tripod head

[M_Six]

Not sure what your budget is, but I have the Opteka GH1 gimbal head and it's on Amazon for $150. I've been very happy with it so far. It works quite smoothly and I've found I prefer it over a ball head.

If you're set on a ballhead, this Oben (reviewed here by Bryan) is excellent. I have this one as well. One knob to control everything.

[Kayaker72]

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that gimbals are more for heavier equipment where you will be shooting from a tripod thus you want nice fluid motion. My take would be that a good midsized ballhead. I have a Markins Q3T that is great. In my research I had come down to the Markins or Really Right Stuff BH-30 or BH-40. I had also heard good things about Photoclam and, more recently, Oben.

Since I am already posting old tables I put together, here was my table comparing ballheads. Here is the original thread. I learned a lot over the course of the thread.