Tony's Blogbach, Between the Isobars

Thoughts from Tony Laubach on Weather, Chasing, and the Patterns in Between.

The Tripod Upgrades Have Begun

February 24, 2026 | Gear and Gadgets

Another test post, this one for the tripod swap I am doing as I revamp my gear set.  I am upgrading my 10-12 year old Dolica tripod set to Neewer, a brand I have come to like over the years.  I have used their camera bags with great success for the last few seasons, and have found their other products to be really good.  I am also downsizing the collection from 5 to 3, with two higher end tripods for my main shooters and one for travel.

I have never been a expensive tripod guy (i.e. Manfrotto)… I beat the hell out of my tripods and I just can’t, in my brain, justify the cost of the Manfrotto brand.  Dolica was a solid brand for me, like I said, a couple of those tripods were purchased back in 2014-2015, so they got some life.  And honestly, they could continue to be used, but they’ve developed quirks from some damage that is more nuisance than use-breaking.  But the time has come, and it’s coming in the midst of a major gear overhaul I am undertaking right now (more on that once the dust settles).  So it just seemed like the right time to make the change.  Fortunately, I am recouping a bit of cash back on these, nothing to set the world on fire, but that’s always nice to pass along the old gear.  Again, totally useable, and the guy I sold a couple of them to yesterday was telling me his plans for them.  The various parts have varying degrees of good use left, so these may find alternative uses for someone else.  But alas, they’ve reached the end of their service with me.

Laubach’s Blog Is Back… Blogbach? Yeah!

February 23, 2026 | Atmospheric Abstractions

As I continue to develop my new website, I have decided (and after much debate) to also revive the inter-site blog.  This was a key feature in my early versions of my site (prior to 2011), and it offered some fun insight and a place to journal basically outside the archiving.  This, of course, was before social media was king, but I don’t post a lot of highly personal stuff there, and I figure I can marry this to my Facebook and other social medias without detracted from either.  And it offers me a place to air out my thoughts on forecasts, setups, post-chase thoughts, and other discussions even outside of weather (I have plenty of thoughts on my sports teams which could add some variety).

So this is the opening entry, not a huge shpeel as a blog is pretty self-explanatory, and right now, there isn’t a HUGE traffic drive to the site as I am still in soft-launch stage where I am adding past content and working through setups and etc.  But this way, I have a starting point and can begin populating this blog with content as I go.

So welcome back to Laubach’s Blog; lovingly called Blogbach 😀  Yeah, it’s cheesy, but so am I 😀

Back to Blog
Blog Categories
All Posts
Recent Blog Logs

Tony's 10-Day Chase Outlook

TODAY AUG 25
Likely Chase Day
>95%
Western Kansas
TOMORROW AUG 26
Likely Chase Day
60%
Colorado Front Range
THURSDAY AUG 27
No Chase Planned
<5%
FRIDAY AUG 28
No Chase Planned
<5%
SATURDAY AUG 29
No Chase Planned
<5%
SUNDAY AUG 30
Watching
20%
Northern Plains
MONDAY AUG 31
Watching
20%
Midwest
TUESDAY SEP 1
No Chase Planned
<5%
WEDNESDAY SEP 2
No Chase Planned
<5%
THURSDAY SEP 3
No Chase Planned
<5%
Latest Facebook Posts