Two Vets 65mm ball head vs RRS Anvil 30

[tkirkpatrick2022]

Wondering about experience with these two heads. I have narrowed it down to these two. Will throw on a two vets QDT inverted V2 tripod. I will be using it for 100% predator hunting and maybe one day for NRL Hunter. My rifle is a heavy PRS style 6CM. I have felt and mounted my rifle to my brother's TV 65mm ball head and he loves his, but I have never played with an Anvil 30. Is the inverted ball head from RRS worth an extra few bucks? Also, we hunt out in west Texas where everything gets covered in dirt. Will the inverted ball head get gritted up? The two vets ball head is nice because it has the panning feature as well, as most of the time we are are using the rifle to swing around scanning with thermals, and locks down for a shot. What makes the anvil 30 better for scanning and shooting if at all?

 

[grfox92]

Wondering about experience with these two heads. I have narrowed it down to these two. Will throw on a two vets QDT inverted V2 tripod. I will be using it for 100% predator hunting and maybe one day for NRL Hunter. My rifle is a heavy PRS style 6CM. I have felt and mounted my rifle to my brother's TV 65mm ball head and he loves his, but I have never played with an Anvil 30. Is the inverted ball head from RRS worth an extra few bucks? Also, we hunt out in west Texas where everything gets covered in dirt. Will the inverted ball head get gritted up? The two vets ball head is nice because it has the panning feature as well, as most of the time we are are using the rifle to swing around scanning with thermals, and locks down for a shot. What makes the anvil 30 better for scanning and shooting if at all?

This thread belongs in the optics section.

Sent from my SM-S931U using Tapatalk

 

[83cj-7]

I’ve owned both. Hands down the Anvil is better. It just takes so much less time to lock and unlock. The ball head always seemed to move around unless you crack the crud out of the tensioning knob. I wanted to be the guy who like a ball head over the Anvil, but it just wasn’t going to happen.

 

[wind gypsy]

^That.

Lever tension > twist knob tension.
Besides having a shorter lever for your rifle to torque on a tripod, inverted is better because the ball tension is always at the same orientation to your rifle or optics as it moves with arca clamping interface. That eliminates searching for a tension knob under stress.

The cheaper alternative to the anvil is the Leofoto MA30L (anvil ripoff). It functioned close enough to the same for me with the exception that it seems more prone to functional issues with lots of dust. Mine got real grabby after a week of hunting and riding on an atv in Nevada dust this fall.

 

[waspocrew]

The Anvil is my preference as well. Bought the Two Vets a couple of weeks ago on sale for a back up. Tried it out over the holiday and couldn’t get the ball to stay despite really cranking it down. The Anvil just holds really well.

For a backup, I’m fine with it. But I will continue to use the Anvil from now on when I’m solo.

 

[83cj-7]

My experience exactly

 

[Quandary]

I have both, as well as the Spartan Davros Pro head. For "regular" hunting I definitely prefer the Anvil-30. Weight and function are hard to beat. However I did have to send it back for service as it squeaks when moved with a rifle on it under enough tension to hold the rifle. RRS indicated it should be no problem fixing. The Two Vets head is great at the range particularly with a heavy rifle on top. Plus it is quite a bit less $. Your use case sounds more like a range setting than a hauling up the mountain hunting setting to me. Personally if I were going out on a predator hunt I would take my TV Recon with the 65mm head and leave the TV Kit with the Anvil-30 at home. Elk, Muley, Pronghorn etc, etc it would be the opposite.

 

[tkirkpatrick2022]

I have both, as well as the Spartan Davros Pro head. For "regular" hunting I definitely prefer the Anvil-30. Weight and function are hard to beat. However I did have to send it back for service as it squeaks when moved with a rifle on it under enough tension to hold the rifle. RRS indicated it should be no problem fixing. The Two Vets head is great at the range particularly with a heavy rifle on top. Plus it is quite a bit less $. Your use case sounds more like a range setting than a hauling up the mountain hunting setting to me. Personally if I were going out on a predator hunt I would take my TV Recon with the 65mm head and leave the TV Kit with the Anvil-30 at home. Elk, Muley, Pronghorn etc, etc it would be the opposite.

Yes I have mountain tripod and head setup dialed in. This is specifically for predator hunting, so weight isn’t an issue, just a few steps from the truck.