Customer Reviews

Pelican 1510-004-110 Case with Padded Dividers, Black

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After purchasing a Canon 40D, 3 lenses and a 580 speedlight - and combining this with my existing two lenses and a Canon 300D camera body and a 420EX speedlight - my canvas and back pack bags were a non-starter.

Pelican sells to the US Army - among others - and we've shipped goods that survived fork lift prong holes in the case with Pelican - but not with others. The 1510 can carry all my stuff in waterproof and dust proof protection - fit in an overhead airline bin and have wheels and an extended handle that make dragging it around easier than anything I've tried yet.

The model comes without padding - with foam padding you can "pluck" to fit - or my choice - the most costly - padded insert. For space management and reasonable internal protection - this is the way to go. It allows for change of your equipment by simply adjusting the velcro dividers. No wasted space. Everything safe and secure. Pelican will sell you TSA approved locks as an aftermarket choice. Something to consider if you travel and want to secure your rig from the luggage gorillas and still meet the approval of the TSA.

Lifetime replacement guarantee from Pelican.

Make sure you specify and confirm the EXACT type of insert you desire. The only drawback with this case... it's getting crowded in there and the next larger size goes in with the stored luggage in the airplane hold... no way...

I purchased this to hold my photography gear. The case itself is fantastic and I would give it 5 Stars. The issue I have is with the padded dividers. First-of-all the photo of the divider is different from what you get but that is not my main concern: What bothers me is that there is absolutely NO/ZERO padding on the bottom of the dividers. Therefore, if you put your lenses on the dividers your lenses will hit directly against the bottom of the hard case wall. Considering most of my lenses are f/2.8 I was not willing to take this risk so I called Pelican and they had me take photos of the padded dividers and send it to them. The called me back within the same day and told me the padded dividers that I have are a very very old version they used to supply with the 1514 case. Thus, apparently the supply of 1514 cases that Amazon currently has are very old but other than the padded divider rest of the case appears to be identical to the current generation. I was going to return the case to Amazon but Pelican said they would send me a padded insert to place on the bottom of the case for free so I am keeping the case and will see if the insert Pelican sends me resolves the issue- if not, I will send this case back to Amazon and will purchase the case directly from Pelican so stay tuned.

This is a great Pelican case - small enough to easily store in the overhead compartment while flying, tuff, organized, and portable in airports as a carry on with its wheels and retractable handle for those of us that do not want to check your $10,000 in camera equipment to be tossed around by the baggage handlers. The construction qulaity is amazing. I can fit my 17-40, 100 mm macro, flash, 70-200, 24-70, body with a vertical grip, and still have room for filters, and lots of extra accessories. If you buy the separate lid organizer listed on amazon you will not be able to use the top foam insert which compromises the protection it offers so I would not buy it again. Recommended for any serious photographer!!

Length:: 6:19 Mins

The video review goes over many of the case's features and helps give an idea of the size and what you can fit into the case. We mainly shoot video with our DSLR camera, so we carry several video-specific accessories, such as a microphone, matte box, follow focus, monitor, etc.

As mentioned in the video, our case did not come with the Pelican 1519 Lid Organizer for 1510 and 1514 Case, which was stated in the product description. I'm not sure if this was just a mistake or if this model doesn't actually come with it and the product description is just wrong, but we contacted Amazon and they reimbursed us for it, once again proving their great customer service.

I mentioned in the video that Amazon has a lock that they recommend for the case. The lock is the PELICAN 1500-518-000 1506 TSA Lock, which says it's TSA approved. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but the lock doesn't appear to be that secure and some of the reviews state that it could be easily cut with a Leatherman. I would think that TSA would allow you to take a padlock off the case if they needed to look through it, then put it back on once you're through security, but you never know.

All-in-all, great case. Watch the video for more details.

I just received the 1510 and I love it except for one thing. The item sent to me by amazon does NOT include the foam padding for the top of the case--as it appears in the picture. I am not sure if this is a screw up or what. I was going to order the foam insert anyway so I will have some foam for the lid soon but I wanted others to be aware of it.
If you look at the separate padded divider for sale some places it shows it as coming with a piece of top lid padding.
Beware too that there are a bunch of different photos floating around of the actual padded divider insert. The one that comes with the case here is divided lengthwise by one long piece of foam. Some of the pics of the divider insert show it divided in half width-wise--from top to bottom rather than left to right if you have the case set up to open up to the top rather than like a fridge or something.
I think the width-wise divider set might prove to be a little more functional but I cannot be sure.
The case as delivered to me fit a pentax k100d dslr body with 18-55mm lens attached, metz af58 flash, takumar 200mm, pentax 14mm, sigma 28mm, pentax 35mm, pentax 50mm, takumar tc, and pentax 135mm lens as well as a fong whale tail difuser, flash accessories, rocket blower, and some lens cleaning accessories.
Again, it is a really sweet case, but it does come quite as advertised.

