I recently cut weight from my pack and improved my ability to spot animals鈥攂oth听to a single carbon-fiber stick. That鈥檚 because 听($100) can, in some circumstances, replace a heavy tripod while offering a stabilized platform for your binoculars听that鈥檚 also much faster to set up.
From birds to听ungulates to听predators, most animals evolved to blend into their habitats. That means the easiest way to spot them is to look for movement, not colors, shapes, or patterns. But听pick up a pair of binoculars and one of the first things you鈥檒l听notice is that your hands move, too. Often a lot. And that movement prevents you from听effectively spotting other movements. So听to better employ magnified optics, you need to stabilize them.
Adding stabilization has traditionally involved mounting a pair of binoculars to a tripod. The lightest one in my arsenal鈥 with the brand鈥檚 鈥攚eighs 2.7 pounds听and costs $900. As you鈥檇 expect for that price, it provides exceptional stabilization. But听it also adds literal pounds of weight to my pack听and takes about a minute to unstrap, unfold, and fully assemble.
In contrast, the Kestrel Monopod weighs a mere six ounces, and you can whip it out, attach your binoculars, and be glassing critters less than five seconds later. The听advantages offered by its minimal weight听and speed are compound:听not only does it enable me to travel farther into the backcountry, but it also means I can carry image stabilization along more often, with less preparation, using a smaller pack. I can then deploy stabilized optics in a more fluid fashion that involves far fewer steps, making it less likely I鈥檒l听disturb the animals I鈥檓 looking at. Its听stabilization听also helps me get more out of my binoculars. With such a clear view so easily had, I find myself needing my spotting scopes (which provide considerably more magnification)听less and less, meaning I can shed even more weight.
The Monopod is more than just a 44-inch-tall stick. An internal shock cord allows it to fold in half like a tent pole听and also supports a polymer fin that pivots around the monopod听and slides up and down its upper half. To connect your binoculars,听install a metal quick disconnect (QD) pin to the standard quarter-inch socket found in the front of the frame pivot on most optics. That听pin then clips in and out of a socket on the fin, facilitating a fast, secure connection. Because the fin and the binoculars clipped to it stretch the shock cord as they hang, this arrangement supports the weight of the optics听while still allowing total freedom of movement. Stabilization is provided not just from the rigidity of the carbon support pole听but also by its ability to dampen vibrations induced by your grip.听The Monopod is designed to be used while seated.
Despite those advantages, Kestrel鈥檚 Monopod cannot provide stability equivalent to a quality tripod鈥攚ithout a tripod鈥檚 ability to stand freely on three contact points on听the ground, it never could. What the Monopod听does provide听is an unexpected amount of stabilization from a device that鈥檚 vastly easier to carry听and can be employed instantaneously. And that鈥檚 added up to a device I now carry far more often, enabling me to better observe wildlife more frequently.
Kestrel Glassing Systems is the brainchild of mechanical engineer听Jon Lucas, who came up with the idea while packing for a backcountry elk hunt a few years ago. Evaluating his system, and trying to remove as much stuff from it as possible to save weight (the same approach ultralight backpackers take), he tells me that he found himself holding his heavy tripod and听wishing he could leave it behind, but听concluding听that there just wasn鈥檛 a good way to do so.
Lucas has conducted durability testing that has听proven the Monopod鈥檚听ability听to accept a pair of binoculars听thousands of times. His computer simulations suggest it can do the same tens of thousands of times more. The Monopod is assembled in Idaho, from American-sourced parts. Despite the light weight听and reasonable price, nothing on it feels lacking.
Armed with a , will I be able to totally abandon a tripod this fall? No, because I鈥檒l also want to view animals听while standing听or听lock in a view on a freestanding tripod听and step away so a friend can see it, too.听But anytime I鈥檓 throwing on a backpack, justifying the additional weight will be a lot harder.