Trouble Attaching Swarovski ATS 80 HD Foot to Manfroto 3130 Head (1 Viewer)

Hello all!

My Swarovski spotting scope foot is a tight fit into the Manfroto 3130 head. It will latch half way but does not secure itself all the way. It does this 50% of the time. I have considered taking a file and filing a bit of the foot so the latch will close. Any suggestions from others with this combination of scope and head?

Thank you!

Hi Silvermesa - I have a Swaro scope with a Manfrotto 128RC Head - not the same combo, I know, but a thought strikes me: if I were to have problems with attachment, and reached for a file, I´d file the Tripod Head, rather than the scope tripod foot! The tripod-head can be replaced easily, the scope less so, and if you file the foot, it will make it impossible to sell the scope should you ever decide to! Good luck with a solution in any case.

Silvermesa said:

Hello all!

My Swarovski spotting scope foot is a tight fit into the Manfroto 3130 head. It will latch half way but does not secure itself all the way. It does this 50% of the time. I have considered taking a file and filing a bit of the foot so the latch will close. Any suggestions from others with this combination of scope and head?

Thank you!

Click to expand...

Silvermesa,
The 3130 head is the same as what is currently sold as the 128RC head. You should be able to get your scope to lock nicely in the head without any modification to either piece of equipment. If you want, give me a call here at Eagle Optics and I can try and trouble-shoot the problem with you over the phone. I would strongly encourage you to not file the foot of your scope though :eek!:

Ben Lizdas
Sales Manager
Eagle Optics
1-800-289-1132

I took Ben Lizdas up on his kind offer and called him at Eagle Optics! Eagle Optics just happened to be the company I purchased this Swarovski Spotting Scope from unknown to Ben.

Ben solved my troubles and discovered that there is no problem with the tripod head or the foot on the scope but user error on my part. There happens to be two raised metal pieces on each side of the head that the scope foot must fit in between. I evidently would sometimes have the edge of the scope foot sitting on top of these metal pieces and the head would not latch. I'm not sure why I could not see that or figure it out, but Ben sure did.

Thanks again to Ben at Eagle Optics for offering to help and finding a solution to my problem!