The Pelican 1510 case is an excellent product - built like a tank. I would give it 5 stars except for one issue: the case looks like it's closed when it's not. If you get fooled by the positions of the locks, you could end up picking up the case only to find your cameras and lenses being dumped out onto the floor. When you close the lid on this case, you then snap the two locks into position. However, these locks have three positions - fully open, partly open, and fully shut. To get from partly open to fully shut, you have to snap the locks in small bit further, another 3/8 inch or so. The locks made good, solid locking sounds when moved into either position, so it's hard to judge by ear alone. I believe this issue would be easily addressed by making these two lock positions more dissimilar to the eye and ear. Otherwise as I say, this is a great product - it will protect your gear very well if you don't pick it up when it's open, as I almost did.

I've now used this case on a couple of photo gigs during the last month, and overall, I love it. It's cheaper than all the camera-specific soft-sided rolling cases and is a lot more durable in a big way. I love that when my camera gear is riding in this case, I have absolutely no worries what so ever.

When I received this case I immediately noticed that it was smaller than I was expecting. It was important for me to get something carry-on compliant though, so that's not Pelican's fault. It doesn't fit every last little thing I had hoped to cram in there, but it did allow me to consolidate a camera backpack and 2 random camera bags into the one case after removing a few insignificant things.

Bottom line for those who don't want to read the details? Yes I would buy this case again if I needed this size. Yes I would recommend it to a friend. Yes I'm thrilled with the purchase and the price! In the future I plan to buy a similarly equipped case that's larger for local gigs, and you can believe it's going to be a Pelican!

The Details:

*Padded divider system is adequate but not so padded that it wastes a lot of space. This is awesome. Some bags and cases on the market waste so much space through unnecessarily over-padded walls and dividers that it's ridiculous how much space is wasted. Also, It's worth mentioning that I have extra dividers left after I configured my case. Always a plus!

*The case itself is waterproof and overall is tough as nails. I can't wait to throw some travel at this case and see what she'll put up with.

*While not the typical inline-skate wheels you see on most luggage and rolling cases, the wheels do appear to be quite solid.

*I'm 6ft tall and sometimes find luggage and rolling cases to be uncomfortable to pull with how low their handles are. Happily, I don't have this issue with this case.

*Organization! With the padded dividers and the optional lid organizer, this case is awesome for organizing my gear. Both my assistants absolutely love this case, and it's also easy for me to describe where stuff is without having to show them. If you buy this case, you need to get the lid organizer. Period. It's cheap and so handy!

*Appearance: Now, a lot of people will tell you this isn't important. What I can say though, is that with weddings especially, but also other assignments, perception on the part of your clients and their guests is everything. This case definitely looks legit, while rolling behind us and when we open it up to reveal the myriad of equipment we use, all organized into compartments.

*The extra handles on the outside of the case (the non-extending ones) are crazy solid and very very handy when you need to move the case without the wheels, or load it into a car or a shelf. SOLID! And rubberized!

Other comments:

*The recesses for the wheels protrude into the inside of the case a bit. There really isn't a way around this if you want to keep the wheels protected, but I still found this to be mildly annoying when trying to make everything fit.

*The main pull handle is weird. It's one solid piece of molded plastic, rather than your typical telescoping luggage handle. It functions fine, and my guess is that it will surpass the typical luggage-style handles in longevity because it's leagues more durable and doesn't have moving parts. Still though, it's just a bit odd and it does flex a little bit in the middle. Overall though, still solid. I love that it locks when it's extended, and it locks when you push it back down into the case as well.

*One thing I didn't realize I'd miss: No pockets on the outside. On all my bags and backpacks and on my personal luggage, I've gotten used to large, flat outer zipper pockets. For photography, they were perfect for flat-folding light modifiers, lighting gels, disc reflectors, etc. Now I keep these items stored under the padded divider tray. Luckily the version I received has a padded bottom, so my assistants and I are able to pull the whole tray out to get to the flat items underneath.



