Yes my first impressions are still very good. I have the ballhead on right now, and the leveling base isn't all that necessary with it. But I also got the PG-02 Pano-Gimbal head, and I'm expecting the leveling base to work very well with that. Just waiting patiently for the 500 f/4 to arrive (this year I hope...), and I'll be ready to give it a Really good test.