Our ancient Velbon Pro Studio tripod is wearing out and being fairly lightweight was never very stable in a high wind. We had to put a hand on it to keep it from shaking in high winds. We have been looking at used bogens.

What model tripods do you recommend that are heavy enough that they are stable in the wind but light enough to carry up and down the firing lines all day?

What kind of tripod head do you recommend; the pan type or the ball pivot type?

What else do we need to know about tripods before we buy?

I use a Bogen 3036 with threaded SS spike feet and a rubber sleeve with a pan & tilt head. Works very well for me but is a little heavier than most.... If you live in a windy area ( like S TX) weight is definitely a good thing.....

Bobby: What about an engineer's tripod?

Maybe you can just ask Mark Pharr. I am sure he can give you a suggestion or two on a heavy duty tripod.

I use a 1950's vintage Tilt-All photographer's tripod. If you look around you can find an adapter to convert a surveyor's tripod to 1/4x20 screw for a spotting scope.

If I could find Mark's tripod rig/dolly for what he paid for that one, we would jump on it. Mark got a bargain on that monstrosity. That thing still looks brand new.

Bobby,
I have been using a Bogen Manfrotto 3046 tripod with the 3063 head for quite some time now. It was purchased on eBay at a reasonable cost for what it was. It is a very stable tripod in the wind and I have been very pleased with its performance. There are always a number of them on eBay, just make sure all the parts are there. The one part that seems to be missing on a lot of them is the mounting plate to join spotting scope to tripod.

Greg