Great lightweight tripod - watch out for the ball-head - Vortex Summit SS Tripod ST-4

I purchased this tripod for use with spotting scopes (and occasional gun-resting) while backpack hunting. I found it to meet all of my expectations. It was an excellent, lightweight, and very compact tripod that set up quickly and intuitively in the field. I used multiple spotting scopes mounted to the unit and found it to be a solid rest and I never needed to add additional weight to counterbalance the scope (although this may be necessary with other scopes, or higher power scopes). The design also appeared to be pretty robust to getting dirt and grime into the joints, which gave me confidence deploying the tripod in a variety of field conditions without a second thought.

The only downside I found with the tripod was the ball head that the scope swivels on. The ball head had a tendency to loosen quite quickly (particularly if moving the tripod); sometimes something as simple as brushing the spotting scope with the bill of my hat couple knock it loose. This would be especially problematic if your scope (or camera) was susceptible to getting banged around on the tripod, or if you are trying to maintain the scope in a certain position. I think that if you really tighten down the pin on the ball head, you could probably counteract this tendency.

So in summary, with some cognizance of these issues, I think this would be a highly functional tripod, and particularly well suited for backpack hunters, or anyone that seeks a light weight spotting scope.