Tripods: Understanding needs and requirements

[frost1235]

I've been looking for months at tripods for spotting scopes/shooting on the birdwatching/hunting/precision shooting forums, trying to get enough information to make a good educated decision. From my understanding, carbon fiber tripods are the best. They are stiff, lightweight, and thermally stable compared to metal tripods. This is pretty much universally agreed upon. Once we take a look at the different price points and brands, I get pretty lost here.

So I have two question points that I'm trying to get a straight answer on, and then ultimately looking at the different brands/material compare to.

1.) I'm actually pretty curious about what actually fails in a carbon fiber tripod.
For shooting, I'm more so curious about what people have seen gone wrong. Hopefully with some more detail like what did a stage require someone to do, that led to a CF tripod breaking. People say that the common problems are issues with legs, specifically the joints. Or loose fitting parts, or twist locks taking more effort than needed to open or close. Can anyone go into detail their experience?

For spotting, especially if the scope is a pricy/good piece of glass, how would a lighter tripod help? I'd be worried that that weight might lead to the tripod falling over. And with all the gripes about a tripod in a match atmosphere, do they fall into the same category of issues here?

2.) What are the differences in brand?
Now moving on to naming brands and such, since the standard is the RRS tripods for our hobby, what makes it the standard? Are the Leofoto ln-364c, or Feisol 3372 the tripods that end up having problems, or is it just the Innorel RT-90c that has these issues? And ultimately, if weight isn't an issue, what metal tripod would be recommended?

What about other brands like Promediagear, CF Manfrottos, or even swarovski's tripod brands? Is the RRS the marksman's choice for a specific reason outside of the support and love they give us?

Scopes, actions, and even bipods get in-depth analysis, but tripods don't get as much love. Even though I've been told/heard that they're just as important as the rest of your rifle for a precision marksman. I'm not trying to start a riot over people justifying their purchases or a flame war, I'm just trying to get good information.

Thanks guys!

 

[dgheriani]

Tripods I've had (or still have) and how they've failed:

Manfrotto 190 XPROB:

First tripod I ever got for shooting, a photographer buddy of mine actually gifted it to me. I found the centre column to be too long to setup as low as I wanted for seated so I chopped it down. I've never had a single problem/issue with this tripod. I replaced it for match use as I wanted something more substantial with a higher weight rating for more stability with heavy match guns. I still use this tripod for hunting as it's the lightest one I own.

Slik D700X (same tripod as Pig 0311 minus the paint):

I played around with a buddy of mine's at a match and was impressed by how much more stable than my Manfrotto it was. It definitely wasn't light though. For what it cost me (about $70 at the time) I think it was a great value and I still recommend them to people on a budget. Eventually, one of the "stops" in the leg (that stops the inner leg from sliding out of the other leg section) failed and the leg could be fully pulled out. I tried contacting Slik for replacement parts but was never able to get in touch with them. Again, considering how cheap it was, I wasn't too concerned and decided to move onto something else.

Mission Critical Designs PRST:

I bought this from a buddy of mine who was upgrading to RRS. Lighter than the Slik and able to collapse smaller while "pretty much" being just as stable. I can't remember what I paid for it but I want to say they retail around $400. The problem I ran into with it was the same as the Slik with the inner stops failing. Imagine deploying your tripod on the clock and pulling out a leg till it stops only to have it come out entirely... Unlike the Slik that only had the one stop fail, this happened numerous times on the PRST. In defence of MCD, they were great about sending out replacement stops and even a new lower leg at one point (straight from Norway). The final straw though was when I noticed it had developed quite a bit of slop in my practice in the lead up to the Snipershide Cup in 2019. Turns out the roll pin that attaches the aluminum "head" (what you tired your ballhead onto) to the carbon fibre centre column had hogged out the carbon a bit, leading to side to side play. Again, MCD were great with warranty, sending me out a replacement centre column but it wasn't going to arrive in time for the match which lead me to:

Leofoto 404C:

I got the Leofoto the week before the 2019 SHC. I wanted to get an RRS (but they were sold out) but I needed something NOW and this was the beefiest carbon fibre tripod available semi-locally to me. I failed to do my due diligence and for some reason I thought Leofoto was Japanese (and not the chicom junk it is). I got the tripod in time for the match and with my RRS Anvil-30 on top, it was super stable and we did well at the match. It's a bit of a monster, it's heavy and doesn't collapse down as small as others but it is stable. Where I ran into issues was at the Gunwerks NRL match last year. On day 1, in the pissing rain, one of the legs seized up and the stop on another leg failed (resulting in the leg coming out while being deployed on the clock). That pissed me off quite a bit given that I was looking forward to an NRL match where you had to deploy your tripod on the clock as I'm well practiced at that from team/field matches. I saw a few other brands of tripod fail at that match but no RRS. I was even more pissed when I tried contacting Leofoto numerous times to get replacement stops and was never able to get in touch with them (phone calls, emails, FB messages, you name it) and the retailer basically said "too bad, you need to deal with them directly". The tripod was maybe 4 months old at this point. I ended up buying replacement stops off Amazon. This for a tripod with a list price of about $650. Not RRS expensive but definitely not "inexpensive". I'm now saving my pennies for an RRS tripod (TFC-33 or 34, haven't decided yet).

