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I have been looking at large astronomy binoculars in the 25x100 and 20x80 range. Clearly, these monsters cannot be held steady by hand, or even be held at all for any reasonable length of time using one's arms.

Somewhat related question What should I look for in an astronomy tripod? isn't helpful as a telescope tripod needs to hold a much bigger weight, so it stands to reason that one would get away with something lighter and cheaper for big binoculars.

What's recommended, tripod-wise? Any related pro tips from the binocular crowd?

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Get the sturdiest tripod that you can!

My 20x80 binoculars are sitting on a ball and socket mount on a very heavy tripod. I use the Benro BH1 ball mount, which is an absolute joy to aim. This mount is rated for 6 KG, almost three times the actual weight of the binoculars. With high-powered binoculars the aim must be adjusted every minute or so, therefore you will want an easy to adjust mount that is far from the limits of its capacity. You really can't beat the ball and socket design for this purpose in my opinion. I need to photograph the setup for another question and when I do I'll check what model the tripod is.

Look also at the tripod of the user who asked the above-linked question. These large binoculars need the absolute heaviest duty tripod that you can reasonably afford. You will need all-metal construction and I would suggest a hook as well to hang a weight from, this will make the tripod steadier. You will have a hard time going overboard, so if you find two tripods with a similar price but one is heavier-duty, get that one.

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  • $\begingroup$ would be nice if you added the tripod model to the question. Thanks for all the info! $\endgroup$
    – 0xF2
    Dec 29, 2014 at 18:23

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