Hard Plastic case

[Judestudio]

Originally Posted by Joew

I looked at the size specs on their website, and I would go with the IM2200 for a reg case. It seems closest in size to most the reg bags on the market.

<DIV>Oh great! Thanks for finding out. I was just reading up on IM2200, it seems VERY nice...only thing it's 4.9lbs (2.2kg), a tad heavy </DIV>

[Joew]

Yeah, hard cases can add a bit of weight. I looked up the specs on the same size Pelican case and it weighs 6.4lbs. I was right, the Pelican cases are heavier. [img]smileys/smiley4.gif[/img]

[JahJahwarrior]

There are three big companies that make cases:

Pelican: everyone knows about Pelican. They offer a lifetime warranty, no questions asked. If it breaks, it's replaced. Lots of places have their stuff.

Storm. I think they are newer on the market, and have some advantages. I'm told they have a similar warranty to Pelican's. The latches, almost everyone agrees, are much easier to open. Not a big deal if you open it once per dive trip, but if you are a photographer, you might be opening and closing alot every day, you want an easy open case. For a while, I think Storm was more expensive than Pelican, but they are close. Storm cases are what Dive Rite sells with their canister lights.

Otterboxes. They made some of the best cases for ipods Don't know much about them.

Most people say that the boxes aren't good to take on a 100 foot plus dive, that they can leak. But you want to use it for regs. I've thought about a small one for my computer and orings and whatnot, but never done it. You can get all of thsoe cases (not sure about otter boxes!!!) with no foam, with a solid block of foam that you can cut out, or "pick and pluck" which is lots of tiny squares that tear away easily, to allow you to make a "custom fit" without trimming it like you'd have to for a solid block of foam. For regs, which would be stored wet potentially, I'd go without any foam. Lay your regs out and measure how much space they take up, most sites have a spreadsheet that shows dimensions of boxes. Find one close to your size, or bigger, and buy it.

Photography, hunting, fishing, camping stores all sometimes sell these, diving stores might too. However, many places have things for their niche, photography stores will have cases big enough for cameras and laptops. Diving stores often have cases big enough for cell phones.....a bigger case might be hard to come by in a store. But there are many places to buy them cheaply online, just google it.

If you have the money, do it. I'd like to keep everything in boxes like that, but don't have the cash. It'd just be nice to know that anything I own is in a box that can withstand an elephant falling on it in a monsoon on the sun underwater.

[rktman26]

I bought a Storm Case to protect my laptop on the way to and from Iraq.

On both trips, our "baggage handlers" were fellow Marines- junior
enlisted. If anyone can mishandle baggage, it's junior Marines ( I
know, because I did my share of throwing seabags while loading
aircraft).

Anyway, my laptop made it safely to Iraq, and the Storm Case kept it dust free.

I definitely recommend Storm cases.

[Bill22]

Originally Posted by cummings66

I know pelican makes some good cases, are any of you using them for things like your reg bag and if so what ones seem to work best? I'll probably be diving 2 regs and first stages and will have a 7' hose on the primary.


Any thoughts as to which might work best for that?

The Pelican 1510 is the size recommended for carry-on (meets the size restrictions). Here's a link: http://www.casesbypelican.com/app-1510.htm Most airlines will allow you one carry-on and one "personal" bag. I bought the Pelican to use for my camera equipment, but no reason I can think of you couldn't use it for regs to as long as they're dry. I got mine with "pick and pluck" so I can customize it.

[quarrydiver]

I tend to bring anything fragile like the computer/regs in a carry on to avoid the weight issue. I've seen lots of people with pelican get stuck with the overweight fee.

[Aussie]

I have the Storm Im2400 I think. Well its the largest carry-on case they have. I just bought a larger storm case as the 2400 is a little small for my Nikon D80 and Ikelite setup. I used the Im2400 for my Olympus c-7070 with ikelite housing and twin strobes. I could fit the whole lot in.

It is a great to carry it on as cabin baggage as I also took on my laptop bag also. Excess baggage can be a problem here and Asia as we have weight limits not bag number limits which i believe you have in the states.

I always tell the check-in operator that I have dive gear but when it does look a little excessive when you have 18kg of dive gear, 12kg of Camera gear, laptop bag with as much as possible jammed in there and a backpack with everything else in it that weighs 15kg.

I will for sure next time buy a big dive bag with wheels as my last trip almost killed me with carrying "everything" around.

Aussie

[bversteegh]

I use a plastic pistol case from Walmart for my backup camera gear. They are much lighter than Pelican cases, strong enough to withstand being in a duffle bag with other bags piled on top, and come with foam inserts you can trim to fit whatever you pack in them. They cost like $10 dollars, I've had one for several years that has been all over the world with no problem.

[allison finch]

I used to use a Pelican 1510 wheeled carry-on but it was not big enough for the DSLR I wanted. While at DEMA two years ago, I saw the Seahorse case and I REALLY liked it. It is bigger on all dimensions that the Pelican, but a little bit lighter. Let's face it, for a carry-on, Pelican is a little overdesigned. Yes, the Seahorse fits into the carry-on template. Here is a size comparison;



I used the Pelican dividers until I finally got the new Seahorse ones (a MUCH better design). Here is the interior difference between the two cases.

[azdiver]

can't you just look at international traveller brand luggage and buy foam to fit? they come in a few different sizes (check ebags) and are lighter and less expensive than storm or pelican.... as long as you don't need them to have an o-ring.