Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Which tripod head is best for glassing ?

Saw a few pretty cool heads for tripods the other day.

What's good, what's not.

Spot

I prefer fluid heads to any of the others I have tried. They make scanning across large areas extremely easy because the motion is smooth and consistent.

I like the Manfrotto 700 RC2 since it is light and smooth, although the tension knobs tend to loosen a little.

Other quality favorites around here are the Jim White head, and the Outdoorsmans pistol grip with Jim White panning attachment.

I agree with most of both of the above posts. I love Fluid heads and I like my Jim White head.
I am not crazy about the pistol grip head. Its not stupid proof and I need stupid proof.
I had a velbon 157Q a while back and it was smooth, but after having 2 crap out on me, I stopped using them.

+1

One guy I saw had a verticle grip type Manfrotto with a trigger to let it pan.

Anyone used one of those?

Spotshooter,
A lot depends on your specific use for the head, right now I have 3 different heads they all have good points and bad points.
I have a Manfrotto 701rc2 fluid head it is great for spotting scope use and video camera use but only good for bino use and too heavy for backpacking.
I have a Manfrotto 3265 pistol grip head that is great for spotting scope use and backpacking, but not very good for use with binos and un-useable with a video camera.
I have a Manfrotto486 rc2 ball head that works great with binos and the best choice for backpacking but is not very good with a a spotting scope or video camera.
So a lot does depend on your intended specific use.
B

I prefer the 701rc2 because I can also video of this head
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/341507-REG/Bogen_Manfrotto_701RC2_701RC2_Video_Fluid_Head.html
they no longer make them but you can find them on ebay still

I also have the Jim White Head and its a really nice and light, bullet proof head. If Im going to just glass and no video I probably would use this one.

I also have the Outdoorsman Pistol grip head and it works well with a pair of 15x binos but not so well with a spotting scope.

The Manfrotto/ Bogen pistol grip head you speak of is big and heavy.

We posted the same time...
With the 701rc2 I have found that I like to take the handle off when using my 15x binos and just use my 2 hands on the head so I can control the knobs easier.