Tripod glassing and head accessory mounting systems.
In this blog I will discuss some of the elements of glassing with a tripod that should be considered before making a decision in either purchasing a new tripod or adding to your big game hunting arsenal.
Image movement
When glassing and viewing an image in your scope you want to limit movement, so your image is still. While moving your spotting scope around during a glassing session, your pan/tilt head tension adjustment knobs should be in a loose enough position to do so. The need for an attachment system to be virtually bolted in tight is only as necessary as how tight you have the adjustment knobs set at so you don't get what I call IRS or "Image Return Syndrome". This happens when your eye finds something to stop and look at, the motion stops there but when you let go of the handle (or scope in ball head setups) the image moves back to where there is free tension in the head and tripod structure. So what you want to look at no longer is in the middle of the view.
Anyone who has done a lot of glassing can tell you motion that's causing IRS can be very frustrating. Especially when zoomed in or if trying to capture video through the spotting scope. This is where the quality and type of a pan/tilt glassing head is more important than how it is mounted or what it is mounted to as well as the balance of the set-up. And when glassing, this is where all tripods that use a center extension post fall short (pardon the pun).
It is the distance between where the legs converge and the glassing head that creates the most instability in a tripod set up. It is not necessarily how stiff the legs are. However, this is all related to how tight you run the tension knobs on the glassing head. So consider this if you do a lot of glassing or take pictures or video with scope cell phone attachments. The combination of the scope mount interface, tripod stance, correct balance of the accessory on its interface and the tension of a pan/tilt head are the main factors involved.
Other factors involve what scope is being used and how far apart the scope is from the tripod head, more space creates more leverage which will allow for easier movement of the pan/tilt part of a ball head type setup having no handle. I have found that when using longer scopes and a ball style unidirectional head it is more difficult to manage than using a pan/tilt bi-directional style head that has its own handle. The longer the handle, the more leverage there is to overcome the tension knob setting, but this comes with a compromise of more bulk. With either head type, when the tension adjustment knob is set correct, there is very little pressure exerted on the interface between the scope and the glassing head, thus the same would be true of the interface between the glassing head and the tripod leg convergence head. The same glassing experience can be produced with either type of head or interface depending on how you operate the glassing head with regard to it's tension setting and the tripod structure or it's stance.
The results are more noticeable with the quality of the glassing head. A ball style head is typically not a "fluid" head. A fluid head really has no fluid in it at all but simply grease, the word fluid is used to describe the motion. The quality is noticed most in how fine you can tune the tension of the adjustment knobs. I like to see at least a half of a revolution to go between free enough to move easy and tight enough to hold the scope.
Spotting scope balance
One thing to consider when setting up your set-up is how you will position the scope on the pan tilt or ball head you will be using. If you will be using a cellphone attachment or something similar you will want to be able to position the setup balanced as best you can with the mounts you are using. If it is not balanced correctly you will end up needing to tighten the tension knobs fairly tight to keep it in a position relative to the angle you are looking. This can mean you may need to get used to a pattern of tightening and loosening the tension knob every time you stop to look at something in more detail. So, try and set you set-up as balanced as you can get with the top of the head level and go from there. If you will mainly be looking uphill or downhill, you may need to adjust the balance of your setup for that relative angle.
Moving on to the Tripod
The Top Hand is designed to be a more packable tripod than others that are designed and built with materials to achieve greater stability. More stability does translate into a better glassing experience but it is almost always a trade off. Meaning, if you are very concerned about keeping your scope image super still in lets say a 30 mph wind then you will want to have a pretty beefy tripod and head setup and that comes at a cost of more weight and bulk to pack with you, not to mention expense. Or, you could take the lighter weight setup and simply set it lower to the ground which will cut the undesirable movement in half. With the Top Hand you can use the rope to create an even more rigid setup by hanging your pack from the hook or looping the rope around your foot while standing, or around your leg when in a sitting position. In essence you are now creating the heaviest tripod setup ever. This topped with having the tension knobs adjusted correctly will create a much better glassing experience with a package setup that weighs less. This is one of the objectives of the Top Hand.
So what is the correct head tension adjustment you ask? What I like to do is always make the adjustment to the head tension knobs to where the scope will not drift on its own. Glass around with it set there and then tighten the knobs when an object is located. This is most often only the tilt part of the head unless the tripod is not set level and plumb. Then the pan part of the glassing head may drift at the angle that the tripod is sitting. If it is a ball type head, then in most cases you will be adjusting both pan and tilt simultaneously with one lever or knob. These types of heads can be more difficult to fine tune the tension but are often less weighty and bulky. They are not at all impossible to use.
