I finally am looking at dropping some loot on a taller tripod so I can glass standing up. A have a straight scope, so not helping there. Floor to my eye is 68" and it sounds like I can subtract 2-3" for the head and 2-3" for the adapter which puts me at about a 62-64" tripod.
I have been looking through GoHunt as I have $100 in points and came up with the Vortex High Country II and Sirui ST-124 with the VA-5 head.
Before you "buy once, cry once" or similar, I know they aren't in the same league. I'm also not packing around a $4k spotter and spending 25 hours a day behind it.
I glass for 30-60 minutes tops, don't need to know anything other than if it has horns or not and hunt a week a year.
I think I would be very happy with the aluminum Vortex, the only thing is I'm thinking I want a better head. I have the Vortex SST now and panning is horrible but the HC II has a much better head, albeit the single control to tighten both horizontal and vertical which I don't like. The SST is ok, good enough for what I do but way too short for anything over sitting.
So, is the Sirui that much better? Any other options for tall tripods (62") in the $200-300 range (including head) I should be looking at?