My suggestion, based on my experiences, is to either buy cheap (Slik) and toss it when it breaks and get a new one or to invest in the best (RRS) and just bypass the "middle ground" offerings. I'll caveat this by saying that I have no experience with the higher end Manfrottos, Feisols, Two Vets, etc so can't speak to them.

 

[frost1235]

Dude, that is EXACTLY what I am looking for. Thank you!!!

Keep it coming if you guys have the time!

 

[PDXGS]

Suggest that you buy a used 3 piece or 4 piece Manfrotto 055 tripod off of Ebay and a RRS leveling head that accepts an ARCA plate.
It's a decent place to start and you can get replacement parts for the Manfrotto.

 

[TrevK]

I was looking at the 40 Mike and “the recon” from two vets. Part of being green to tripods is I couldn’t tell you what max and collapsed height is better than the other? Are these just some Chinese rebrands? Not trying to hijack the OP just throwing it out there since I have seen the two vets name a lot lately.

 

[frost1235]

From what I have read, these two are just rebranded Innorel RT-90C's.

The thread with reccomendations are out there, I'm more curious about what actually has gone wrong/right.

 

[TrevK]

10/4 appreciate it

 

[FrozenFingers]

These tripods are beefy

FLM CP34-L4 II Tripod - FLM Canada

www.flmcanada.com

 

[MakeSawdust]

I have the innerol rt90c. I could not bring myself to buy a rrs. The twist locks require a lot of movement to lock/unlock. I have had the leg stops come off and had to take it apart and fix it twice. It is working loose and needs tightened after minimal use. It is very stable.

Most of the matches I shoot do not allow the use of tripods. I mostly use mine to spot. It is a heavy bitch to carry. If I did matches with rucks or wanted to hunt with it, I would get the smaller one or swallow hard and get the rrs. Also, if I had to deploy on the clock, I would probably get the rrs.

 

[theLBC]

From what I have read, these two are just rebranded Innorel RT-90C's.

The thread with reccomendations are out there, I'm more curious about what actually has gone wrong/right.

hey mang, i can't really give you feedback on the less expensive options, as i went with buy once cry once after waffling for 6 months.
during that 6 months, you can guess how many threads on tripods i went through (i am one of the poors).
in the end, my take was most people are satisfied with the innorel and other mid priced options.
on the other hand, people that started out with a chinese tripod and eventually sprang for an RRS seem to find the RRS superior.

it comes down to how important it is to have "the best" at greater expense vs having something that works fine but will leave you wondering.

 

[frost1235]

Really Right Stuff TVC-24L Test Results

The Really Right Stuff TVC-24L is the tallest of RRS’s 2 series. The TVC-24L is very light for its height, like most RRS tripods. The TVC-24L performs quite well and is only a little bit le…

thecentercolumn.com

I'm going to have to put this here. Some data and hands on info to help people, it includes guys like Gitzo, Leofoto, and LTM.

 

[CUBUFF89]

I tried to buy one of the Patriot Valley Arms Comp-40 tripods. Put the deposit down on it. when they didn't deliver after 6 months I contacted my credit card company and received a refund for the entire amount. (PVA says they will keep $50 of your deposit).

In the meantime I read several tripod threads, learned that the Innorel and Comp-40 are rebranded chicom as is the Leofoto. I had a thoughtful discussion with myself last January and came to the conclusion that I'm firmly in the "Fuck the Chinese" camp. And that was before all the Covid-19 bullshit coming out of China. I now do my best to avoid Chinese products whenever I can. Fortunately I'm at a stage of life where I now have a little more disposable income. So I did what I knew I should have done all along and ordered the TVC-33 from RRS. Yes, it's ridiculously expensive but what a well crafted product. A month later I ordered the Anvil-30. Same comments. No regrets.

 

[Tex_ponch]

I went all in and got a RRS TVC 34L and RRS leveling head. I love it. I know it is more than most people want to spend but it is well worth it.