Everybody will have their favorite type of tripod, head, quick release system. I like the Arca-style standard dovetail provided by a zillion manufacturers. For ease of use, nothing beats having a well-designed L bracket on the camera 100% of the time. All you have to do is whip out the tripod and slip on the camera, and if you want to change orientation, you just loosen the QR clamp and slip the camera in using the other dovetail grooves on the L bracket. This avoids 1. tilting the head 90 degrees and thus putting the camera's weight significantly off-axis 2. having to fish around for the camera plate and screw it on every time you want to put the camera on a tripod 3. one less step - more likely to actually use the tripod. So, look at and ask to try the types of products being used by other photographers. As for ball head vs inverted ball head vs geared head vs pan-tilt head, it all has to do with type of photography, personal preference, and weight/size limitations.
My kit: SLR or compact with its L bracket; remote release - I am old-fashioned and usually use the cheap wired kind that uses a AAA battery; tripod with twist locks (personal preference again); inverted type ball head, specifically the Arca p0 (easy one hand operation, light, small, my tripod's legs invert so the ball head is between them for compactness). Kit, minus camera, weighs ~ 3 pounds, goes from 0" to 60" (I am 5'5", so that is good enough for me to stand up straight and look through viewfinder/at live view screen), and is no burden on the trail. YVMV.