Review on 📷 Versatile and Stable: Manfrotto 190X Aluminum 3-Section Tripod for Professional Photography by Stephen Parkell

I bought this unit specifically for use with a Vanguard Endeavor HD 82A spotting scope which I recently bought for birding because my previous tripod and head which I used for a DSLR was were very painful. insufficient. The general consensus when it comes to spotting scopes is that a scope is only as good as the tripod it is mounted on and therefore, as with the optics themselves, you should spend as much as possible on a tripod. . After spending as much as I could on the oscilloscope, the $300 range was about the amount I could afford for the support. I chose this rig because it was made by a very reputable name and Manfrotto specifically advertised that this rig would go well with a spotting scope. One interesting thing I noticed before buying this kit was that with this kit you get a $200 tripod and a $150 head (if you buy them separately). Spending almost as much on the head as on the legs of a tripod seems a bit unusual as I figured you spend a lot more on the legs most of the time, but I went for it anyway. I figured that in my case, with the intention of using it for a large spotting scope, getting a higher quality head (particularly a smooth head designed for smooth panning) could be very beneficial. Having used the oscilloscope a few times I would say the analysis was correct. The 190X tripod legs are very strong and set up very quickly thanks to the clamp design. The legs are long enough that I don't actually have to lift the center mast to raise the eyepiece to a comfortable height (I'm 5'11"), which is important as once you raise the center mast on any tripod, stability drops dramatically.The legs are a little heavy but spending another $300 to get carbon fiber legs and shed a few pounds wasn't an option for me and they aren't so heavy that it's a problem for me.I wouldn't expect that the difference in weight is an issue for others other than those traveling long distances with a whole rig, if I need to move the scope while it's attached to the mount it's still easy enough to just pick it up and short To go stretches with it, especially since Manfrotto gives you nice thick rubber grips on two legs to get a better grip.in general.As for the XPro fluid head, I'm delighted so far.Like sat Agt, I am very happy that I got a better quality head from this kit than I could have chosen myself if I had bought it separately. The head is ideal for use with a spotting scope. This head rotates so smoothly and in control that I can exit the scope at full 60x magnification and slowly move around to scan the shoreline of a lake or river for waterfowl or the tree line for perched predators. At this extreme zoom, I was blown away by how smooth panning remains. The quick release plate is very strong and features dual release mechanisms to prevent accidental release. The main lever was a little tricky to manipulate until I got used to it, but I'm glad it's solid as I'm trying to support a 4+lb scope. I consider the ability to pan 60x as the first extreme test of plastic quality. The second limit test I can report is how it worked with a digiscop adapter that attached a scope eyepiece to a DSLR. Once the camera is attached, the entire scope and camera assembly weighs about 6 pounds, and not just 6 pounds, but 6 pounds when the console is off-center. The camera extends this entire mount about 10-12 inches past the trailing edge of the fluid head. So the test of the head for this application was whether it could keep the field of view stable when locked with all the weight hanging off the back. I tried it at 60x to put it to the ultimate test and as expected when it was locked on target the back sagged a bit after I took my hands off the camera and the field of view widened a bit. But even at 60x magnification, even with all that weight sticking out the back, the scope only went up about a third of the width of the field of view. So I was able to easily compensate for this and shoot through the scope at maximum magnification. If you've never seen a digiscoping mount before it looks a little ridiculous, so to think that this head can support it so well at this price point is impressive. Also, I was actually able to pan the entire digiscoping node at 60x magnification while looking at the camera and it was still stable enough to find targets. On the other hand, I would like Manfrotto to give you a tote bag. They sell soft and non-soft bags in different sizes which are a bit pricey but I wish they added at least a basic support bag. So the whole setup worked great with a large spotting scope and wasn't even overloaded with a heavy and cumbersome digoscope assembly. Sure if you spend $800-1000 on a prop from any manufacturer you will (probably) beat them, but at this price point this kit may be the best you can get anywhere. Manfrotto rightly advertised it as a matching spotting scope kit. If you're trying to "spend what you can afford" on support, I strongly recommend that you at least make the effort to match that price point, because if you can, you'll be rewarded with a very high-quality install .