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.
When glassing and viewing an image in your scope you want to limit movement so your image is still. But when moving your spotting scope around while glassing, your pan/tilt head tension adjustment knobs are in a loose enough position to do so and 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's called IRS or "Image Return Syndrome". This happens when your eye finds something to stop and look at, your glassing head motion stops there but when you let go of the handle (or scope in some 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 glassing head motion that causes 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. 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, and it is not necessarily how stiff the legs are either. 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 mounting method, tripod stance, 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 the setup. I have found that when using longer scopes and a ball style head it is more difficult to manage than using a pan/tilt style head that has its own handle. This is because the handle is mounted closer to the tripod head and structure where it has actually less leverage. I know that sounds counter productive but 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. So the same glassing experience can be produced with any type of interface. The difference is how you operate the glassing head with regard to it's tension setting, its own structure and the the tripod structure itself.
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.
Let's move on to the tripod for a second.
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 even use the rope to create a more rigid setup by looping it around your foot or even 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 creat a much better viewing experience with a package setup that weighs less, which 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. 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. Yet 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 hight 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.
Some tripods come with a pan/tilt head that can not 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 that accept a standard 3/8-16 bolt thread.
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. 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.
Another option is that your spotting scope can be used on the Top Hand without any pan/tilt or ball type head. 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 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, saving some weight and bulk. You can also do this with your binoculars.
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 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 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 is still 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. Aziak Equipment makes a great low profile clamp with different sizes that fit most brands of binoculars. Ulanzi makes a compact fluid pan/tilt head that works well.
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. 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 what angle the scope is 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 power max. More bang for the buck right? Not so, I have a scope the goes from 12-40 power and 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 20x 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 travel that distance 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 60+ power scope comes in handy. If you aren't concerned about the quality of the quarry then a leaser power scope will almost always give you the right answer to determine the logistics of hunting it.
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 a compromise in cost doesn't always mean 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.