Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting lightweight tripod for spotter

Have been reading some reviews on a few different tripods. I see lots of people like the slik sprint mini, both for low cost and its compact weight saving capability. I have heard the small gizmo is a good one too but is way out of my price range. Wondering if anyone has used a outdoorsmans tripod, i see they have a new OUTDOORSMANS COMPACT MEDIUM tripod out that seems to have rave reviews. But it retails for $500! is it worth the money to pay the extra on a tripod or should i just go with the Slik Sprint mini II for under $100? I have heard of people hanging a mesh sack filled w rocks under the lower quality tripods to help make it more stable. please let me know what you would do.

also - outdoorsmans or jim white head?

Slik Sprint Pro, pair it with a Sunpak pistol ball head. It's awesome.

Slick Sprint Mini here but I only have a little Nikon 50 ED. I want something with a bit more heft for a 75-80mm

I wish I could check out that ball head. What does it weigh, by itself? Obviously you think it is worth the weight.

Hard to beat that one.

Tanner: Nice to see you still rockin the Nikon.

Tanner, looks like a great set up! I too am interested on how much it weighs.

It's very useful- starsky can attest to it being a pretty darn good little setup.

The whole setup via my bathroom scale weighs 4.4lbs. The cool part about the Slik Sprint Pro is that it extends tall enough for me to use standing without stooping over, and I'm pretty medium height at 6'0".

Vortex Summit SS ST-4
Nikon Feild Scope EDIII

5.1 lbs

That Nikon Fieldscope ED III 60 mm scope is very nice! At 43 oz ( straight version ) it is not super hvy to carry. I use mine on a Sprint Mini with standard ball head.

I am going to look into that pistol head above- looks reasonable when I want to go a little heavier. I also have been thinking about the Sprint pro for when I want to stand and use it. So far for sitting glass work the Sprint Mini works well. And for the weight of the ED III, the supplied ball head is adequate. Also - IMO for about $79 all up the Sprint Mini is a good light weight place to start.

Tanner,

Have you done a lot of panning with that head (8+ hours a day)?

G,

I put in probably 3-4hrs yesterday on it, and it was awesome. I'll let you know how it does after a really long day.

I looked at the spring mini!... found an half priced deal on ebay for the votex so I jumped!

I'm way diggin' the 60mm Nikon EDIII..
May opt for the pistol grip but right now I see no need for it.

At 5 lbs and ED glass for dawn/dusk... super cool...

I have the Vortex light weight Tri pod and manfrotto head.

Picked up from Doug at camerland.

For the money decent light weight set up

I'm assuming its the summit ss, right? Which head?

I'm at 4 pounds 10 oz for the Pentax pf Ed II spotter (with case) and slik sprint mini II tripod that came with a ball head. Tripod was around 80 bucks I think.

I love the ball head, but hate the little tightening screw/wing nut that adjusts the tension. That pistol grip sure looks nice.

Edit- can only glass sitting down, and I removed the extension rod for less weight. I've heard you can cut the foam padding off the legs too but I'm not that brave yet.

I was just surfing Sliks sight and they have one called the sprint pro 2 and it is 2.07 pounds and lets you view up to 61 inches. This is just a slight bit of wieght compared to the Vortex Summit SS if i remember right but is taller.

Anyone running this?

My Slik Pro II with the stock ball head, minus the center tube extension weighs exactly 29.5 ounces. It has 3 leg extensions, (same as Tanners) but I'd buy the shorter Slik next time as it is too flimsy for my use with the 3rd (thinnest) extension out. This tripod works best when I am seated against a boulder and I have it opened out "flatter" on the middle position where the legs are at a 45 degree angle (versus 60 degree on the first notch) straddling my legs. It is fine with the Swaro 20-60x65 ATM HD on it (or my Leupold 20 x 50 or Nikon ED50). It is my sheep hunting tripod. I haven't used it fully extended with a bag of rocks hung under it, but it might calm it down......as the wind blows constantly in stone sheep country. Anyway, I've thought about one of the Outdoorsman tripods but am satisfied with the cheap Slik. I use a large Bogen tripod with a Manfrotto pistol grip ball head for glassing from the vicinity of the truck or quad, long range prairie dogs, etc. It is awesome but super heavy.

I've been using the Sprint Pro II for the past several years with the ED50. Mine has the standard head.

If I were to put any more money into this system it would be a Jim White panhead. The standard head on the Slik is functional, but my cheap Sunpak pans better. A JW panhead would fix this.

I feel that the SP II is a step above the bottom-end tripods, but its not 100% rock stable and it weighs more than some other cheaper options. I really like the Cullman for low buck budget.

Don't get me wrong, I'm mostly happy with the SPII for the price, but would upgrade in a second if I felt the need. As mentioned earlier, the distal most sections are pretty flimsy so if you plan to extend that far don't expect it to be super stable. I've had mine loaded down with improvised anchors in windy conditions.

A heavier spotter might make this tri-pod better or worse. I don't know, probably depends on the conditions. The ED50 is pretty dang light either way and the only spotter I've carried the past 4 or 5 years.

Jason