People that review items should first understand the items, you can adjust the tension.

I don't have the Airhead ballhead but I do have the 3 Legged Thing leaver clamp that I use on my Arca-Swiss Monoball p0 ballhead ($350 ballhead). I have a health condition that makes it difficult to put much pressure with my hands and I still find the 3 Legged Thing clamp very easy to use. I love the clamp so much I bought a second one for my second setup. I think you missed that you can adjust the width of the clamping mechanism using the supplied Allen wrench/Hex wrench. This allows you to adjust the clamp to any standard Arca Swiss type plate since Arca plates from different manufactures have a slight manufacture variance in width. By adjusting it you're also adjusting how much pressure is needed to release the clamp. The complaints you had about it being too difficult to release and the damage to the finish are alleviated by this 2 second adjustment. At the 3:47 mark of your video you can see the screw that you make this adjustment on which is right in the middle of the part that swivels. I hope that you consider giving 3 Legged Thing another try because they are a quality product. Cheers.

Thank you for this interesting ballhead review and comments. Perhaps 3 Legged Thing has addressed these issues by now as I have the Leo 2.0 tripod with this ballhead on order., for use as a travel tripod. I was most impressed with the 66lb. load capacity of this tripod. Also, since I use an Arca-Swiss (Kirk) L-bracket on my camera I never need the QR plate that comes with most tripods. :-)

Yup I'm having the same issues with the lever and adjusting allen screw for the fit is a pain. Not the lever I hoped for.

Have just bought a 3-Legged Thing QR11 Full Body bracket for my big heavy Nikon D3S, D3X bodies and I love it. I was previously using Giottos & Benro heads with standard detachable base plates, but I have very quickly adapted to using the bracket with Arca style clamp on the Benro B2 head. ps HATE that blue and orange! LOL 🤣

I'm about to make a purchase of the Three Legged Thing LEO 2.0 tripod with this exact ball head, however to save myself from installing and unscrewing the plate over and over whenever I use it I've decided to go for the L bracket for my particular camera and permanently leave that installed, that way it's additional protection for my camera on 2 sides and it's flat so none of the protruding issues you're having here and I can go from landscape to portrait without loosening the main ball head and having to re-level it.

It looks like you can back out the clamping bolt on the QR lever with an allen key to make it less stiff. If you remove the bolts from the bottom of the plate will it sit flat?

As others mention, the tension on the lever is easily adjustable with the supplied allen key. The two small locking screws underneath the plate are easily removable if preferred. For the weight the load capacity is amazing. The only negative comment would be that if you have the clamp release lever on the rear side of the camera then the levelling bubble window is hidden below the lens and not really useable.

You can take those 2 little screws out from orange plate, I've done so installing it permanently on my Osmo Pocket 3 handle extender.

You also cannot replace the quick release plate with a third party version. Almost all brands and their quick release clamps/plates has a female grove of 5mm. Unfortunately, the one of the Airhed Vu, on top of the stem, has a 3 or 4mm male groove

Thank you! Saved me a huge headache!

I have same head with twist clamp and is easy to use it’s called Airhed Pro not Airhed Pro Lever

Maybe check out the Sirui Lineup, mate. I'm using the ST-10X for travelling, and it has been doing great, it's just about 100g heavier than the 3 legged thing. My normal camera-lens-combination is about 4 to 4,5kg, and the ST-10X locks rocksolid in any position that you can imagine. Doesn't have a Quick Release though.

Sorry to say but your problems are user error. With the tripod and ballhead there is a detailed booklet explaining how to adjust the lever. So the question is: should 3 legged thing pay for your mistake?

Sounds like a one-off bad example, I have just bought one with a Tripod, mine is so smooth and light to release and lock, no marks whatsoever on the contacting metal surfaces, and the latch is easy to operate, probably because the release lever is so easy to operate.

Not sure if you'll see this but, try a small rig quick release. Best.

Doesn't look NEARLY as cool when actually see it.