Ladies and Gentleman, I wanted to share with you my setup as it stands now and how I was able to get something done on a budget. Now please mind you, I am in no way saying this is the best setup and certainly not as good as anything that Outdoorsman has, but this was WAY cheaper and hopefully will work for my purposes. I will be testing it this weekend, more than my backyard tests in the snow.
Here are some pictures:
As you can see, I simply took a Manfrotto Befree Alu Ball One tripod with ball head and mounted the Outdoorsmans Binocular Adapter to it:
And here we can see it in action glassing down a simulated hill.
ADDED:
I also wanted to show how well this collapses for storage. The tripod folds down to 13.5 inches in length. I have a deck of cards for reference:
I was really worried that this setup would be unstable, but it is quite stable. I really resisted getting the Outdoorsmans Compact Medium Tripod with pistol grip. The concern I had with that setup was how much it was, which I calculate would be about $753. As this stands now, with the current sale on Manfrotto Tripods at $110, I am into this project at $186.
I'll update the thread as I try this out. Again, this is not a "I did this just as good as the expensive product for less" bullshit that really irks me at times. This is just a compromise that may work for some people. As for mounting a spotting scope on this setup, no way. You cannot change the ball head on this tripod and frankly, I would not want that much weight on this tripod anyways. This setup is simply for the backpacker hunter who is looking to save weight and money. My entire setup, excluding the binoculars, weighs 3 pounds, 1 ounce. This compared to the Outdoorsmans 2 pounds, 13 ounces. I can carry around 4 extra ounces, but that is just me.
Here are some pictures:
As you can see, I simply took a Manfrotto Befree Alu Ball One tripod with ball head and mounted the Outdoorsmans Binocular Adapter to it:
And here we can see it in action glassing down a simulated hill.
ADDED:
I also wanted to show how well this collapses for storage. The tripod folds down to 13.5 inches in length. I have a deck of cards for reference:
I was really worried that this setup would be unstable, but it is quite stable. I really resisted getting the Outdoorsmans Compact Medium Tripod with pistol grip. The concern I had with that setup was how much it was, which I calculate would be about $753. As this stands now, with the current sale on Manfrotto Tripods at $110, I am into this project at $186.
I'll update the thread as I try this out. Again, this is not a "I did this just as good as the expensive product for less" bullshit that really irks me at times. This is just a compromise that may work for some people. As for mounting a spotting scope on this setup, no way. You cannot change the ball head on this tripod and frankly, I would not want that much weight on this tripod anyways. This setup is simply for the backpacker hunter who is looking to save weight and money. My entire setup, excluding the binoculars, weighs 3 pounds, 1 ounce. This compared to the Outdoorsmans 2 pounds, 13 ounces. I can carry around 4 extra ounces, but that is just me.
Last edited:
