I just received the Bogen 501HDV and had it for two days now. The first day went well and I was able to get descent pans and tilts, (outdoor landscape scenes half zoom). I balanced the head per instructions and found that I have the camera at it's furthest back position (towards me). It seemed to move freely/uniformly panning and tilting.

Today I am noticing alot more rebound on the upward tilts with zero downwards. It seems to require more force to tilt the camera up as well. The rebound starts at 20 degrees or so and would be quite noticeable. I have no tension on the locking knob and was lead to believe you would need little to no tension on the friction control if the balance was correct. If I give the friction control two complete turns it seems to do the trick but it still requires more force to tilt the camera up. Is this normal or do I need the 70+ dollar long plate to balance it better?