For anything more than casual use you need a field tripod that's very stable, strong enough to withstand some serious abuse, and yet moves with fluid smoothness. The Orion Paragon XHD Extra Heavy-Duty Tripod fills the bill, providing robust, heavy-duty support for giant astronomy binoculars, cameras, spotting scopes, and many compact telescopes such as the Orion ShortTube 80 Refractor Telescope, Apex 90, 102 and 127 Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescopes and more.

The Orion Paragon-Plus XHD Tripod is constructed almost exclusively of aluminum, making it stronger at key stress points where other plastic tripods fail. It features large, adjustable aluminum-tube legs with robust lock lever clamps for convenient setup and takedown. Each tripod leg features graduated reference etchings so you can quickly and easily extend each leg to the same preferred length - a great timesaver when trying to setup gear in a hurry. The tripod legs are tri-braced to the center elevator housing for extra stability. This Paragon-Plus XHD Tripod is 67" tall when fully extended, putting astronomical binoculars easily at eye level for most observers.

This extra heavy-duty Paragon XHD Tripod holds heavier loads than our HD-F2 Paragon tripod. Its tubular tripod legs measure 1-1/4-inch maximum diameter; and each leg is laterally braced with dual 3/4" aluminum tubes. The central elevator shaft is 1-1/8" diameter, and features 11-3/4" of vertical travel. Height of the tripod when fully extended is 67", and it collapses down to a portable 34". Weighs 9 lbs.

The Orion XHD Paragon-Plus tripod comes with a two-way fluid-type pan head. It features tension adjustment knobs on both axes for wonderfully smooth, controlled altazimuth motion. The pan head can be raised or lowered on its aluminum rack-and-pinion elevator post with a hinged hand crank. Panning is easy with the 11"-long adjustable handle. The quick-release 1/4"-20 dovetail shoe makes attaching and detaching your instrument from the pan head a snap. Other nice features include convertible cushion/spike feet and built-in bubble level.

• Provides support for giant binoculars, cameras, spotters, and small telescopes.
• Adjustable aluminum-tube tripod legs with lever locks and graduated reference marks for quick and easily repeatable setup.
• Tripod legs are tri-braced to center elevator for enhanced stability, fully extended height is 67".
• Two-way fluid pan head with tension adjustment knobs on both axes for smooth, controlled motion.
• Includes 1/4"-20 quick-release shoe, cushion/spike feet and bubble level.