Yes, I searched. Yes, I know RRS makes the best tripods. Anyway...
I've been looking into tripods lately and the only thing I'm certain about is that I need a tripod and that my absolute maximum budget is $800 for everything. My use is pretty simple. 95% of it is for range and training use. I'm not a competitive shooter and likely never will be. I may do some hunting which would entail stalking the edges of fields looking for groundhogs. I have a Sig Cross in 6.5 and it would likely be used by my shooting buddy who has a Solus so nothing particularly heavy.
The Vortex Switchback is interesting because it is so light and handy. The ball head is unique for being so trim. There are not a lot of reviews on it however and the reviews I see make me suspicious that they are paid promotions. Is it really that good?
Two Vets Recon V2 has a solid reputation and I know that company gives back to the shooting community which is very important to me. A lot of people complain about the legs folding into themselves and the plastic ring locks can be noisy when setting up. I've seen a couple of comments about the ball head not being as solid as it should be.
Finally, the Athlon series looks interesting to me as well. That company seems to have very solid QC on their optics and the feature set on the tripods looks amazing for the money. Like the Vortex, the reviews seems almost too good to be true. If I went this direction, I'm not sure what model makes the most sense for my use. The 32 is lighter and handier but I'm not sure if the bigger ball head of the 36 and 40 wouldn't be better for range and training use.
I'm open to suggestions here. I'd love to hear real world experiences with any of these models.
I've been looking into tripods lately and the only thing I'm certain about is that I need a tripod and that my absolute maximum budget is $800 for everything. My use is pretty simple. 95% of it is for range and training use. I'm not a competitive shooter and likely never will be. I may do some hunting which would entail stalking the edges of fields looking for groundhogs. I have a Sig Cross in 6.5 and it would likely be used by my shooting buddy who has a Solus so nothing particularly heavy.
The Vortex Switchback is interesting because it is so light and handy. The ball head is unique for being so trim. There are not a lot of reviews on it however and the reviews I see make me suspicious that they are paid promotions. Is it really that good?
Two Vets Recon V2 has a solid reputation and I know that company gives back to the shooting community which is very important to me. A lot of people complain about the legs folding into themselves and the plastic ring locks can be noisy when setting up. I've seen a couple of comments about the ball head not being as solid as it should be.
Finally, the Athlon series looks interesting to me as well. That company seems to have very solid QC on their optics and the feature set on the tripods looks amazing for the money. Like the Vortex, the reviews seems almost too good to be true. If I went this direction, I'm not sure what model makes the most sense for my use. The 32 is lighter and handier but I'm not sure if the bigger ball head of the 36 and 40 wouldn't be better for range and training use.
I'm open to suggestions here. I'd love to hear real world experiences with any of these models.
