Domain: shockwatch.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to shockwatch.com.
Comments · 7
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It's not just laptops...
It's any gear larger than a phone, which means all your expensive cameras and lenses as well. I was hoping to see a few ideas I might not have thought of from fellow photographers already given there's over 100 comments, but since I appear to be the first here's my thoughts for travelling with a backpack's worth of high-end camera gear:
Firstly, define "global". If we're just talking about any flights flying to/from the US/UK (or any other countries that start doing this), then the obvious initial step is to route around the problem by flying via airports that don't transit the US and UK. If one of your endpoints is in the US/UK, then that's tougher and depends on your location - driving over the Candian or Mexican border may be an option for the US, while for the UK CDG is only a Eurostar and change from London, and Dublin a short trip from Northern Ireland.
If we *really* mean "global" - e.g. every international flight, regardless of endpoints - or the above is unworkable for any reason, then it's going to have to be a Peli Case or similar, and rolling the dice with theft by airport staff and genuine loss in transit. Where practical, I'd hope to mitigate against that by shipping ahead of time as freight - there's better insurance cover anyway, and I'd expect international couriers to start exploring opportunities in this area to make things easier and more cost effective if the ban does go global. If I do have to travel with the gear, then I'm thinking of going for a padded Pelicase I can just put my regular backpack and a few other items in, which means it's going to be big and heavy and will need to be run though oversize baggage. Actually, I'm probably going to make sure that it does, because while that means special handling and more cost, it also means better tracking and in some instances to put the airline on the hook for the full value of the contents if it goes astray. I'll probably put couple of "Fragile" stickers and maybe some of those impact detection stickers on there as well.
Finally, and regardless of the above, screw the compromised TSA locks. I use proper padlocks and security gets confronted with an inventory of the case's contents should they decide to bolt-cutter it - good padlocks are not that expensive, and it's a much better deterant against opportunistic theft by anyone with the magic key. -
Re:No single companyThe budgets might be low, but they'd have to be ridiculously low not to be able to afford a few of these stickers every day:
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Re:Accelerometer
I've recieved computer equipment with the same ShockWatch stickers that I seen used on Myth Busters.
http://www.shockwatch.com/monitoring-devices/impact-sensor/impact-indicators/ -
Re:Should be standard
It would be awfully nice to have accelerometers and GPS tracking on important packages.
They sort of exist in a low-tech form. My company uses these on every shipment.
http://www.shockwatch.com/monitoring-devices/impact-sensor/impact-indicators/
Shockwatch designed, Mythbuster approved. That's the same stuff the Mythbusters use to judge fall impacts on some stuff. Most any fan of the show can recognize the green, red, and yellow stickers with the red shock indicator in the middle.
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Re:Should be standard
Once these sensors get cheap enough, this should be standard. Or at least standard if you buy insurance. It would be awfully nice to have accelerometers and GPS tracking on important packages.
For big stuff:
http://www.sensr.com/products/shipping-and-logistics/
For small stuff:
http://www.shockwatch.com/monitoring-devices/impact-sensor/impact-indicators/
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Re:Should be standard
It would be awfully nice to have accelerometers and GPS tracking on important packages.
They sort of exist in a low-tech form. My company uses these on every shipment.
http://www.shockwatch.com/monitoring-devices/impact-sensor/impact-indicators/
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Over-complicating things
Or you could just use a far less expensive, simpler ShockWatch sticker.