With the majority of tripods, the leg stance is pre-determined at only a few locking point locations as the legs are spread apart. Right away this limits where you can set the legs. Your terrain varies constantly while hunting and you want to have the ability to place the legs anywhere on the ground or even on objects around you to find the most stable or more natural stance for your height and the direction you want to glass. You don't want to be pushing buttons or pulling knobs to unlock leg motion, you want to be glassing, and sometimes you need to set up fast or reposition to either get a quick visual or be ready for a shot opportunity. This design can have a learning curve to get used to if you have been using a traditional leg pivot lock type of tripod. Often times any issue can be overcome by simply adding some weight to the tripod either by using your off hand or by using the rope and hook to add weight as mentioned earlier. Because the Top Hand Tripod itself is lightweight in its design, the leg feet do not have as much grip on what they are sitting on and when you go to pan the glassing head the whole structure can move with it. Again this of course depends on how tight the tension knob is set. It is most noticeable when glassing on a snow packed ground. We offer a carbide tip to the leg foot to help with this issue but most often you can take a second to be conscious of what each leg is set on and be sure to set the foot into the snow or dirt and most of the time the ground is what completes the triangulation of the structure.
If you are very concerned about this becoming a problem for you in the field we offer a limit strap accessory that connects to the largest tubes of each leg and will keep the legs from pivoting out from where they are set at in any particular scenario. It can adjust up and down each outer tube according to the orientation of where the tripod is set up to create a triangle between each leg and keep them from pivoting away from each other. It only takes a few seconds to adjust and you will have more peace of mind. The accessory also creates a place to set other items like binoculars or other paraphernalia.
The Top Hand now has a resistance pivot stop point in the leg pivot motion that will keep the extended legs from pivoting all the way back in when making a move. They will stop pivoting at the resistance point which is at about a 30-degree angle which is a good starting point to reset the tripod on the terrain of a new location. In most cases you can set the tripod down and immediately begin glassing again without the need to reposition the tripod legs. The resistance pivot stop point is not technically a locking point and can be overcome with more leverage applied. Its purpose is to hold a fully extended leg at the specific angle when the tripod is lifted up off the ground.
Tripod stance and Angled Eyepiece spotters
As mentioned earlier with the two types of heads, if the tripod is not set with its top convergence level, then a pan/tilt head cannot be set level either. This matters when there is a fixed gun attachment involved where the gun could not be adjusted back to a level position. With a unidirectional ball head, the gun can be rotated back to get a level crosshair. This cannot be done with a pan/tilt type of head unless the tripod legs are adjusted to the terrain. This same problem is where it can become difficult to use an angled eyepiece spotter, or a fixed binocular mount and consideration should be made that you might need to always take a few seconds to adjust the tripod leg positions and their height to conform better to the hillside or other terrain you might be glassing in. A ball type head always adjusts the fastest and can overcome the dynamic of the tripod not being perfectly level and plumb. A pan/tilt head can still be used to glass with if the tripod is not set level, it requires a straight eyepiece spotter and both the pan and tilt knobs to be set loose to move simultaneously. Because you can adjust your own body to be plumb, then you will be looking through the eyepiece more naturally. If using binoculars a ball type mount will significantly help by allowing you to keep the binoculars level so the tripod doesn't need to be. Otherwise you will have what I call the curious dog effect and your head will always need to be cocked to the side to match your binoculars and this can create an uncomfortable glassing experience.
An angled eyepiece spotter will always compound this problem. It is the orientation with the direction your head is tipped compared to the direction the object is you are wanting to look at. This can often be a less desirable glassing experience causing either the curious dog effect again or a sore neck from you always having your own head tipped downward. With a straight eyepiece spotter however, your head will always be plumb and your neck straight while also looking in the same direction as your targeted location, so orientation to your surroundings becomes much easier and can become a more enjoyable glassing experience.
Optional no head setup
Another option is that your spotting scope can be used on the Top Hand without any pan/tilt or ball type head at all. That's right, you can simply bolt the Rally Clip right to the bottom of your scope mounting surface. From there all you need to do is lift up one of the tripod legs and use it to move your scope around while the other two legs remain on the ground. The head of the Top Hand is designed to orbit like this without locking positions. You can rotate the scope about 120 degrees before you would need to just pick up the tripod and move it for a new angle. When you find something to look at or zoom in on then set that leg back to the ground while keeping the object in your scope. Its easier than it sounds and once you try it you may not find the need to even carry your pan/tilt glassing head along when saving some weight and bulk is a key element of your hunt. This works best with a straight eyepiece spotter whereas there is a compromise with an angled eyepiece spotter or your binoculars. It can become uncomfortable due to the spotter eyepiece or binoculars will tilt and not be level, thus your head will be tilted like a curious dog again.
