One of the most important accessories that is absolutely necessary for most of the high end surveying equipment is a tripod. However, there are many different types of tripods, how can you know which one is the best to fit your needs? This article will help highlight what some of the most common and important tripods that are in the market specialize in and what their pros and cons are.
What are the different types of materials that tripods are made of?
In surveying, there are four important types of tripods that you need to know about. These are wooden, aluminum, fiberglass, and a combination of wood and fiberglass tripods. There are different pros and cons for each, understanding these will help you narrow down which tripod is the best for your work environment.
A big thing to take into account is how the weather will affect your tripod. An example of this is how some tripods will expand or contract due to being exposed to too much heat for long periods of time. It’s very important to take into account the weather and the length of time that the tripod will be used outside, this should be one of the deciding factors in which tripod you take with you.
What are the Pro’s and Con’s of each tripod?
The first type of tripods we’ll examine is the wooden tripods. Wooden tripods are one of the best all around choices that you can find to fulfill your surveying applications. It is also unaffected by long exposure to heat so you don’t need to worry yourself while spending a long day outside. Another pro about the wooden tripods is that they are not super heavy to move around yet they still retain good durability. However, the two main drawbacks to wooden tripods are that they can be shaky when deployed around or near heavy machinery that
causes the ground to shake.
Aluminum tripods are one of the most common types of tripods you will see around. A big reason that they are so popular is that they are very light which makes it convenient to carry around, especially if you also have to carry other equipment with you. There are also many different variations of aluminum tripods; for example some of which are more heavy duty that may be heavier, but are also more stable and durable. For the majority of aluminum tripods though, the main drawbacks are that they are susceptible to length alterations due to being in the heat for too long. For the lighter aluminum tripods too, they can become bent though they will rarely ever break.
The next type of tripods that we’ll cover is the fiberglass tripod. The fiberglass tripod is great for both indoor and outdoor use, it is mainly known for being durable and stable. The downside of it is that they are harder to carry around which would be unsuitable for jobs with a large area that needs to be covered.
The final type of tripod that we are going to cover is made up of a combination of two materials. Examples of these are wood and fiberglass tripods, these types of tripods are great for stability, durability, and being resistant to the elements. They tend to be the most expensive type of tripods and are usually quite heavy, making them most suitable for jobs where you’ll be at one point for an extended period of time. There are other types of mixed material tripods such as wood and fiberglass tripods but for the most part they are similar to the wood and fiberglass tripods as they both highlight stability, durability, and resistance.
Taking all of these pros and cons into consideration, the best tripod for you all depends on the conditions of the jobsite, how many times you’ll have to move the tripod, and the type of equipment you will put on the tripod. Of course each different type of tripod comes with a different price tag but the most important thing to consider is
how the tripod will hold up in your work environment or else you rub the risk of getting inaccurate measurements or damaging your tripod.
To learn more about Tripods and to see all of the variations that SiteSurv has to offer click on the link below!