Battery ruins the night.

[bomberbaz]

I wonder how many others will admit to getting to a site and realising the finder they intended using was flat!  Well it happened to me tonight. 🙄

Checked my bag of odds n ends and spares etc, in there was every single other battery going (AAA, Button and so on) all bar the one I wanted 😭

I still managed a few DSO but having to best guess your location in the sly with nothing more than a vixen shoe to use for aiming isn't going to be fruitful.

Worst of all I took out my mounted astro laser from the bag just before I left as I told myself I wouldn't be needing it, arghhhhhhhhhhhhh 🤬

[OK Apricot]

A fine example of sods law. I feel like this a lot when it comes to nuts and bolts at work. At least you know what bits to add to your odds and ends bag 😉

[Mr Spock]

It's just the way it is 

Always a good idea to check before you go though.

[Stu]

Not a finder, but I once got to a dark site without the power cable for my Vixen Sphinx mount and Starbook controller. It became a very expensive manual mount, not the easier with an 4m focal length Mak on it! Still got some amazing views of Saturn at x400 but manually tracking was fun!

Sorry to hear about your troubles, hope it wasn’t entirely a wasted trip?

[scarp15]

It becomes very apparent how dependent we are with our finders when something like this happens and can appreciate that without the aid of the finder, the session may become potentially frustrating and more limited. Happened to me a few years ago, the Telrad battery (which one assumes / becomes complacent to, just lasts forever) was flat. This probably because it had not been switched off from a previous session sometime ago, notoriously easy to do with these. Did not then (do now) carry a spare. Fortunately, on this occasion I had also taken along my refractor and it was equipped with a Rigel Quikfinder. Somehow I managed to strap with an elastic band the Rigel onto the the 14" dob, it would keep dropping off but thus on the whole saved the session.

 

[Shimrod]

I forgot a tripod for a two week holiday last year - I was so intent on making sure I had all my astronomy kit that I left the tripod behind for my 20x80 binoculars and camera. It was north Scotland and the tripod was crucial for potential aurora photography.

[Ludd]

In a similar vein, a holiday in a dark corner of Wales some years saw me trying to use a Vixen GP mount without a counterweight.  Not great.  

[Alan White]

As we can see from the replies, you are not alone.

I arrived for a comparison with my then 150mm VX6 and 103 Vixen,
I forgot both the diagonal and the finders for both scopes,
Bad enough, but a super night at the cubs dark site, saved by my faithful 10x50's and others scopes.

It did provide some mild amusement as well as sympathy from the other observers.

After all, we have all done similar at some point, even if not in Astro.

 

[kirkster501]

I'm forever leaving my Telrad and RDF switched on only to find them flat the next time I need them 🙈

[bomberbaz]

Quick visit to pound shop and 

[jjohnson3803]

i don't think I've ever noticed a variety pack here.  Good to know they exist!

 

[cajen2]

I've gone overkill....I'm getting a Rigel and already have a RDF (different scopes) and they use the same batteries. So I've bought eight of them and put two in my EP case. Hopefully, I'll never have that problem. I'll just find something else to forget!

[johninderby]

One way to solve the problem of batteries with the Rigel. Even if left on batteries would last nearly four months 👍🏻

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quik-finder-battery-pack.html

Edited February 2, 2022 by johninderby