Best way to acheive smooth, very slow pans?

[jnorman34]

i am  using a manfrotto 500AH fluid head.  i often using the rubber band trick to help get my pans smooth.  however, it is quite hard to do a very slow pan and make it very smooth.

 

i have read about the bescor motorized pan/tilt head, and varying comments that say it will go very slow and others that complain it is still too fast. 

 

what gear or technique do you guys recommend to achieve very slow, smooth pans?

thanks.

[Bob Wall]

unfortunately you usually get what you pay for with fluid heads and tripods.  500AH is a very low end head and you can't expect miracles from it.  That said, I've used some cheaper (fancier 717) and gotten ok results.  But if very slow controlled (by hand) I would look to higher end fluid heads with a lot more mass and better fluid action.  I use a cartoni focus, which I would say is "good" for the money but I don't know that it's the best head in it's price range.