Where to get Finnsticks

[royc]

Hi,
Does anybody know where Finnsticks can be purchased ?
Thanks
Roy

[postcardcv]

All you need to buy is a monopod and a binocular mount, both of these should be available from any decent optics shop...

[Kevin Purcell]

There is the problem of fabricating the belt support too ... after all a finnstick is not just a monopod with a T mount on the top.

AFAIK you'd have to talk to a Finn about it!

[stuart C smith]

forum member "elkcub" posted - an optimal finn stick monopod . on bird forum mon 14 feb 2005. a sort of d i y jobby. might interest you ? . :t:

[kabsetz]

Responding as a Finn, you don't need to have a belt support. Sure, you can use one, but after having seen literally hundreds of Finns using a finnstick, I'm still to see a single one using a belt support. I have tried it myself, though, and determined that at least for my uses the inconvenience and added complexity outweighed the slight advantage in load reduction and even slighter, if even existent, advantage in stability. By inconvenience I mean that a belt support limits your freedom to look up or down at any angle. Even without a belt support, with a stick that allows your hands to rest at approximately waist-level while viewing allows for virtually constant binocular use for instance when migration-watching from a single spot.

Kimmo

[Tero]

A used hockey stick works good. Saw off the flat part they use with the puck.

[barontan2418]

Hi,
Does anybody know where Finnsticks can be purchased ?
Thanks
Roy
Hi Roy

Depending on the make and size of your binoculars I find a walking pole with a horizontal handle does the trick for me (my bino's are Nikon 8x42 HG). The bino's rest very well on top with no need to fix them in position, having said this, many bin's might not sit so well. I believe the original Finnsticks were and still are made by their users.

Mick

[Kevin Purcell]

There is the problem of fabricating the belt support too ... after all a finnstick is not just a monopod with a T mount on the top.

AFAIK you'd have to talk to a Finn about it!

But wait ...

I'm actually trying to buy a monopod right now and in searching I found this!

http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-MONOPOD-BELT-POUCH-monopod/dp/B0000AE65P/

Yeap, Manfrotto make a belt mounted pouch that you can stick the foot of your monopod into.

So ... a monopod + belt-pouch + T-bar == Finnstick (for those who can't make one!).

I may try this ...