Manfrotto 128RC Micro Fluid Head with 200PL 14 RC2 Rapid Connector Plate, Bundled with Two ZAYKiR Quick Release Plates for The RC2 Rapid Connect Adapter

I kept on buying cheaper ($70 and under) "fluid" tripod heads and returning them because these cheaper tripod heads were only fluid in the tilting and not in the panning. Finally I purchased this Manfrotto tripod head and it is perfect, it is fluid in the pan and tilt, the movement is very smooth . And it's not too heavy or bulky.

I own one of these and while it overall is good, there is one very critical design flaw. The knob for controlling the horizontal panning is hard to reach and is hard to unlock when you have locked it tight. Often, when you are shooting live, you would need to lock the head. When you try to unlock it so that you could pan again, the placement of the knob makes it very difficult to do so and you have to exert quite a bit of force that often results in the footage getting jerky. The shape of the knob also makes it harder to apply the proper torque when tightening or un-tightening, exacerbated by its awkward placement. Based on these, I wouldn't say this is a great fluid head. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 6 or 7.