hello everyone,
I'm looking for suggestions on the next piece of kit i need to buy. I have bought two tripods off of ebay for cheap (under £30) and they've both been terrible and gone straight in the bin.
I have seen a post with someone wanting to spend $400+ but I'm looking to spend half of that...? I dont mind buying used either.
The main problem I am trying to overcome is the tripod wobbling when it extended to maximum height, but far more important is the elimination of the tiny bit of give that the handle has as i begin to pan. By this I mean with my cheap nasty tripods the handle will move a few mm before the head starts to move, meaning the starting motion of the head is jumpy and generally horrible.
Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated

seems you are answering your own question here. you're throwing away your money on junk. you can try this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=342543&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

but it won't eliminate the "sticking" issue. usually what i do is begin my pan before i need it smooth and then cut the extra start-up bit away in the editing process. it's not perfect, but it's not expensive and also portable...

thanks for your reply. to be honest tho, of the 3 tripods i have, two of them are fine except the 'start up jump'.. surely there's a technical term for this... "pre-pan-wobble?!"... so if this tripod is still gonna have that problem I'm not sure its worth the money for me. The main time you cant really get rid of it is if for example you pan across a crowd of people left to right and then you want to simply stop and pan back the other way with no cutting..
how much do you think I'd need to pay to get rid of that annoying problem?!

One thing that is critical is the size of your camera. Cameras of different size and mass can use different types of heads. Give us more information about your setup and what you are doing.

i'm using an xl1s..
I just bought another on ebay, looks a lot more sturdy this time it is a manfrotto so hopefully its going to be better than the rubbish I have bought in the past!