Whether on a semi-professional level or just for bragging rights on Flickr, taking photos while on holiday is one of the best parts of traveling. What’s much less pleasant is opening your backpack and finding your camera in pieces.
Airports are notorious for not giving a fig about how passengers’ luggage is treated. Airlines, for their part, often don’t go out of their way to reimburse you for damages. To be fair, it’s often groundside staff, not the airlines, that are actually responsible.
Once you start using modes of travel like tuk-tuks and shared, unlicensed taxis, your iPhone or SLR camera is really on borrowed time. Luckily, perhaps on the theory that spending $15 to protect a $500 device is the smart thing to do, this company now makes a nice little case that should keep your electronics safe while in transit, when you get sprayed while boating, or if you take a tumble on a hiking trail. If these sound like things that might happen to you, you’ll find this a very useful accessory for phones, smaller cameras, USB drives, and just about anything that will fit.
Made of polycarbonate (i.e. the same plastic used for police riot shields) and stainless steel, you’d have serious difficulty doing much damage to it during normal use. As a bonus, you can select a case with a clear lid – to keep an eye on the screen without having to expose your precious device to the elements. If you see a rainstorm coming, you’ll also be happy to know that it will help your phone survive the few minutes it takes to find shelter. It is not, however, truly waterproof. While it can withstand a bit of bad weather, taking it swimming or kayaking isn’t a good idea.
One thing you should really know is that the internal measurements as quoted by the manufacturer (6.50 x 3.87 x 1.75 inches) are given without the included padding. When measuring your device, you should be thinking in terms of 20% or so less. You can take out the liner and replace it with something else, but going for the larger version instead is probably better. If you do, though, it won’t fit in most pockets.
One thing that’s definitely a handicap on this product is the small carabiner ring, which won’t stop a determined thief and may actually snap off if you get the box caught on something. All told, though, this very tough, padded box is something you’ll almost certainly appreciate having if you live an outdoor lifestyle.
