Hard Cases

tbob

tbob

Active member
Couldn't find a definitive post on hard cases, so thought I'd start one...
Seems like there are three different brands of Hard Case out there
-Hardigg Storm
-Pelican
-Porta Brace

I've seen lots of people lauding the Storm cases for their latches and light weight. Haven't heard much on Pelican, but I know they have new double-throw latches to replace the old, so that might level the playing field. I much impressed by Pelican's YouTube presence.

Anyone know where any of these are made? Believe it or not, we're looking for one that's US made. Most Porta-brace stuff is made in Vermont, but not sure about the hard cases...

I've found the following pricing for the three cases with custom-cut foam specifically for the HVX.
Pelican $250
Storm $320-$350
Porta Brace $350

Anyone have any preference on the pre-cut foam layouts in any of these?
 
Also, Pelican acquired Hardigg (Storm) late last year... I have both and I definitely prefer the Storm over the Pelican cases... Not sure where they're made though. HPRC is another similar brand you might add to your list...
 
the storm im2500 is carry-on size. I managed to carve out the foam so that i can fit an HPX-170 while still attached to the letus extreme and rails, although you have to loosen it and slide the rails, but it's still a lot faster than having to remount the whole thing.

this includes all cables for HPX and strap and barrels for composite to BNC
power adapter, 2 batteries
a firestore
firestore charger
all cables and power supplies for firestore and charger
the manfrotto 484 head i mount on the clamp that goes on the tripod for the firestore
the lens hood and uv filter incase i need to not use the letus.
remote control
2 axis bubble level (have to take it off the hotshoe)
tools for the letus
2 firewire cables for firestore 6ft and 1.5 ft

i just did my first out of town shoot using the case. It's awesome, slid right into the overhead bin...

at some point I'll post pictures of how i managed to cram that all in there. it took about 2 hours of creative visualization and 3 hours of cutting the foam cubes out, but well worth it.
 
i dont understand pre-cut inserts... unless you have all that specific gear set up, you will have a lot of un-optimized spaces. just do your own pic-n-pluck with new blank foam - thats really fun anyway ; )

viva PELICAN!
 
We really like the Storm cases along with their precut inserts. The foam is much higher quality than the pick-n-pluck but yes you're right wgzn, you're limited to what they pre-cut for. I never had a problem getting all of my gear to fit though.

Andrew Hoffman
 
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