Monopod vs gimbal type of head

Every spring I try to add a piece of gear. This time I am considering a gimbal type of head possibly a sidekick.  Today I met another tog while I was out trying to photography eagles. He said I am better off with a quality monopod rather than a tripod with a gimbal head. He feels the monopod allows for more flexibility with birds in flight. The biggest lens I have is the Sigma 150-600C.  
I am just wondering what other people think?
Thank you for your help and Happy New Year.
Brian

 My take is the advice you got is from someone who has never used a gimbal.    Imagine standing there with your mono pod for a couple of hours, you have to hold it the entire time, if you want to point up you have to have some sort of a head on the monopod that allows that.    With the gimbal head properly balanced you can let go of your lens at any time without locking everything down, quickly grab the lens and point in any direction you choose when the action picks up. There is a reason in the field why you see large lenses on gimbals.   I can’t remember the last time I saw someone using a large lens on a monopod shooting birds in flight. 

 That’s my two cents worth and I shoot a lot of birds in flight. 

Brian,











My experience with tripods/heads are as follows, around five years ago I decided I wanted a rock solid tripod with a stable ball head. I chose the Induro CT414/BHL2 combination, rock solid without a doubt. In fact I used this setup while attending Keith's Bosque workshop in December 2013 with a D300 and a 300mm prime. The CT414 is a beast but I found the weight was more than  I am able to lug on longer hikes. I decided last spring to pick up an Induro CLT104 for a lighter weight landscape/travel tripod.  At the same time I ordered  Induro GHB2 gimbal head. I moved my BHL2 head onto the new lighter tripod and put the new gimbel head on the CT414. I was at a refuge in NW Missouri a couple of weeks ago photographing eagles and raptors with the setup and was delighted with the gimbal head/CT414 and my D500/Sigma150-600. Looking forward to using it in the spring on the Platte for the crane migration and the next opportunity at Bosque.

Ditto to all above. While I still mostly hand-hold for BIF, the gimbal is irreplaceable. I've had a good monopod and have used it exactly once in 8 years, at a small  area where tripods were not allowed.  The Wimberly gimbal is expensive, so ask here about good alternatives. There may be a couple by now I'm unaware of.  For good used ones,  keep an eye on EBay, KEH, B&H,  and Adorama. 
Good luck. You won't regret using a gimbal. 
Sandy

I agree with the others, Brian.  I do have a good monopod, but I only use it in situations where I can't take a tripod and now that I use the much lighter 150-600 instead of a 500 prime, I'll usually hand hold in those situations, so the momopod stays in the gear closet.

Handholding or using a gimbal head is the way to go.  I prefer handholding for flight photography, but you can get excellent results with a gimbal as well.  A monopod is kind of a poor compromise in my opinion, you don't get the freedom of motion that you would handholding and you don't get the stability of a tripod. 

There's one advantage to a monopod that I've seen, especially with my clients: If one's on the move and needs to set up quickly, the monopod is much easier to plant and shoot immediately, especially if you're not used to manipulating and setting up a tripod.

However, a tripod has so many other advantages as stated above, and would be my preferred equipment in the field.  As Keith said, you'd probably need an additional head for the monopod anyway, so unless you have major concerns about extra weight the tripod is the better way to go.

Max

Hello  everyone thank you for your feed back. The fellow I met yesterday was so insistent that I would be better off with a monopod that I figured I should ask a bunch of people in the know. I will save my allowance for a gimbal type of head. 

Happy New Year.

Brian