The Rally Clip
Some tripods come with a pan/tilt head that cannot be removed while most others offer different head types and quality for you to choose from. Most tripods that allow for after market pan/tilt heads have a flat top mounting surface with set screws to engage a faceted base of common pan/tilt heads or other accessories that accept a standard 3/8-16 bolt thread. Either a wrench, screwdriver or socket set is often required to swap out different types of glassing heads.
The Top Hand Tripod is not designed to accept any common pan/tilt head directly onto its top surface. We designed the Rally Clip for this, to be a universal mounting mechanism to give the user the ability to have multiple tripod accessories that can be quickly interchanged onto the same tripod without the need to unthread them from a fixed stud. Any of your accessories will only need to have a Rally Clip attached to it so you can go from a glassing set up to a shooting set up in a matter of seconds, all from the same tripod. We also use the Rally Clip with our other accessories like the up and coming expandable buddy system tent design and the 3-in-1 hunting blind. A Rally Clip simply lives on the accessory and the tripod is used as the structure.
Getting back to the stability of a set-up, in our experience we have found that the Rally Clip gets locked in solid for a panning side to side motion and the leg stance of the tripod is relative to how tight the pan adjustment knob is set to minimize a twisting action of the tripod structure that would be the culprit creating any IRS. For a tilting motion the Rally Clips rubber pads between the head mounting surface have enough resistance to overpower a correct tilt knob tension setting to achieve fluid head and scope movement while making IRS negligible. These rubber pads also have proven to me to help absorb vibrations that can occur in windy conditions. I've noticed the image will still be shaky but less violent than with a more solid interface connection.
For glassing with your binoculars you can easily bolt the Rally Clip to any binocular clamp available. They usually have the standard 1/4-20 bolt thread on the majority of these kinds of accessories. If using only the clip with your binoculars and not a glassing head of sorts then it is recommended to use the tripod as a monopod post which can give you a steady view or you will need to set the tripod up fairly level and plumb. The new Top Plate tac table with shooting bag works great to simply rest your binoculars on the shooting bag and not keep them attached to the tripod. Then you will also be more prepared for a shot opportunity.
Spotting Scope Power
One more thing I would like to touch on is spotting scopes and their power. When glassing you will notice a ton more image stabilization when zoomed out vs in. This obviously becomes a factor when glassing and especially when video or a picture is desired. I've always liked to glass at the scopes lowest setting then zoom in once I see an object of interest, I then let go of everything and let the image get stable. If it's nothing that interesting then I zoom back out and continue glassing. This method sometimes will require adjusting the tension knobs depending on the angle the scope is sitting and it's relative center of gravity so it won't drift on its own. This to me is a very efficient method because your field of view is much bigger when zoomed out. In other words you are covering more ground when glassing and it is a much more pleasurable experience.
I find most of todays scopes having much too high of a power for the lowest setting. This is something that could be simply market competition and the fact that instinct buyers will buy the one with the most bang for their buck. This almost always means they wind up with a scope that has 20 power for a minimum setting, with the reasoning to have a 60 or even 80 power max. More bang for the buck right? Not so, I've had a Leopold offset spotter for nearly 20 years. It goes from 12-40 power and I can glass much earlier and later than those with a 20-60. And as most hunters know, critters often move early and late. Countless times I've been able to get intel that makes or brakes a hunt simply because I was able to see an animal step out, while the 20x60 scope is already walking back to camp.
You ask then what about the opposite side and the zoom in scenario? I have found that in most cases I can determine what I need to know with 40 power. But hold on to that for a second. This is solely because of the area I hunt I typically don't need to glass more than a few miles because that is the hunting ground I can get to within a few hours of foot or horse travel. If I was hunting an area where I could see for many miles and also be able to close that distance quickly either by horse, truck or ATV then I would want to be able to tell if that animal is worth going after. And that's where a high quality 60+ power scope comes in handy. If you aren't concerned about the quality of the quarry you're after then a 40 power scope will almost always give you the right answer to determine the logistics of hunting that far away and you will have a better glassing experience being able to use a lower power setting to optimize low light scenarios and have a larger field of view.
One more thing before I go and you've probably heard it said before, "you get what you pay for". There is a lot of truth in that, but in the day and age of consumerism you really have to weed out what is necessary or not. And most of the time you will find that not buying the most expensive product doesn't always mean you'll have an empty freezer.
About the author:
Jamin Florell is 47 and considers himself a proficiently standard outdoorsman. He is a professional hunting guide working exclusively for Medicine Bow Outfitters on Colorado's public land back country for over 20 years. He has been hunting Big Game since he was 10 and killed his first Elk when he was allowed to get an Elk tag at the age of 12. He has hunted Elk every year since then. He has also successfully hunted and guided for Deer, Bear, Mt Lion, Pronghorn, and Moose. He's an inventor, and the proprietor of the Top Hand Tripod.