light weight bino head

[eLightfoot]

I like the price and reviews of the Sirui va-5 but it looks a little large/heavy for running strictly binoculars on backpack hunts. is there a smaller ultra lite head of similar price and performance? Running Swaro El 10x42, possibly 15's in the future, no spotting scope

 

[Brian Fahs]

For strictly bino use I prefer the setup in my avatar. Outdoorsmans pistol grip with panner attachment. It's roughly 3x the price you are looking at with the va-5. Maybe a quality ball head will give you the size and weight you are looking for at that price point but overall performance will be lacking.

If you are running alpha glass which you are, cutting cost on tripod systems makes no sense to me. IMO alpha tripod systems make alpha glass really perform.

 

[Middleofnowhere]

Really Right Stuff has their micro ball head which is really pretty awesome. They also have a panning version.

Micro Ball Head | BC-18

DetailsBC-18 Micro Ball

www.reallyrightstuff.com

a lot of guys like the Outdoorsmans pistol grip, I really didn’t care for it. I’m a huge fan of the Outdoorsmans pan head and their Jim White 2.0 that accepts Arca rails.

Jim White Pan Head 2.0

Overview In honor of a great man and with help from folks like you, we're proud to have taken the Jim White Pan Head to its next evolution. The Jim White 2.0 is compatible with Arca-Swiss and the Original Jim White Plates, so you can enjoy all your favorite accessories with the benefit of a...

outdoorsmans.com

the little micro pan head works decent but balances kind of “high” imo.

on my old 8X42 binos I ran them on a KDC tripod that has a tiny ball head. I later added an Outdoorsmans panner. The ball head with the panner was a pretty nice set up. I’m now running 12x50s and just started using an Anvil ball head. It seems pretty good but their is some finesse required getting tension with the lever on the ball.

 

[eLightfoot]

Im not a real big fan of ball head or pistol grips. Granted I've never tried the outdoorsmans pistol grip, I didn't like the jerky movements when searching around. Honestly I currently use a Vortex Summit tripod with the panhead that it came with. So far I haven't had any problems with that set up other than I don't care for the legs not always locking up the way the should sometimes and the tilt on the head. The binos will tip over if you let the handle go while it is loose enough to tilt around. I think I want to upgrade to the Slik 634 and some type of lightweight fluid head.

 

[tdot]

Really Right Stuff BPC16. Amazing little 4oz ball head with a separate pan function. It's relatively inexpensive, something like 1/2 the price of the Outdoorsman micro panhead, 1/3 the weight and I like its functionality better then either their large panhead or the JW2.0 panhead. That includes everything from an 8x bino to a BTX/95 setup.