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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alexis Powell" data-source="post: 1327383" data-attributes="member: 5327">For myself, I always prefer a tripod to a monopod because it is self standing (easier transition back and forth between binos and scope) and for lightweight equipment (like the 50 ED) is just as stable or more stable than a monopod.  A flimsy tripod will need help from your hands to quiet its vibration and/or in the wind, but I still prefer that over a monopod.  Monopods are the better compromise for heavy equipment like SLRs w/big lenses. The lightest tripod that I use is the Velbon Ultra Luxi F. It is a "flimsy", but I find it usable, and it is VERY quick to set up and much taller than its competitors. If you replace the heavy head that is included standard, you can drop considerable weight and make it more compact. I use a Really Right Stuff BH-25 ballhead with B2-mAS mini clamp.  I use straight because I most often use scopes at eye level.  I very frequently bird in places where tall grass/reeds/roadside brush obstruct distant views.  I also do a lot of birding w/scopes on a car window, where straight is much more convenient. The 27x DS or MC seem the obvious choices here.  No zoom ring means a lot less fiddling (= less vibration with a flimsy tripod).  I don't follow 4Jon's comment about the FOV of the zoom being superior to 27x fixed for scanning because the 2.7 degree FOV of the 27x is for all practical purposes identical to the 3 degree FOV of the zoom when set at 13x.  If you scan at 13x you gain a tiny bit of FOV (and much depth of field--maybe that is what 4Jon likes about it?), but then you have to zoom in for the 27x "scope view" (at which point you lose a lot of FOV, so to resume scanning you must zoom back to 13x).  I find it much simpler to use the 27x for both scanning and viewing.  It's nice and wide, and a very nice power for most viewing.  4Jon's comment on eye-relief uses that term in a nonstandard (backwards) way--it seems he doesn't wear glasses and needs an even deeper eyecup to hold his eye farther from the eyepiece (There are generic accessory eyecups that can be fitted over the existing eyecup to extend it and thus solve this problem).  If you wear glasses and need eye-relief, you will find the 27x DS or 27x MC better than the zoom, especially when the zoom is set around 30x (where its eye-relief is shortest). If you don't wear glasses, go with the 27x MC (the 27x DS doesn't actually have a proper eye "cup", just a rubber bumper).   --AP</blockquote>

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