In reply to mike123:
One on the cheap but ok end is the "silk sprint pro 2". It's reasonably robust, reasonably inexpensive, reasonably light and has a good enough ball head for smaller cameras and slrs. Don't use it with a big lens though.
A bit of a compromise but it has been serving me well for the last few years and is cheap enough that I don't mind taking it to places it might get broken.
A quick look on Amazon suggests it has been replaced by a model 3 which looks exactly the same.
Post edited at 09:48