Flat-based fluid heads with smooth pan/tilt

[QuickHitRecord]

Do they even exist? I think it would be great to have one for the versatility. And to be clear, I'm not talking about the giant studio heads with weight capacities of 33lb+, or Mitchell heads. My camera payload is around 10lb and I don't see that number going up.

Also, before anyone suggests them, I don't consider Manfrotto or Benro to be smooth enough.

The only totally flat base head I've found from a top-tier company is the new Miller ArtX line. These are basically an à la carte version of the CX heads and by default they are flat base. I could configure the lowest entry of that line, the ArtX3 with a 17.6lb capacity, with a 501PL plate receiver and a pan bar. I think that this would work for my ~10lb payload. The only problem is that it's around $1500 to get a base model configured the way I'd want it, and they do sit a little high for my liking.

There are some well-regarded bowl heads that can be flat-mounted using the flat space at the bottom of the bowl:

• Miller DS, Compass, CX, and Air heads
• Sachtler Ace L and XL
• Libec HS, TH, NX, RS, and any of the older heads that end with a 'D'.

But with these, you're basically stacking two 75mm bowls on top of each other and again, it just seems unnecessarily tall.

Then there are the emerging companies:

• Sirui
• Leofoto
• iFootage
• SmallRig
• E-Image

I have never used any of these, so I'm wondering if anyone else here has and can comment. Are there any standouts? I'd ideally like a head that can give me smooth pans, tilts, and (importantly) diagonals with little to no backlash. Counterbalance is not important to me for this head which is just as well because most of these do not have one.

[QuickHitRecord]

I ended up ordering a Leofoto BV-30M, which has the distinction of being one of the few flat-base fluid heads with an continuously adjustable counterbalance. The caveat is that there aren't many reviews (I only found one) so I'm going to be a guinea pig on this one. It looks like they have a good return policy and a 10-year warranty, so I'll see if it works for me.