Thanks everyone. I've seen quite a few people recommending the Slik Video Sprint, but then I've also seen
this post, which isn't as favourable.
The Velbon Sherpa 600R sounds good, if a bit heavy at 2 kilos (though, as Amelia suggests, I suppose that increases the stability). I don't
think I'm planning on taking the scope for long hikes (will probably stick to binoculars when the main purpose of the exercise is to be on the move), so maybe the weight wouldn't be a problem. It has a maximum height of 170 cm, which is taller than most tripods. (I am 5'11", so I think that would be sufficient -- but I have read that ideally you shouldn't use too much of the scope's extended centre-column height, as that introduces wobble.) It apparently got a
good review from Birdwatching Magazine in 2006 too. The Velbon site says (and the same phrase is regurgitated by numerous vendors) that the 600R has "one-touch locking of pan and tilt actions". Does that mean that it has a lock for the pan action and a separate lock for the tilt action (as I've seen in the tripods that I've looked at so far)? I.e., it doesn't just have two modes: (1) wobbly in all axes and (2) locked off in all axes? I'm not sure that I'd like the latter, as I like being able to move my vision easily in a single axis: e.g., up a tree trunk for a treecreeper/nuthatch, or along the the bottom of a hedge when dunnock-hunting in the garden.
Warehouse Express sells the 600R for £79.00 now, and that wouldn't hurt my pocket too much. I'd be fairly happy to shell out some more, however, if I thought I'd get my money's worth. If I use the ED50 hand-held with my 27x wide MC eyepiece, I appear to be able to hold it pretty steady, and can locate and remain fixed on objects at a distance: I can see the identifying features of a bird with great clarity. Anyone who had never used a tripod might therefore think that there was no need for one. With a tripod, however, I seem to be able to make more sense of the optical information available (the viewing experience is somehow indescribably richer), presumably because my brain isn't wasting any CPU cycles on image-stabilisation. So I'm happy to spend a significant proportion of the scope's own price on a tripod, since adding a tripod almost seems to have the effect of giving the scope a bigger objective lens. Does anyone have any suggestions of other tripod-head combinations that might give me the stability and height of the 600R, but possibly with a lovelier head, or a lighter weight, or some more leg-height, up to about the £150 mark? Please warn me if you think that going beyond £80 is overkill for a scope as dinky as the ED50.
(I had to send my first ED50 back yesterday, as it arrived with a
defective join between the two halves of the body, so I am trying to use a bit of tripod-selection angst to distract me from the pain of being parted from my new toy.)