Wiser Precision PH-170 NightHawk Ultralight Pan 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.

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.

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.

Awesome head for the weight. Will be my go to for binocular glassing. If the spring-back in the panning didn’t exist, it’d be even better. I’m aware you can tighten it to the point of not having that problem, but it’s at the price of slightly more tension in the panning. The other thing is the location of the handle. It limits the height you can glass without hitting the base on the tripod (Slik 634 in my case) with the handle back toward you, or how far down you can glass when running the handle out the front. Two minor inconveniences in my opinion. I know that the price point reflects the top tier weight and build quality, but as a nitpicker (and baller on a budget) I’d hope for things like this to be figured out on top of the line gear. Will be using this head until someone engineers a sub 10oz VA-5 equivalent.

Start off by saying this is not a pan head for everyone. It is marketed for medium to lighter optics to be mounted on and that has been my experience. Putting a heavier spotting scope on it was about as heavy as I would go before really starting to crank down on the locking g handle. Just know that you are getting a narrow window of use….light-ish setups. Having said that, it is an awesome setup and a joy to use