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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kabsetz" data-source="post: 3009996" data-attributes="member: 10167">I have tried the Berlebach head after a local shop ordered one in, and while I agree with John on its excellent build quality, solidity and very reasonable weight, we were disappointed in its lack of damping for scanning movements with a scope. For pointing it at a target, locking it up and viewing it was excellent, but the type of birding we tend to do in Finland involves a lot of scanning shorelines or waters as well as scanning the sky and following birds in flight with our scopes. In this kind of use, there needs to be very good viscous damping in the horizontal and vertical movements of the head, and the Berlebach did not perform as we would have liked.For the Kowa 883, the Manfrotto MVH500AH or the Sirui VH-10 should work very well. The Gitzo 2380 is also excellent, but is heavier and lacks the counterbalance spring that the Manfrotto and Sirui have, and that is a feature I no longer want to be without.Kimmo</blockquote>