Best tripod head for spotter

[JonS]

I’ve got a vanguard heavy tripod and the head that came with it seems to have some slop in it, considering replacing it for better imagery. What’s your favorite head for a spotter, mines a 65mm?
Thanks
Jon

 

[realunlucky]

What's your budget? Plenty of good heads out there if wieght isn't a concern. Light weight choices up the price tag

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[Jon S]

Pretty open on getting one I’ll love and use the best/most.
Currently it’s a three way adjustable but considering a ball head or fluid head wand and a 3 way.
Would like to use for range work, antelope spotting, and some backpacking, but not a ton, they may change but usually on a bp hunt I carry only Binos.
Thoughts on ball vs fluid vs three way?
Ball loosens one thing and all angles are available to move, may be hard to track something.
3 way is harder to adjust all three but can adjust horizon and then pan and tilt.
Pros and cons both ways, never used a ball head and am interested.

 

[Napperm4]

Depends a lot on your glassing style and if you want to use your binos on the tripod / how you use your spotter.

Backpack hunting for me is either elk, moose or sheep. Elk and moose I’m just using the spotter most of the time to verify legality and occasionally score with my spotter. I do my searching / spotting with my binoculars. That set up I carry a light and compact vortex ss tripod with their ballhead and outdoorsmans qr panner. For myself, having a separate pan function is a must. I tried without and it was frustrating trying to keep my binoculars (cl 10x30) on track, worse trying to control the spotter for tracking because of its weight (stx 65mm). Mostly here I’m looking at bedded and still animals so not really tracking.

Sheep hunting I swap out for the outdoorsmans fluid pan head. Much easier to fine tune quickly and the spotter plays a critical role. I beef up the tripod to the slik 634 too as the extra weight helps with the steadiness and I’m using heavier optics (el 10 x 42 and stx 95mm)

White tail, mule deer and antelope are day hunts from the truck. I’m using the heavier / bulky set up because weight doesn’t matter. The animals in that area are seldom bedded and always on the move, usually fast. The pan head is king here to control the heavy optics and I’m tracking them on the run.

For the range once I’m lined up I throw the digiscope set up on target once then adjust as I change targets. Either style would be fine here but I usually go panhead for ease.

So long story short - they both have their place. Ballheads shine for their compactness / weight savings but are best suited to photography or verifying with a spotter on non moving targets. In my opinion and experience anyway.

All that said - here is where my unpopular opinion comes in. I have a very generous hunting budget. I’ve tried a lot of different glass, heads tripod set ups etc.

Aside from keeping things clean and using the QR adapters to change heads between tripods and window mount I haven’t really found an advantage of the outdoorsman pan heads over something like a quality ball head (the vortex one I use is not lol) or the something like benro s2 head my brother runs.

Any of these options though have definitely performed better than the vanguard heads. I owned, tested and sold a few of the ph111v due to their play especially at distance. I tried out one of their 3 ways also (can’t remember model) but it was again sloppier and slower to use than others out there.

 

[realunlucky]

I have the manfrotto befree pan head it's a good light wieght option around 100$. I've been eyeing the sirui va5 which gets great reviews has a more user friendly control knobs for 150$. Of course outdoorsman gets plenty of love but they are closer to 300$. You can get some older fluid heads but the wieght goes up but the price is lower.
I don't like ball heads for spotting scopes but some people use them with little problems.

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[tdhanses]

I really like all the Outdoorsmans heads but for my optic selection and style their pistol grip head is my favorite.

 

[Camera Land]

Best bang for the buck is the Promaster SPCH20Cine head. It's Arca Swiss and has a 1 year no fault warranty that we extend to lifetime for forum members.
Here is the link to see it. It's normally $89.99 but members here only pay $74.99

https://cameralandny.com/products.h...t]=spch20&catalog[sort][on]=relevance&x=0&y=0

 

[Pike40]

I like the manfrotto 128rc fluid panhead from manfrotto. I have several ball heads that work as well, but I much prefer the panhead for most applications.

 

[JFKinYK]

Best bang for the buck is the Promaster SPCH20Cine head. It's Arca Swiss and has a 1 year no fault warranty that we extend to lifetime for forum members.
Here is the link to see it. It's normally $89.99 but members here only pay $74.99

https://cameralandny.com/products.html?catalog[search][text]=spch20&catalog[sort][on]=relevance&x=0&y=0

If the weight on that webpage is correct (.00043 kg) then sign me up!!

 

[Camera Land]

The weight is 14.25 ounces

 

[Dioni A]

The outdoorsman's micro pan head is awesome!

 

[FURMAN]

Take a look at the Benro S2. It is a great head for the price.

 

[Brian Fahs]

If packing one in I run the outdoorsmans regular pan head.

If in or near the truck I run a manfrotto 700 rc2 pan head. I actually prefer the manfrotto due to its fluid head .

Both are built like tanks but the manfrotto is 3x the size of the outdoorsmans.

 

[Muttly]

What would be the pros and cons of the Benro S2 vs the Promaster SPCH20C, aside from price?

 

[CCH]

Haven't tried the Promaster, but based on what was posted, the Benro is lighter.

 

[NatefromVT]

What would be the pros and cons of the Benro S2 vs the Promaster SPCH20C, aside from price?

Resurrecting your question as I'm looking at the same one.
It looks like while the S2 is lighter, your image will shift when you go to lock it in. I'm not sure if the Promaster does this, but I'm tempted to buy one and see which is better.

 

[NatefromVT]

The weight is 14.25 ounces

Does the image shift when you lock in the Promaster? Any chance you could elaborate on the advantages you get for taking on the extra 3 oz over the Benro? I'm willing to bet other members would love to know as well.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Camera Land]

It does not shift. Very well built. Benro warranty is a limited warranty. If you break it you buy another. We give you a lifetime, no fault warranty. Promaster is also Arca Swiss, plus members here only pay $69.99 for the Promaster instead of the regular $89.95

Let me know if you have any other questions

Joel

 

[Stoke_82]

Like the look of the spch20c. Anyway to find one of those in Canada

 

[JoshT]

I had the ball head on my vortex tripod and couldn't stand it. Would shift a little when you lock it in place, I also found it difficult to make slight adjustments. I upgraded to a Benro as per a friends recommendation and have been extremely pleased with it. Super sturdy, moves smoothly. Lock the tilt in and just pan back and forth.