Pelican :
0910-010-110
Price :
$24.95
Offer Price :
$14.53
"Good product but overkill" 2010-07-08
By D. DEGEORGE (Ellicott City, MD USA)
I echo the positive aspects of this product as set forth by many other reviewers; this is a solid and well-built storage case that I have no doubt will provide excellent protection for my SD cards.
The disappointment that I am expressing with my rating is that the product tries to do too much; it provides storage for both mini-SD & standard SD cards, and the result is that it takes up easily 50% more space than necessary if one needs only to store SD cards, which surely must be the great majority of users. In my experience micro-, not mini- SD cards are the next most common, with mini-SD cards being relatively rare; so I find the choice to provide storage for mini-SD cards rather curious, though a great boon for those who have devices that use them. The product also includes a tray that can optionally be inserted; it has no cutouts--just one big cavity within which one could store any kind of memory card imaginable, and its no-skid surface should keep the cards from bouncing around too much. Unfortunately, that one big cavity is unnecessarily reduced to a size that is just short of accommodating an extra two SD cards, so that it is limited to the same 4-SD-card storage as the regular inserts.
The Pelican 0910 is heavier than one would expect; and I have to admit that it is reassuring to hold something so solid; however, as with its inefficient use of space, the extra weight is not entirely welcome in the camera bag, making it just that much less suitable for field photography or travel.
By the way, the description of the case as carrying eight SD AND sixteen mini-SD cards is not accurate in my grammar; it should read "eight SD OR sixteen mini-SD cards" (or various combinations in between, such as 4 SD cards and 8 mini-SD cards). Pelican has evidently corrected a problem that affected a few reviewers who received a product that did not match either its description or picture. The picture shown for the Pelican 0910 is once again correct; and if one looks closely, (s)he can figure out that the case could not possibly carry the 24 cards total implied by the description.
Many SD cards come in their own individual cases, which are usually of light plastic but sufficient protection for most purposes. I happen to have bought a bunch of SD cards that did not include suitable individual cases, which is why I needed a lightweight and compact way to carry them. In addition to substituting for individual cases, a carrier like the Pelican provides one with a way to keep all the memory cards together rather than having them scatter themselves throughout one's suitcase or camera bag. This carrier could have further assisted in the organization of SD cards by making provision for labeling. The latch on the case is secure, but I found it a tad awkward, also the result, it would seem, of over-engineering. Oh, I can think of so many ways to make this product more usable! Simplify, specialize, and lighten, and/or add slots for labels.
