Juan McFarland
April 10th, 2009, 03:56 AM
In 17 years of mostly broadcast and some corporate work I've used cases from Anvil, Pelican, and SKB among others. I thought I'd try the 2700wic from HPRC. The hard case is made by HPRC, the interior rigid/soft bag is made my Portabrace.
The Portabrace interior bag is GREAT! It swallows my EX1, Sachtler FSB6 head, spreader/mini tripod legs (Sachtler SOOM), wide angle adaptor, a can of air, batteries, a few filters, a small slate, lens cleaning kit and a few other small items. Hats off to Portabrace! I love this bag! Plus unlike pick and pluck foam, it has movable divider walls that you can custom cut and fit for you gear, and easily move and repostion if you change your mind.
I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the hard case. HPRC did almost everything right with the 2700 hard case except for one critical flaw, the metal pins that hold together the latches and handles work themselves free in short order. They back out of the holes they are inserted into. Every 2 days of use requires me to tap the pins back into place. The 2700 has only been used lightly (less than six months), but it's already falling apart! It amazes me that they just shoved the pins into the plastic holes without any retention system at all!
Sad thing is I know better than to trust Italian engineering.
I ordered my case early on, maybe they have since rectified the problem. I sent them an email today. I'll be interested to hear their reply since this case has a lifetime warranty.
The Portabrace interior bag is GREAT! It swallows my EX1, Sachtler FSB6 head, spreader/mini tripod legs (Sachtler SOOM), wide angle adaptor, a can of air, batteries, a few filters, a small slate, lens cleaning kit and a few other small items. Hats off to Portabrace! I love this bag! Plus unlike pick and pluck foam, it has movable divider walls that you can custom cut and fit for you gear, and easily move and repostion if you change your mind.
I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the hard case. HPRC did almost everything right with the 2700 hard case except for one critical flaw, the metal pins that hold together the latches and handles work themselves free in short order. They back out of the holes they are inserted into. Every 2 days of use requires me to tap the pins back into place. The 2700 has only been used lightly (less than six months), but it's already falling apart! It amazes me that they just shoved the pins into the plastic holes without any retention system at all!
Sad thing is I know better than to trust Italian engineering.
I ordered my case early on, maybe they have since rectified the problem. I sent them an email today. I'll be interested to hear their reply since this case has a lifetime warranty.