[Dabhand16]

I thought that the idea of the heads with more than one knob was that you could adjust the orientation in one plane while keeping it in others.

I believe that the primary reason for using a ball head was for the speed of adjustment, as you only have to operate one knob (admittedly with the camera moving in all directions).

If you are going for a head with three way locking, you might as well have a pan/tilt head.

I guess it depends whet you are going to be using it for. Some subjects will have diferent requirements than others.

If it is for general use, back to the compromise again!