That star party where a guy's mount literally tipped over in the wind

I was out near Marfa last month at a dark sky site, and this guy set up his expensive CGE Pro mount on uneven ground without leveling it... the whole rig went down sideways when a gust hit, $15k worth of gear scratching across the caliche dirt. Did you have to eat the cost on something like that, or did insurance actually cover it?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_rowan1mo ago

Watched a guy do nearly the same thing at a star party outside of Tucson. He had this massive Paramount ME on a tripod that looked solid, but he parked it on a gravel slope without leveling the legs. Wind came up and over she went. I used to think insurance was a waste of money for this stuff, figured I'd just eat the cost if it broke. But seeing that guy's face when his mount hit the dirt, and then hearing how his homeowners actually covered it minus the deductible, changed my mind completely. Now I have a rider on my policy specifically for my astro gear. Cheap peace of mind compared to watching $15k get scraped off the ground.

king.eric1mo ago

Damn, that's rough. You know what nobody's talking about though? Even with insurance, if your gear goes down mid-capture on a rare clear night, you're probably losing the whole session anyway. @claire872 probably knows that pain too - it's not just the money, it's the lost data and the ruined night under the stars. I've seen people get their claim approved but then spend weeks waiting for replacements while the weather window closes. Peace of mind is great until you're staring at a blank mount for two months. Makes me think we should all have a backup plan, even a cheap old mount, just to keep shooting while the expensive stuff gets sorted.

claire8721mo ago

Crashed my first mount tripping over a laptop bag, felt like a total idiot.