Tripods 101

[thomas89]

Was recently gifted a Swarovski spotter. Older model straight eye-piece Habicht, 20-60x80, but still some unreal glass. Feel like to do it justice I need a good tripod.

I’ve got a $40 aluminum one for the camera that doesn’t seem like it even deserves to be in the same room as that spotter.

I’ve picked through threads here and a few other articles, but it’s not becoming more clear to me at this point. More than likely a tripod I’d leave at the truck, somewhere I’ve got a short little tripod I’d pack around for sitting and glassing so I think that’s covered. Or is it?

Carbon fiber vs aluminum, pan head vs ball head. Arm vs no arm? Where to begin? I’ve seen some of those Slik brand ones for a couple hundred, but I’ve also seen those Leupold ones for $600. The way I’m looking at it, my budget is a bit bigger since I don’t have to pay for the glass to top it anymore.

 

[Treeshark]

My combo is a Slik Carbon 634 and a Benro S2 head, it didn’t break the bank and I’m happy with it. With a straight spotter I wouldn’t want to only have a short tripod, personally.

 

[winmag]

If you’re looking for a sitting height tripod, it’s really hard to beat a Sirui AM-225. Comes with a good ball + pan head. Very light. Twist locks are way faster and easier to use with gloves than lever locks. Head takes Acra plates which are almost universal at this point. $180 on Amazon.

Head doesn’t have an arm but in my opinion you don’t need one anyway. Just pan your binos with your nose, then adjust elevation with the ball at the end of your sweep, repeat over and over.

The one thing you’ll have to get used to is not having a center shaft to adjust elevation. This is handy in the mountains so you don’t have to adjust all 3 legs when making big elevation changes. But after a few days you get good at quickly changing all 3 leg heights when needed, and at that point the center shaft is just extra weight.

My previous tripod was a Slik Carbon Pro 624CFL. It’s been relegated to back up duty.

If you want a standing height tripod for a straight spotting scope, that thing is going to have to be super tall and will therefore also be heavy.

 

[BackofBeyond]

Following. I’m looking to upgrade my tripod/head as well.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

If you’re just leaving it at the truck, weight is essentially a non factor, which totally changes the game. Weight can be your friend, particularly if you are going to use it standing.

I would order a few heads and see what your like. Return the others. For solid pan heads the sirui va5 is popular, as is the manfrotto 700rc2. I’ve never warmed up to ball heads but I’d love to for the weight savings.

I was wearing out a set of $100-$200 legs every couple of years. I eventually upgraded and have been money ahead. However, I use mine a lot and hard, not everyone hunts via a method where that is going to happen.

 

[Seamaster]

My wife is far into the deep end of photography so we have a few tripods around. Most of her tripods are Manfrotto. I keep a Manfrotto 190X in my car for use with a spotting scope. It is heavy, but it is a good quality aluminum for about $250. A good pan head will cost another S150 or so. With a heavy spotter attached I usually do not like ball heads.

Carbon fiber tripods are lighter and are just a bit better for vibration in the wind, but if you go that route expect to pay a fair bit more for a quality tripod. There are a lot of less expensive tripods on the market, but if you want quality expect to pay for it.

 

[thomas89]

OK as I'm sure most of you have been sitting around concerned that I get an adequate tripod, I pulled the trigger on a Slik carbon fiber 733 tripod, and then the VA5 head. A bit of an expense, but ultimately a really useful addition to the hunting kit. I'll update as soon as I can spend some time messing with it.

I went with the 733 because it seemed like a happy medium between the 600 series and the 800 series. Was important to me to be able to use it standing, as glass antelope from the road this fall was a really fun addition to the hunt that I'd like to continue doing. Seemed the 733 is light enough to be packed, but not quite a backcountry style/ultralight tripod. Went to Sportsmans Warehouse and dinked around with the few they had. Did get to mess with a few Leupold's, a few of the aluminum model Sliks, and a Manfrotto or whatever they are. Felt my lip curl up a bit staring at the Vortex garbage they had there, so I didn't even look at them.

 

[p_ham]

Ive got a Benro S2, carbon fiber legs. I really like the ball head.

 

[Topdog]

Was recently gifted a Swarovski spotter. Older model straight eye-piece Habicht, 20-60x80, but still some unreal glass. Feel like to do it justice I need a good tripod.

I’ve got a $40 aluminum one for the camera that doesn’t seem like it even deserves to be in the same room as that spotter.

I’ve picked through threads here and a few other articles, but it’s not becoming more clear to me at this point. More than likely a tripod I’d leave at the truck, somewhere I’ve got a short little tripod I’d pack around for sitting and glassing so I think that’s covered. Or is it?

Carbon fiber vs aluminum, pan head vs ball head. Arm vs no arm? Where to begin? I’ve seen some of those Slik brand ones for a couple hundred, but I’ve also seen those Leupold ones for $600. The way I’m looking at it, my budget is a bit bigger since I don’t have to pay for the glass to top it anymore.

Depending on your usage, I went with a vortex highcountry II. so far it’s been great ! And if it breaks then they’ll fix is a no brained to me.

 

[Brad W]

I have a Silk 634 and Sirui VA-5 head. Light, strong and stable. We run an ATX 85 on it all the time. We are primarily backpack hunting and it is perfect. I have a bigger Gitzo that stays in the truck but it weighs a ton. A big heavy tripod would be easy to find on Craigslist if you are near any population center. A cheap light one will not be stiff enough to support that spotter without vibration. It doesn’t matter how good the glass is if the spotter is shaking.

 

[Dsnow9]

Im a huge Han of my outdoorsmans tripod. I have used their regular head and micro and both work great

 

[LongCut]

I just ordered a Slik CF 834. B and H has them on sale for $169.00 for a few more hours. VA5 was $164.90 with a $30 rebate.

 

[peterk1234]

What do you guys consider to be a light tripod and head combo?