Replacement tripod for Velbon Sherpa Pro CF-535? (1 Viewer)

I have been using a Velbon Sherpa Pro CF-535 for years with my scope, and absolutely love it.

Sadly, someone broke in to my Land Rover yesterday and stripped everything, including my tripod, after destroying the electrics in a failed attempt to hotwire the vehicle.

I now urgently need a replacement tripod - I am a keen birder, but also undertake bird surveys professionally (part-time), and this is the middle of the busy season as we all know!

I'm having difficulty tracking down CF-535 tripods, and the ones I do find are very expensive now (twice what I paid!). Is there a new model, or something with similar specifications that anyone could recommend?

(That is easily available just now at reasonable prices!)

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

It depends on your budget. Here's the 535 available:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Velbon-Sher...943S/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1303244629&sr=8-7
The successor of the Sherpa Pro line is Velbon GEO I think:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-velbon-geo-e530-tripod/p1033677

You can also get a Benro for a bit more and this one would be better option stability-wise than the above two:
http://www.kenro.co.uk/product/Benr...enro+Classic+Series+Carbon+Fibre+Tripods.html

Hope this helps.

That is a great help, thanks!

I was very impressed with the Velbon I had before, so I think I will try the GEO e530 as a replacement.

I remember it being quite challenging to get my head round all the tripod stuff before, and now it all seems to have changed (name-wise at least!). If I had more time I'd probably go and try out a lot of these new models, but as it stands (I really need it yesterday - quite literally!), I need to get one ASAP.

Thanks again - much appreciated!