Wimberley Head issues (1 Viewer)

I purchased a brand new Wimberley MKII tripod head from WEX at the beginning of last year and all seemed fine. It has not had extensive use, mostly for trips and long weekends which account for roughly 12-13weeks in total.

I began to notice problems in October on Scilly where there was a stiffness to panning left, resistance to the motion. This worsened, pretty bad in Israel where it was juddering to the left but not the right. I thought that it may have been to tight so adjusted the tension and this seemed to work for few days before returning to the same issue.

It got to the point that it was really interfering with photography and using my scope so I contact WEX from whome I bought inly for them to be unhelpful and advise that it was now out of warrentee (by about a month) and I needed to take it up with the manufacturer, who is in the states. I get the impression with WEX, not the first time I may add, that once they get your money out them they have no interest and fob you off to somewhere else and provide no post customer support.

Anyway after contacting Wimberley and the problem being diognosed as probably internal washers being cracked I was sent replacement parts which I struggled to replace. In short this solved nothing and the issue was in fact made worse. I put the original bits back and it was the same as before I switched them over but a few days later the head is again all but unusable and with phone call or further contact from Wimberley.

So I have an expensive £540 paperweight, a lack of support from WEX and may have to send the offending item to the states at high cost to get repaired, for which there is minimal amount of overall use, for some internal fault that would not be of my making.

I am not impressed with this head but I'm now stuck with it so is there anywhere in the UK who can fix these things. Has anyone else had similar problems.

Hi Steve
Not sure if i can help here

What part did they send you to replace was it the black plastic washer under the central screw .
Rob.

I was sent both the washers and the bolt and it did not improve the panning situation, indeed it was worse!

I put the old parts back in and it was okay for a day or so before returning to the juddering and sticking I had before hand, though now it happens in both directions when panning and is worse than when I switched over and back again.

It was initially suspected the plastic washer was cracked but it was not damaged at all.

I suspect there is something else going on within the swivel housing, The only way I can describe what it now feels like when panning is that its like running over stone cobbles on a bike, constant juggering.

I don't feel confident on mounting my 500m lens on this now incase something is cracked or broken that will result in it seperating the head from the bottom section attached to the tripod resulting in catastrophic mishap.

I'm not trusting the Wimberley products right now

Hi Steve
I think the problem could be a little lower down than that washer .
Could you give me a ring the number is on my website.
Rob.

I think it's lower down also, I'll try tomorrow as probably won't have a chance before then

Cheers

I am sending the head back to Wimberley, they are going to pay for the shipping.

I'm hoping it will be fixed and back swiftly

kind regards

Hope things work out - glad to see Wimberley responded positively.
My experience with them has been very good.
Good reason to stay clear of large sale houses though.

Oh dear.

Sort of re-opening this thread as the problem with the Wimberley Tripod Head has started happening again despite sending it back to the States last time for repair.

The exact same problem is occuring, panning left meets resistance and juddering whilst panning right there is no problem. No adjustment has been made to the tension bolt at all, just like last time, but the horrid juddering has occured after only really a few weeks constant use, just like last time. I suspect there's more issues to this individual head than just the washers and bolt and water damage cannot be used as an explonation (as Wimberley tried to say last time-its designed to be used outside for god's sake but isn't capable of resisting being out in the rain) as it has reoccured so soon, just a few months, after brand new replacement parts we provided back at Wimberley.

Additionally I have had no response from Wimberley to my email and now feel that this head is a very expensive waste of time and not worth the £570ish price tag.

I will never by a Wimberley again and do not anything good to really say about their products

I would give them 1 more go if they will cover shipping - after all you have nothing to loose!

Their service (in my and others opinion) is normally excellent so I think they would want to put this right.

Sorry to hear of your problems, it is an expensive piece of kit that should last almost indefinitely, I hope they sort it for you.

I did send a follow up email as had no response and this was followed by a pretty swift return with offer of actually replacing the head directly from the states. I will need to return the one causing the issues so they can investigate the problem with.

So on that basis, and still subject to seeing how this pans out, the service is looking on the positive side.

I must just have a problematical tripod head, it happens, that has resulted in my angst especially as the panning problems have started on both occaisions whilst being away on a trips which has been far from ideal.

Steve Arlow said:

I did send a follow up email as had no response and this was followed by a pretty swift return with offer of actually replacing the head directly from the states. I will need to return the one causing the issues so they can investigate the problem with.

So on that basis, and still subject to seeing how this pans out, the service is looking on the positive side.

I must just have a problematical tripod head, it happens, that has resulted in my angst especially as the panning problems have started on both occaisions whilst being away on a trips which has been far from ideal.

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Here's hoping your replacement is as good as my Wimberley 2!

I have had my Wimberley version II since 15/12/2007 and it gets a lot of use in all sorts of weather and conditions.I too had this type of problem which i fixed by cleaning and lubricating thrust bearing in the lower part of the head.