Telescope Reviews: Binocular Mounts and Tripods

Actually, I posted portions of this elsewhere, but thought it would do well here. Many of you should have some good stuff to add here.

I use both straight up tripods and tripod/parallelogram mounts as binocular mounts every time I'm out. My favorite choices are:

Bogen 3211 with 3130 head is my most used tripod. I never have felt like I'm up tight against a tripod, so I'm very comfortable with it. Good for my binocs up to 4#12oz Fujinons. Although in a pinch, I've used it to mount a 8# 20x80 and although overloaded, it worked. Tallest tripod combo I own, but has no elevator crank.

Bogen 3246 legs with 501 head holds all my center post design binocs 8# or more with ease. Heaviest duty tripod I own. Smooth fluid motion and pretty tall, not as tall at the 3211/3130, but the elevator crank is great. The fluid motions still work very well with a 22x100 or 25x100. I'm 6'1", and maybe need to scrunch down an inch or 3 when looking at zenith.

I have several lighter weight straight-up tripods that I use for lighter weight 12x50 or 10x50 or 8x42 binocs. I have an old Orion SloMo adapter mounted on one of these tripods that I often use (with binocs up to the weight of the 15x70s) when I'm measuring and want fine movement. Lightweight tripods I've used include Orion Paragon Plus HDX, Slik U212 and Velbon CX690 and Smith-Victor which looks just like Orion Paragon. The Pargon HDX is pretty good, but not very tall. The Velbon is very light, good only for 8x to 10x binocs, or best left in the house for the 35mm camera. The Slik is old and shaky, but it works. The Smith Victor shakes like a leaf in the breeze. None of these are tall enough to view zenith, and still I need to scrunch down a bit when viewing lower.

I have two other Bogen heads I bought cheap. A Bogen 3025 minihead that has no fluid motions. It's either locked or unlocked, and good when I need an extra head for a light load. Bounces with any pgram on it. A Bogen 3047 head , also not fluid motions, but when mounted on my 3211/3011 tripod, it's capable of holding a 10# binocular. An old heavy clunker, but very capable. I relied on it to hold 25x100s and 22x100s until I bought the 501 head.

Bogen 3011 (same as 3211) with Virgo mount pgram , versatile, compact, easy to move and good for anything up to my 4#12oz Fujinons. Have used it with long 5#12oz 20x80 Standards, worked OK. Nice thing I like about this setup is you can fold up tripod and pmount like a long pole, without collapsing or dismounting anything, with binocs still attached, and carry it over your shoulder or under your arm out the door or around the yard and be set up in 20 seconds. Cannot be used seated. My ready to go pmount.

Several different tripod bases with Universal Astronomics UA Unimount Light Basic with a deluxe L adapter with swivel movement. Currently I'm using a lightweight surveyor tripod to hold this mount. A breeze to move binoculars around to view in any position. Better for standing than sitting. Best use for weight up to the 4#12oz Fujinon 16x70s, with 3#12oz Oberwerk 15x70s it's like the binoculars aren't even there. With binocs over 8# it's do-able, but can be considered taxed. My best standing mount, but not always set up.

I use several tripod bases with UA Unimont Light Deluxe . Recently dedicated my Orion Paragon HD-F2 tripod to this mount since the mount is used mostly for seated. My Paragon HD-F2 tripod has a broken leg lock and can only open two leg sections. In this position it is extremly stable, but not very tall, perfect for a heavy load on the UA Deluxe while seated. If I'm using this Pmount standing up, it goes on the light surveyor tripod, then the Light Basic goes on one of my other tripods. The 6 degrees of movement in the UA Deluxe is a considerable benefit over the Light Basic for seated use. Still I think best used with binocs of up to 8#. My perfect reclined viewing setup is this tripod/mount with Fujinon 16x70s.

For binocs like 22x100 and 25x100s that weigh up near 10# I like the Bogen 3246/501 head combo . I find the Unimount has too much of an eccentric load with these big binocs. It holds the binocs wherever you want to point them, but takes an awful long time to quite down. It works, but for my real big binocs, my preferred setup is the Bogen 3246/501. Solid as a rock. Seems like not even a second of shimmy.

For seated/reclined views with the Fujinon or anything lighter, the UA Unimount Light Deluxe cannot be beat.

edz

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Edited by EdZ (10/21/04 09:22 PM)