Tripods are a fixture at many rifle matches not only because they offer the ability to support a rifle in certain match formats, but because they provide a steady support for spotting optics. When sitting or standing behind glass on a tripod to call hits or observe the target area, the observer often needs to have various items on-hand, whether it’s a pen and notebook, weather meter, or another tool.
Various manufacturers have released tripod caddies or tripod organizers which attach to a tripod to act as a storage area for items. These can be intricate or simple in design. I decided to acquire one and wanted something that was portable and mobile. A fellow shooter that I know posted a photo of his tripod caddie and it caught my eye.
I investigated it further and decided to acquire one for myself. That specific tripod organizer in question is the Range Office by Sharp’s Mountain Outdoor Gear.
Sharp’s Mountain Outdoor Gear (SMOG) is the sister brand of Blue Ridge Overland Gear (BROG), where BROG products are camping and overlanding focused and SMOG is shooting sports focused.
The Range Office is a very simple design at its core. It consists of two 12″x12″ 500D Cordura panels connected at the bottom with three (3) 1″ webbing straps that create the hinge for the Range Office to fold out.
Each panel consists of two sheets of Cordura sewn together on three sides, where the top side is sealed using hook and loop in order to hold a sheet of corrugated plastic. This is what gives each panel its rigidity.
There is paracord with a cord lock that keeps the panels tight together and will act as the hinge stop, and the Range Office is attached to the tripod simply by way off a 1″ webbing strap with a quick-release buckle.
On the rear of the back panel, there is a pocket for thin items, ideally paper documents. However, I will say that this pocket is not easy access because when the Range Office is attached, you really can’t get to any paper size documents in the back without significantly manipulating the Range Office from its standard resting position.
As stated at the outset, the core or base of the Range Office tripod organizer is simple and there are no pockets or pouches (other than the document pocket in the rear). This means the owner will add pockets and pouches as desired. While this ultimately increases the final cost of the Range Office, this makes it very versatile as the owner can configure it for their own specific use cases.
The face of the first panel has PALS webbing to accommodate MOLLE attached items, while the inside faces of the two panels have loop fabric to accommodate hook attached items (translation: Velcro).
Sharp’s Mountain Outdoor Gear sells various hook-attached pouches which you can add on to the Range Office. Of course, the user can opt to use hook-attached pouches or items by different manufacturers.
While the inside face of the flap panel is covered in hook fabric, most people will not use this to attach pouches as this will serve as a table surface. It works surprisingly well as a surface for basic tasks such as loading magazines or writing in a notebook and it can handle a nominal amount of weight.
I ended up outfitting the inside panel of the Range Office with one SMOG large velcro pouch, a SMOG Kestrel velcro pouch, and a velcro pen holder sourced from Amazon. I also keep my Kestrel Ballistics KST1000 shot timer clipped to the panel.
As far as the outer facing panel with the PALS webbing, I have three MOLLE pouches attached. There is a FHF Gear Rangerfinder 2.0 pouch to hold my SIG KILO8K-ABS, and this pouch is flanked on both sides by Armageddon Gear AICS magazine pouches. I store one Vudoo V-22 magazine and one AICS compatible magazine, respectively.
Overall I am satisfied with the Sharp’s Mountain Outdoor Gear Range Office tripod organizer. It is simple yet adaptable for one’s personal preferences. The PALS webbing provides options for pouches and the interior loop panels provide plenty of spots for hook-backed pouches and accessories.
The SMOG Range Office tripod organizer sells for a base price of $69 USD which excludes any pouches or accessories and you can order direct from Sharp’s Mountain Outdoor Gear.
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