If you like Arca-style ballheads, there's some decent facsimilies out there. (I got mine from Amvona.com off an auction, when they were cheaper on Ebay, I think it's the same as a Benro) Not, super-light, but I like mine, for as long as it lasts, anyway. Which could be quite a while, since, like you mention, I don't do a *great* deal of tripod work.
It's small and solid, anyway. I got it while trying to re-equip in a relative hurry (all my decent camera support was lost in a rather hasty move out of a bad situation some time ago) ...and for my money mostly didn't want to deal with quick-release heads that might be a weak link: this one just clamps down. In general I went fairly big, figuring I could be picky about carrying later. But it turns out it's a pretty nice head I got here. I don't presume that it'd stay nice under a lot of hard use, but it could, for all I know.