't want a knob but rather a locking lever to control the ball adjustment. The travel distance of the lever and the ability to adjust its starting point are important to ensure it's not a hassle to quickly make adjustments. The build quality is also extremely important to me but I didn't want to buy a $500 head as I believed there must be a better value out there. Before this ball head I purchased a Really Right Stuff BH-25 but it was too small and the lever would run into the plate adjustment screw in some positions. The next step up in the RRS heads was another $100 to $150 above what I already spent.I own a Vanguard AT263 tripod so decided I would look into their offerings and found this head. I guess I just hadn't seen it before and was pleasantly surprised by the build quality, ease of adjustment, the rather short lever travel distance, the ability to change the starting position of the lever, the ability to control panning separately and the fine adjustment the ball tension control provides. It weighs about a pound but will hold up to 27 pounds or something ridiculous like that! When I tighten the lever, about 90 degrees of travel, the ball is VERY secure, I couldn't move it.The clamp is ARCA Swiss and works with my existing plate but the head does come with a good plate with a flip down adjustment tab for easy tightening.Time will tell but this head is the same high quality and great value as my tripod so I don't expect any issues.

The Vangard BH-100 ball head has great reviews. Here is another one.I needed a head for a set of Gitzo legs I was given. I know it is silly, but one of the reasons I liked this head is because the color blends in well with the legs.High quality. Smooth operation. Holds tightly. The tension control is a very nice touch. It seems a tad more challenging to get the plate slid into position, but not a big deal.I recommend this head

This is my second Vanguard Alta BH-300 tripod head. Such good construction and design!! My Nikon D850 and 500mm F5.6E is not a light combination, yet this tripod head holds with ease...zero slip. I have the older D810's paired with heavy lenses as well, and the Vanguard Atla BH-300 will satisfy any task I have put forth in several years. Great for the studio, or as a dependable sure thing anywhere that isn't civilized. It will handle the job!

I own an old Vanguard tripod and it as been fantastic. The Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB 100 Aluminum Tripod with SBH-100 Ball Head. It's not a travel one, but a sturdy, heavy bad-boy that can take some punishment. So, I figured when I needed a ballhead for my Platypod I'd go to the company and product that's been so good for me in the past. I can't order an SBH-100 Ball Head anywhere, so I went with a newer Vanguard ball head. This ball head was shipped in an envelope. The envelope seemed unblemished byut the box inside was ripped and beat up. The ballhead itself appeared undamaged. But I too had some of the issues others listed here. The ballhead was stuck and didn't move correctly. The friction knob literally wouldn't move at all. You couldn't get it to move with a pair of plyers. The whole experience was godawful. I give this one star because I can't give it zero.

I use a Vanguard 283CT tripod. When I purchased the tripod it came with a SBH-100 ball head which was actually quite good for my needs. I didn’t have terribly heavy gear in the way of cameras and lens. I had a Nikon D7000 and my heaviest lens was a Nikon 70-300 which isn’t too heavy in itself so this tripod and ball head worked. It is a light weight ball head though. I got a Nikon D500 camera 2 years and recently I got a Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 and Tamron 150-600 f/5-6.3 VC USD G2 lens. Both of these lenses are a very really step up in weight plus the 150-600 is really quite long so I felt I needed to move up a bit for a ball head. My research led me to the BH-250 which still seamed not too large or heavy but supports 44 lbs so would easily handle my new gear. Now that I have it and tried it that I have found the tripod & ball head combo to be extremely good. It pans smoothly plus the friction control gives me more adjustment then I had on my previous ball head. The action or movement on the ball is smooth but still firm enough for support. There is no sag when my hands leave the camera and lens. I really like that the mount is Arca Swiss as both new lenses have Arca Swiss tripod collars plus most new equipment for tripod use seems to follow this mount.Overall I have no regrets buying this ball head. There are newer and likely fancier or better ball heads out there however you spend considerably more also. I do photography as a hobby so money counts big time. This does what I needed and complemented my Vanguard 283CT tripod. I have found that Vanguard produces really good tripods, monopods and tripod heads. Most would be medium range products however for photographers who are hobbyists this is likely in the market we shop in. I would highly recommend this ball head.

After shopping around I decided to buy the Vanguard Alta BH-250 Ball Head for my manfrotto, so eager to use this as I really did not want to spend too much and I was eager to try out my tripod.I really do not like the adjustment knobs, once you tighten then they are hard to release

Previous heads all wore out because of use with 4-5lb/s. gear.I got a larger one for my Gitzo nature tripod and the 15Kg head is a dream at the same price as the smaller oneGo bigger or go home.

found it to be a little tight when panning. I have the BH 100 that isn't as hard to move while panning, maybe wll loosen with use. Other than that I really do like it. More suited for heavier lenses. I highly recommend it.

I could tell by the box which had been taped up that this was a previously used and returned item. There were markings, scratches and scuff marks on the bottom of the base that showed it had been installed on a tripod before I got it. Also, the 3/8" to 1/4" bushing listed on the specifications was missing which rendered it useless for me. Returned immediately!