What is the best gimbal head for a monopod?

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Wade Abadie said:
I use a very simple tilt head made by Desmond:


I have used it for about 5 years with no issues.

Personally I do not understand the appeal of the MH-100, especially if you are using a heavy lens. It seems incredibly awkward and unbalanced to have a 5-10 pound camera/lens combo hanging out 6+ inches off-center of the monopod.
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I feel exactly the same. It would literally cause severe wrist pain trying to move around with a monopod because it was so side off, balanced and getting a large rig onto that was a nightmare for me, but I guess lots of people like it for some reason.
 
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Ciao a tutti, in effetti non capisco perché molti elogiano la mh100, mi sembra scomodo avere il baricentro spostato di lato. Come prodotto sarà di ottima fattura come altri della Wimberlay ho il gimbal, il sidekik, le staffe e le piastre per flash e sono tutti prodotti eccellenti, ma questa con il peso laterale non mi piace proprio, uso questa, molto meglio.
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I've used the Wimberley MH-100 with both the D850 (with battery grip) and D6 with the 300 f2.8G VR II and 500 f4E FL and it work extremely well. Yes I did compensate a small amount to balance the weight since it does sit "off-center" yet after a few minutes it isn't an issue. Love it's simplicity. Very well made and sturdy.
 
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Agree, I never experienced any wrist pain or fatigue when using the wimberley WH100 , even with a heavy Canon 500F4. Took me all but a few minutes to adjust and it felt very balanced. No issues whatsoever... Would still be my first pick if buying another today

ecycled said:
I've used the Wimberley MH-100 with both the D850 (with battery grip) and D6 with the 300 f2.8G VR II and 500 f4E FL and it work extremely well. Yes I did compensate a small amount to balance the weight since it does sit "off-center" yet after a few minutes it isn't an issue. Love it's simplicity. Very well made and sturdy.
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I've used a Fotopro E-6H Eagle gimbal head on my monopod for a number of years now it works extremely well. It's a very light weight ( 700 grams without the cradle )smaller sized gimbal that allows the centre of the lens to sit on the vertical axis of the monopod which I much prefer to the off axis of the Wimberly. The head uses Arc-type screw clamps however there is a small button on each screw clamp that has to be depressed to fully unscrew the clamp, great safety feature. The only downside is it's only rated for 10kg but it works well with some of the smaller super teles.
 
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I have run quite a few systems/lens combos on the Wimberley WH100. The heaviest lens by far was the Canon 500F4L and more recently the Nikon 400 2.8TC. both balanced well on this mono gimbal head, and felt very natural in use. The head is very strong and can easily hold any super tele . I do not feel the offset mount creates any issue in use, well at least not for me. Very pleased with this gimbal head

arbitrage said:
What lens are you using on the MH100 (I'm assuming that you meant MH and not WH)? As I mentioned, for smaller lenses it can be a great compact solution. For larger lenses it works but it is pulling to the side as the thing is side mounting a huge lens....physics don't lie and you are always counterbalancing that the entire time you are shooting....sort of defeats the purpose. The JR 3 is so small and light that it just works 100x better than the MH100 for larger lenses like 400/2.8 and 600/4 (even the latest lighter versions).
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MH100 for me. While a true gimbal would be slightly better…it is more weight and tivally one carries a monopod instead of a tripod for weight reasons. I don’t use one on my tripod either…a light fluid head is almost as good IMO and much lighter…and us geezers appreciate lighter.
 
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