What I fit in this case with a little experimentation and creative packing:

*2 Nikon DSLR's with Power Grips
*1 Nikon SB900 Speedlight (not in it's case)
*1 Nikon SB600 Speedlight (in it's case with it's foot/stand)
*1 Nikon SB24 Speedlight (in it's tie-up case)
*3 Pocket Wizard Plus II Transceivers
*Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 Lens with Hood (mounted to one of the cameras)
*Tokina 12-24mm F4 Lens with Hood
*Nikon 50mm F1.4G Lens
*Nikon DX 35mm F1.8G Lens
*Lensbaby Composer in the Lensbaby Case (tucked inside lightspere mentioned below).
*Old Nikon 70-210mm F4 Lens with Hood (similar in size I believe to the 80 to 200 F2.8 non-VR lens)
*5 Dot-Line AA Battery Cases (each fit 8 AA Batteries)
*Nikon SB-D9 Battery Pack for SB900
*Gary Fong Universal Lightsphere (the non-collapsible kind. Takes up a lot of space but worth it for wedding gigs)
*Joe Demb/Demb Flash Products Flip-It
*Small Dome Diffuser (similar to StoFen) that came with SB900
*Small Gel organizer that came with SB900
*Small Foot/stand that came with SB900
*Tripod & Monopod Plates
*2 Memory Card Wallets
*Sync Cables for flashes
*4 Extra Nikon Batteries (2 extras for each camera body)
*2 Small rolls of Gaffer's Tape (one black, one white)
*Lumiquest Softbox III (Flat under divider tray)
*Honl 8" Snoot (Flat under divider tray)
*Honl Grids - 1/4" and 1/8"
*Honl Barn Door/Gobo (Flat under divider tray)
*Home-made velcro Gel Holder (Flat under divider tray)

Almost every bag I've ever checked on an airline has been damaged in one way or another. Broken or missing wheels, torn fabric, broken zippers, missing handles, etc. I bought this case as a short-trip bag for my normal travels. I don't generally take a lot of electronics, I just wanted a bag that they couldn't destroy. This thing is built like a tank. It's an open challenge to baggage handlers everywhere. Without any of the padding in the case, I can fit three each pants, t-shirts, polos, socks, and underwear along with toiletries, and a pair of safety shoes and a fleece sweatshirt with a little room to spare. I fly Southwest a lot now, so I can check the bag for free and not worry about whether it's going to have wheels or handles on it when I get it back. If I'm flying an airline that likes to charge for baggage (boooo!!!), I can still throw it in the overhead (fits in all overheads but the small RJ's). The only thing that worries me is I have two kids under five and the warranty explicitly excludes damage by bear attacks, shark attacks, and children under five. The bears and sharks don't worry me as much; they're not near as abusive to stuff. I guess I can always blame any damage they do on the neighbor kids, they're older. Mine did come with the dividers, but not the lid organizer. I bought the engraved name tag using the insert in the box from Pelican, and it showed up in days and is easy to install. After about a year of use, the pull out handle cracked in the middle. I called Pelican and they are sending me a new handle and carriage for it. No hassles, they didn't even ask how it happened or for any proof of purchase. I'm a bit disappointed with the crack, but very impressed with the customer service.

I recently bought the Pelican 1510 case, and I love it. I arrive at an event with the case and everyone takes me seriously as a photographer. While most photographers have a backpack, showing up at a wedding with this case takes you to another level. This product is well made and rugged.
The case has large secure hinges and clamps to hold the case close. and the wheels are small but efficient. The extending handle is strong, and not flimsy. With one hand, I can deploy the handle and go.
The secure lid is great for dusty or rainy weather. I never have to worry about my equipment staying dry.
I recommend getting the case empty and then getting dividers or foam. and Dont forget the lid as storage too.

Awesome, wonderful and Durable. I guess spending 150-160 dollars is nothing compared to protecting your expensive camera gear. Pelicans Rock. It is spacious, holds my Canon t1i DSLR with all my lenses (listed below) easily comfortably stored in the padded dividers. I get a sense of comfort as soon as i put my gear back in the Case after my shoot. It is dustproof, waterproof and wife-proof (if you have had the nerve to buy gear without her approval) believe me this is the only thing that can save you and your investment from the wrath ;).. I guess I have now drawn the attention of a lot of people like me out there :). Buy this Case before you learn the hard way :).
Get the case with the padded dividers, it is easier and stores a lot of items compared to the pick and pluck foam, (it is a personal choice in the end I guess...)


Important: When you lock the case there is a third click (which is the hard click + you will have to press it hard) on the latch that securely locks the case. Else the latch and the case lid will open up. I did learn this when my heart came to my mouth when, the lid of my case opened up when I was walking down the staircase with the gear. Fortunately none of the lenses fell off or popped out.

It securely and comfortably stores this gear:
Canon t1i - Body
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens
Canon EF-S 18mm-55mm Kit lens
Canon EF-S 55mm-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Image Stabilizer Telephoto Zoom Lens
Canon EF-S 17mm-85 mm - f/4.0-5.6 IS - USM Zoom lens
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
Canon EF-S 85mm f/1.8 USM Telephoto Lens
Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP A/M 1:1 Macro Lens
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens
It stores all these with hoods and additional lens filters.

I guess it will get tight when I add the Flash to my gear next month :).

My Opinion: JUST BUY IT :) along with the desicant gel