Wiser Precision PH-170 NightHawk Ultralight Pan Head

Great little tripod head!

For the last 8-10 years I’ve used an Outdoorsman Mini head. It was good, but it didn’t make sense when Arca-Swiss started to dominate. This Wiser Precision handles any A-S baseplate and it does it with no disadvantages. I haven’t experience's the “bounce back” that others claim. This head is the perfect head for any binoculars or smallish spotting scope. Saves a couple of ounces (or more). I use it with the handle facing away from me. I think it’s easier that way. Also, I trimmed the handle about halfway down.

Just what I needed

Wanted a small head for my tripod when I hunt in Alaska where space and weight count. It does everything I need on my Silk 634 tripod when I am using my binoculars to glass. Easy to pack and doesn't seem to add weight.

Light Weight - But all about tradeoffs

Is this thing ridiculously small, lightweight and packable? Absolutely. Are the tilt/pan functions smooth and amazing? No. As with most 'lightest in class' products, it's all about tradeoffs. I purchased this very well knowing it wouldn't support my ATX 85mm very well. However, I sure was hoping it would work will with my 12x42 NL pures with digiscoping setup. Not the case though. You have to tension the tilt down so much that it makes the tilt/pan pretty tough. Also, I read plenty of reviews about the 'bounce back' when panning. It is very real and a bit of an annoyance. I also don't love the twist tension on the handle for the tilt--I found it very hard to fine tune and for that I prefer a separate tension knob. Also, as many people pointed out--the handle prevents you from tilting up much vertically, which seems like something they could very easily fix (not sure why they haven't?). The work around everyone says is that 'oh, you can just drop your back tripod legs.' Well yes, you can, but that's quite annoying--why not just improve the design to be better? I can say that this thing is VERY well built with very tight tolerances. It is really a beautiful piece of machinework.