I was pretty excited for the MDT Grndpod to come out as I thought it would perfectly fill the niche of a high quality but relatively affordable bipod for use with bolt guns and (specifically) gas guns. Perfect for guys who don't have the need (or want to drop the cash) for a Ckyepod which is (imo) the best bipod out there for field use. Basically be a superior product when compared to a (tricked out) Harris or a Magpul bipod. Having those other 2 bipods I figured I'd throw up a comparison. For ease of swapping them all around, I put ADM qd pic adapters on the Magpul and Grndpod and already had a RRS pic/arca adapter on the Harris. I compared using these 3 bipods on 3 different rifles: a 12lbs .223 carbine (weight includes bipod, 1-8 LPVO and offset red dot), a 10.5lbs 20" .308 bolt gun in a MDT HNT26 (weight includes bipod, 4.5-22 Vortex Razor LHT) and a "heavy-ish" .22LR (Bergara B14R in MDT XRS with Vortex Razor Gen 2) as I figured this would give a pretty good cross-section for comparison's sake.
So first some stats:
Grndpod: weight (pic version): 0.93lbs, with ADM qd pic adapter (and this skews the weight a bit cause it's basically a qd pic rail riser): 1.12lbs
cost: $200 + ADM adapter
Magpul: weight (mlok version): 0.73lbs, with ADM adapter: 0.86lbs
cost: $110 + ADM adapter
Harris: weight (SBRM 6-9 with RRS HC-Pro Clamp, podlock and adapters to take Atlas feet: 1.01lbs
cost: $110 + RRS adapter ($105), pod-lock ($25), feet adapters (I can't remember...)
These bipods are all kind of similar in terms of price and weight. The Harris is obviously less expensive out of the box but unless you run your bipod on a sling swivel stud (which just isn't really super common anymore on precision rifles or gas guns) you have to get some kind of adapter which will set you back a minimum of $50 for a quality, non-chicom product then add on a pod-lock and you're right between the Magpul and the Grndpod. Adapters for Atlas feet (to use spikes) will set you back some more. For comparison, both the Magpul and Grndpod will accept Atlas feet, the Grndpod comes with a pod-lock and the Magpul has this kinda "tension knob". I didn't include the cost of the adapters for the Magpul and Grndpod as I did them more for the sake of convenience than necessity as you can get the Magpul in mlok, pic and ARMS 17 versions and the Grndpod in pic or arca.
Here are some photos to show you the min and max heights you can get:
Grndpod:
Magpul:
Harris:
So for reference I used (and still use) Harris bipods extensively over the years ( I have 2 that are basically identical, 1 with adapters for Atlas feet and 1 with spikes) both on gas guns and on precision rifles before switching to mostly Ckyepods (for bolt guns). As far as I'm concerned, the Harris is kind of the baseline for a decent bipod. I could've included the Atlas in this comparison but the cheapest Atlas is $300 so a bit more than these ones and also I don't have one and didn't want to buy one, haha.
Some notes:
-The Magpul and Harris are both faster to deploy than the Grndpod (especially if you loop 550 cord between the legs) as you can just pull the legs back. To deploy the Grndpod, you have to depress a button each side before pulling the leg back (same as a Ckyepod). To stow the Magpul you have to push in a button, similarly to how the Grndpod functions. Both the Harris and Magpul can only be stowed legs forward whereas the Grndpod can be stowed legs fore or aft and the legs can also be positioned forward at 45 degrees to get a bit lower (as seen in the pics).
-The Grndpod and the Magpul are faster and easier to precisely adjust leg length when behind the gun than the Harris although the Harris will go to full extension quickly because of the spring loaded legs. I prefer the means of adjusting leg length on the Grndpod (pull down to extend, hit lever and push up to retract) than the way the Magpul works (push button and pull down to extend, push button and push up to retract). The Harris is just kind of a pita to adjust when you're behind the gun, especially once it gets dirty.
-All 3 of these bipods give you enough height (as used) to use a 5/30 rd mag when shooting on flat ground
-The Magpul is much "loose" feeling than either the Harris or the Grndpod, it needs to be loaded to get the "slop" out, more so than the Harris does. The Grndpod feels quite solid with very minimal play.
-All 3 of these bipods have adjustable cant, the Grndpod and Harris by means of a pod-lock (included with Grndpod, add-on with Harris) and the Magpul by way of a "tension knob" on the bottom that also serves to lockout/limit it's panning feature (which the other bipods lack). In practice, I really like being able to loosen the pod-lock slightly, get the rifle plumb and then lock it down and the pod-lock equipped bipods work well in this regard. The Magpul never really "locks down" and the tension knob is awkward to adjust when behind the gun. That kinda adds to its overall "loose" feeling.
Overall I've found I prefer the Grndpod to the other 2 bipods. The (slightly) slower leg deployment doesn't bother me as I'm used to deploying a Ckyepod in a similar manner and the ease with which it's adjusted once you're on the gun is a big plus as is the functionality of the pod-lock. It's slightly heavier than the other bipods (with the adapter) but I have it on good authority that there's a decent likelihood of it being available in an ARMS 17 interface which would mean the ability to use a lighter adapter instead of the pic riser that I used. That would be awesome as it would open up the use of the excellent RRS adapters that function with both pic and arca and of which I'm a big fan being that all my rifles have either pic or arca/RRS dovetails and it's nice to have some modularity. As an aside, I noticed no difference in accuracy between the 3 bipods used across 3 different platforms.
When are these ready to order sir?
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