Tyler and Tweeters,

I think that you cannot compromise on a tripod. On two field trips, one at
a WOS convention and one this past Saturday, I have seen people with very
expensive scopes but who bought inexpensive tripods. The scopes were
virtually unusuable. One person had a Kowa with a small, lightweight
tripod. The scope actually swayed from the weight of the scope and the wind
was not blowing.

There are many tripods available out there. You need one that is strong,
especially with a scope the size of that nearly everyone is buying now. I
don't think you can get one that is strong and lightweight. You have to
compromise somewhere. A strong one will be a little heavier, a lightweight
one won't be sturdy enough. It doesn't matter how great your scope is if
the tripod can't hold it still.

You also need a scope with a head (the part that the scope attaches to) that
is designed for a scope and not a camera. I have a Bogen 3221. Nearly
everyone with a quality scope has a Bogen. They seem to have had birders in
mind when they designed the heads and their tripods.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA

At 08:45 PM 3/14/99 EST, you wrote:
>Tweeters -
>
>I am looking for a good, sturdy tripod that is relatively cheap. It needs to
>be able to hold a spotting scope, but is also light, and semi-compact. Is
>there such a thing? What do you recommend? What do you use/have?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Tyler
>
>

osprey at nwinfo.net