Cases on Wheels (1 Viewer)

[lmans66]

I have seen a posting about this before but can't find it anyplace.

But....in another related discussion posting we are talking about how to travel with cameras, scopes etc.... I like the idea of a Pelican on wheels as they get to be pretty heavy loaded with gear.

Will the traveling of the wheels on the Pelican luggage as you go thru an airport, sidewalks etc....hurt expensive gear? For instance will AF on lens' be hurt or delicate focusing on scopes etc.

I realize that a Pelican is stuffed with foam etc...but I remember a posting a year or two ago on Bird Forum discussing this topic.

Appreciate any information......

 

[RJM]

Those Pelicans usually weight MORE than the gear they contain! Unless you are checking luggage I don't see the point of a Pelican, especially for a rugged fieldscope. I prefer relatively inexpensive and lightweight camera packs.

My current fav in the Lowepro Flipside 400AW. I luv how I can slip it off my shoulders with the waist belt attached and swing it around in front balanced on my hip to open up to unpack/pack my stuff. Fits easily in the overhead too. More than enough room for a digiscoping kit. It I needed more I would go for Kiboko bag from GuraGear.

Rick

 

[lmans66]

Agreed....a shoulder bag can hold your gear. But even a shoulder bag gets heavy and when traveling you just want to place it down. Especially if you are trying to hold both digiscoping and camera/lens gear combined. That would even make the Kiboko heavy.

But will the motion of wheeling across the airport etc damage the AF on a lens or the like? I am thinking it is so well padded it won't but have seen a thread someplace on here before speaking to that? jim

 

[RJM]

Not talking about a shoulder bag. I am talking a backpack, preferably one with comfortably padded shoulder straps and a wastebelt (so your hips can help support the load) and that weighs in under 2kg when empty. A normal healthy person should be able to easily carry ~10% of their body weight with little effort or pain. That is 5kg-12kg loads on average. More than enough for a nice collection of gear and still easy to pick up and swing onto your shoulders.

I don't have a car so I "travel" everday when I leave home and a backpack is just so much easier to use to transport my gear. And having to hump your stuff forces you to make rational decisions about what to take and leave behind. As the famous Galen Rowell evangelized, "less is more" when it comes to nature photography.

Wheeled carry-on type luggage are now more of nusiance in our overburdened airports and planes. They certainly don't offer a good "weight/perfomance" ratio. They should be banned IMO.

 

[lmans66]

I agree with Rowell...a wise person. Less is more.... I usually have my sling Velocity which I really have liked for years. I need to get a bigger model though but I find it easy to use as you find your backpack. When in the field, ...that is what I carry and up to now, that is what I carry on the plane. I do find that what I have 'in the field' differs to what I have ' on a plane"...at times.

If I am traveling back east and find myself in a spot, at times I wish I would have brought the camera as opposed to digiscoping etc.... or other way around. So a good all around Pelican that will take all of my gear for a plane trip is what I am after. I wouldn't like to use the Pelican all the time, and ...wheels or not, it wouldn't work out in the field.

It is funny to look at this forum and see all of the different methods that people use to transport gear in the field or out of it. So many options, each to their own....