Ian B wrote

I would like your opinions before I buy, I might be missing a trick
somewhere.

I do a lot of backcountry stuff and I have a Leki Sierra Trek-pod
to which is permanently attached a general purpose quick release
shoe. The camera carries the attachment, obviously. It thus serves
the dual purpose of being a trekking pole and a handy monopod
when a tripod is overkill or too timeconsuming. I agree that a pan/
tilt head is probably overkill, if not contradictory. If I need to spend
time on a compostion that needs pan/tilt I'll hoy out the tripod.

Chris