Watertight, Crush proof, and Dust proof
By Rick Shandley
Pelican protective gear cases are world renowned for durability, and the Pelican 1500 case we’ve been using for several months now is a great example of the entire lineup of Pelican products. The Pelican 1500 case can be used for any equipment you need to provide safety for that will fit within its interior dimensions of 16.75” x 11.18” x 6.12”; in our case, the gear is camera equipment.
We used the Pelican padded divider inserts in place of the Pick N’ Pluck foam padding this case normally comes with. Whether you need this size of protective case for camera gear or any other type of precious instruments, you can adapt either of these two cushion assemblies to whatever you need to secure within the case. In the configuration this case came to us, with the padded dividers, the investment is about $140.00 U.S. Said to be the strongest case on the market, an unconditional lifetime guarantee, the initial investment for the Pelican 1500 case seems to be a great value.
Our application involves protecting a standard size Canon DSLR camera body with vertical grip and battery magazine laying flat
within the case, two lenses, lens-hood and supporting gear. At 6.12” deep, the case will not accommodate the upright camera body or camera with the lens mounted on it. That’s fine, if storing a fully assembled camera rig was important to us, we would simply use a different sized Pelican case. For our use, long road trips in all weather conditions and air travel where the Pelican 1500 was the only carry on item to be stored in overhead bins, the Pelican 1500 is an excellent gear vault.
You can order any Pelican case with no foam or inserts whatsoever if your application requires it. The Pelican 1500 with no foam retails for about $83.00. Basic color is black, but you can acquire your Pelican 1500 in silver, yellow, orange, or desert tan colors. These cases are military grade (Spec 4150-J), airline safe, and have several accessory options that may fit your application precisely — as long as whatever you choose as cargo will fit within the interior dimensions. Though we used the 1500 case for camera gear, it can swiftly convert to vault for transporting and storing a couple of handguns or a video camera. The application is only limited to the size of the object you need to protect.
If you have specific requirements and dimensions of the item you need to encase within the Pelican 1500, and it’s too tricky for you to Pick N’ Pluck the standard foam protective barrier that comes with the Pelican case, you can have your instrument custom fit to the foam block by Pelican upon your order request or any time after. The customized nature of so many sizes of Pelican cases that can be adapted to specific types of gear is almost inexhaustible.
One characteristic we observed regarding the padded divider assembly is the absence of an anchoring system to keep the entire divider assembly connected to the base of the case. If the case is to be dedicated to a specific type of instrument, then gluing either the padded dividers or Pick N’ Pluck foam to the bottom of the case is an option. A Velcro system to adhere the underside of the padded assembly to the bottom of the Pelican 1500 is also an option. The primary reason for securing the gear-padding to the bottom of the case is to further shield the equipment from being jarred or inadvertently spilled out if the lid where open. This is not an objection so much as something you will have to choose for yourself depending on what you intend to protect within the Pelican 1500 case. And Pelican recommends gluing in the Pick N’ Pluck foam for these same reasons.
Robust double-throw latches at the front of the Pelican 1500 case secure the lid fast to the base. These latches are large enough for easy opening and closing with gloved hands. Two stainless steel padlock protectors are positioned outboard of each of the two case latches for locking out uninvited snoops.
Stainless steel pins anchor two nine-link hinges at the rear of the case. If you are seriously researching gear protection cases, just one
glance at the bridge-girder sized hinges and latches that come with every Pelican case is plenty of proof how sturdy these cases are built.
Open cell core polymer composite material is the primary protection in the single wall design of the Pelican 1500 case and across the range of Pelican cases. Polymers and composites are more technical ways of describing synthetic materials we know as plastic.
When considering the merits of any product we might purchase, the most important thing to most of us is whether the product will do the job we need it to do better than other alternatives. Only Pelican chemists and engineers know the formulas for the mold-injected products they make. What we can tell you is there are not many types of protective cases, made from metal, wood, or plastic that can endure the punishment Pelican cases are known to hold up to.
A rubber O-ring gasket in the case lid seals the case body to create a watertight and dust/sand proof environment for the gear stored inside. Having assessed several expedition and water-sport grade watches, we know not to claim anything is waterproof because nature and life has a way of disproving this claim. But the Pelican 1500 is said to hold its watertight seal when submerged under slightly more than three feet of water for 30 minutes. Well, we didn’t put that capability to the test with our own gear. We’ll just take Pelican at their word.
But here’s a very cool characteristic about the Pelican 1500 case: It will float with 50 pounds of weight in it. Our camera gear would not add up to 50 lbs., nor would a pair of heavy-bullet handguns. With an empty weight of about six to seven pounds, depending on the kind of padding you’re running in it, it would require a pretty dense and heavy object to submerge the case.
What we do appreciate, and have confidence in, is those situations where rain is pouring down and you are lugging all your gear from the car to the cabin; those situations where everything gets wet that is not protected. These are the times we do have full confidence in the watertight and protective nature of any Pelican case to safeguard our fragile earthly possessions.
When transporting your Pelican protected gear in high-humidity conditions, Pelican advises you to throw in moisture absorbing silicon pouches. If the O-ring and precision of the case will keep water outside the case from coming in, then moisture inside the case cannot get outside the case. So this bit of information is part of understanding the limits of a watertight container protecting electronic equipment in particular.
There is a discrepancy between the Pelican online specifications regarding the range of extreme cold the case is rated at. One source (Pelcan.com) says the case will withstand low temperatures down to -40° F. Another source (casesbypelican.com) says the case is good down to -10° F. That’s a significant spread of 30° F. And if this is vital to your application, you are encouraged to verify before you buy. On the high-end of extreme temperatures, 210° F is the upper limit the case is rated to withstand. Unless you plan to hike into an active volcano and toss your 1500 case loaded with gear into the liquid rock to see if it’ll float, we suggest you will never have to worry about melting the case.
Molded rubber is affixed onto the polymer handle of the Pelican 1500 to provide a solid grip surface. Our camera gear didn’t add up
to much weight, but if you are protecting heavier gear, the handle is built to accommodate your grip and the weighty contents. Two, four-link, case handle hinges are just as stout as the rear hinges and front latches. Perhaps the handle pins are even more stout because the two stainless steel pins that connect the handle to the case body are approximately six millimeters in diameter. These stainless steel handle pins are about twice the diameter of the other stainless steel pins of the case. There is no question, the case handle is going to bear much of the weight load of the case, especially when transporting to and from your destination, and it appears to be engineered to last indefinitely.
Our overall take is positive in our assessment of the Pelican 1500 case. Like the majority of outdoor products we review on FreshAirJunkie.com, we reach out to manufacturers of equipment that we have owned or long held to be high-quality. We evaluate the gear to the degree our research or personal past experience with product quality and durability leads us. So when we assess a product in the field, we are merely using the product in the ways we would when we purchase for ourselves for use in the field. If a product has drawbacks, we will write about it in an objective way. And when a product performs like our past awareness or current experience demonstrates, we’ll say that as well. The Pelican 1500 case is what it is. It’s one of the best investments you can make to protect gear you rely on. But do your own research and arrive at your own conclusions. We can only recommend based on our experience and assessment of a product. But in the case of Pelican products, it was clear before we asked for the 1500 case. We were simply verifying what we kind of already knew.
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