Rifle Scopes Are there mid priced geared tripod heads?

[targetterror]

Title pretty much says it all. I have decent tripod legs, and a decent ball head, but a geared head would make life much easier fine tuning the position of my spotting scope at the range. That said, I don't want to spend hundreds of $ on a geared head.

It's weird, there are either the uber cheap geared tripods well under $50, or the top of the line geared heads for many hundreds, but a gigantic void in the middle.

 

[ORD]

Re: Are there mid priced geared tripod heads?

You aren't going to find a geared tripod head worth owning for <$200, although there are numerous "cheap" tripods out there with non-removable geared heads (i.e. - Vortex has a lightweight tabletop unit with a geared head and Celestron has one very similar...both for <$50 total).

Fortunately, one of the better geared tripod heads is the Manfrotto 410 compact head that can be had for around the $200 range. It is compact in size only as it will still support 11lbs worth of camera/scope so it is plenty rugged enough for your purposes. You may also be able to snag a used one off eBay for significantly less if you don't have to have one immediately.

 

[sniperdude]

Re: Are there mid priced geared tripod heads?

bh photo video has a good selection/search engine for tripod stuff. you may also find some in their used dept.

 

[targetterror]

Re: Are there mid priced geared tripod heads?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ORD</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You aren't going to find a geared tripod head worth owning for <$200, although there are numerous "cheap" tripods out there with non-removable geared heads (i.e. - Vortex has a lightweight tabletop unit with a geared head and Celestron has one very similar...both for <$50 total).

Fortunately, one of the better geared tripod heads is the Manfrotto 410 compact head that can be had for around the $200 range. It is compact in size only as it will still support 11lbs worth of camera/scope so it is plenty rugged enough for your purposes. You may also be able to snag a used one off eBay for significantly less if you don't have to have one immediately. </div></div>

Thanks, that 410 is definitely tempting. It's funny, it seems like you shouldn't need a geared head, but there is just enough slop in a normal setup (or at least my normal setups) that I can never quite center things the way I want.

 

[cameraland]

Re: Are there mid priced geared tripod heads?

I will check with my manfrotto rep this morning to see what they have.

Joel Paymer
Camera Land

 

[cameraland]

Re: Are there mid priced geared tripod heads?

Sorry it took so long. Just heard back from the Manfrotto rep and , yes, the 410 is the least expensive. cano do it for 215.00 shipped in the USA.

Let me know if I can be of any help

Joel Paymer
Camera Land
212-753-5128