Ball head vs Geared tripod head for spotter

[CUBUFF89]

Looking for some user's experiences as I'm deciding which way to go. I appreciate hearing what has worked for you.
Does the ball head or the geared head have any distinct advantages other than the precision of the geared head? Any drawbacks?

 

[ZiaHunter]

Depends on the type of spotter and how you plan on using it. For spotters with reticles a gear head is is advantageous since you can precisely align the reticle. For hunting and general field use for spotters without a reticle I prefer a grip head.

 

[azred33]

Gear drive is very exact, excellent for co-witness of a spotter and RF or using a reticle as above. The ball head is quicker but hard to lock down just the right spot for fine tuning. I use both and always wish I had the other one at the range. It will be a trade off speed v accuracy but both will do the job. If you are patient, gear head is pretty nice, but can be frustrating if you need to pan 45 degrees as you will have to disengage the gears to swing it around and then engage and fine tune.

 

[gr8fuldoug]

For a spotting scope you're best served by a pan head

 

[CUBUFF89]

Thanks. That was just the kind of feedback I was looking for.

 

[Geno C.]

Like above, if you’re using a reticle, go with the gear head! You’ll never regret it. Without a reticle a ball is fine but once you get used to the gear, it’ll be almost as quick.

 

[Greensnake]

I've got a ball head on my Bushnell Legend T that I use out to 500 yards and a gear head on my STR 80 that I use beyond 500.

 

[jkingrph]

I tried a ball head and just plain did not like it. Maybe if the scope had an extremely wide field of view and it had been a better quality head it might have been different. I just picked up a lightly used Manfrotto 190go pro tripod, with twist lock legs, for a song from Adorama, condition was better that they described. It came with a lower end 3 way, which I plan on passing on to my grandson to use with and old scope. I installed a Manfrotto 500ah fluid drive, basically a video head, and it is incredible. Smooth and you can adjust the tension so it stays put. I have not tried a geared drive but i can see where that would be good on the range, not so much for hunting, wildlife viewing, ect. as it should be inherently slow.

 

[jkingrph]

I just got a Manfrotto 405 geared head. It has a collet ring at front of each fine tuning knob. Twist it and you can quickly move that axis, then fine tune with the geared knob. It's not as quick as a pan head but smooth. The advantage is that you can keep your movement in one plane at a time without movement in another. It's not the greatest thing for birdwatching, but for target shooting where the range i uses posts at least two targets side by side on a backer, it makes it easy to pan between the two while absolutely keeping the same elevation. The tilt function is one that will probably see very little use.

 

[Sig Marine]

If the tripod is dedicated to a spotter, the gear or pan head is nice. If, however, you multi-task and use the tripod for spotting AND shooting, the ball head has its merits.