DB Dun "Bomb-Proof" Destination Travel Rod Case
http://www.riverandreef.com/articlelive/articles/86/1/DB-Dun-Bomb-Proof-Destination-Travel-Rod-Case/Page1.html
Brendan Mason
Brendan Mason is a Canadian born angler who now lives in Seattle, Washington. Brendan has fished all of his life and started a passion for fly in British Columbia where he grew up. His father a search and rescue expert and his mother a teacher, Brendan has the brains and skills to both out think and survive longer than the average Joe Blow. Brendan has fished extensively for trout and salmonids but in recent years has attacked the saltwater with gusto. His travels have taken him to Australia, Mexico, Argentina and beyond. Brendan also has the distinction of catching a 600 lb Mako on fly while fishing San Diego in 2006. You can often find him stalking carp in the shallows of Green Lake in Seattle.By Brendan Mason
Published on 06/8/2005
From the outside, this rod case looks like a serious piece of equipment. The tube is covered in 1000 denier Cordura fabric, it has a rubberized carry handle, shoulder strap, and reinforcing nylon webbing at the stress points. My only complaint here is that the shoulder strap is not padded. Carrying a case through the airport with raw nylon webbing digging into your shoulder is not comfortable at all.
Any good rod case should have ample padding at the ends to protect rods against shock when the tube in inevitably dropped. At the zippered end of the Destination rod case, there is a piece of foam secured to the cap to achieve this. What I couldn't understand was the lack of any padding whatsoever at the bottom end of the tube. In fact, all that keeps your rods from dropping out the bottom is a thin, stretchy material that became quite abraded after only a single round trip through a couple of airports. This could be much improved by means of a rigid plastic end cap and a few inches of EVA foam to protect the ends of the rods from shock. Also, the foam on the zippered end of the case started to separate from the Cordura rather quickly, so I'm sure I'll have to reattach it myself after another trip or two.
The case can be locked by means of a locking zipper, but it is not a TSA-approved lock. This means you can either leave it unlocked when you fly (which I did) or run the risk of the TSA breaking the zipper, should they decide to inspect the case. This would be fine if there were two zipper pulls that could be locked with a third-party, TSA-approved lock, but there is only one pull, leaving no other means to secure the case or even prevent the zipper from opening accidentally.
Overall, this product does not live up to its name and I was not impressed. It would be a fine travel tube to take on a road trip in your own vehicle, but it has too many shortcomings for me to recommend for serious airline travel. I don't think the people who designed this tube have any experience travelling with fly rods or they would have designed it differently. My advice would be to buy a Boulder Landing case instead.
Overall Rating: 2/5 (not recommended)
Looking for a rod case to take on your travels? Find out what we think of this one by reading the full review.
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From the outside, this rod case looks like a serious piece of equipment. The tube is covered in 1000 denier Cordura fabric, it has a rubberized carry handle, shoulder strap, and reinforcing nylon webbing at the stress points. My only complaint here is that the shoulder strap is not padded. Carrying a case through the airport with raw nylon webbing digging into your shoulder is not comfortable at all.
Any good rod case should have ample padding at the ends to protect rods against shock when the tube in inevitably dropped. At the zippered end of the Destination rod case, there is a piece of foam secured to the cap to achieve this. What I couldn't understand was the lack of any padding whatsoever at the bottom end of the tube. In fact, all that keeps your rods from dropping out the bottom is a thin, stretchy material that became quite abraded after only a single round trip through a couple of airports. This could be much improved by means of a rigid plastic end cap and a few inches of EVA foam to protect the ends of the rods from shock. Also, the foam on the zippered end of the case started to separate from the Cordura rather quickly, so I'm sure I'll have to reattach it myself after another trip or two.
The case can be locked by means of a locking zipper, but it is not a TSA-approved lock. This means you can either leave it unlocked when you fly (which I did) or run the risk of the TSA breaking the zipper, should they decide to inspect the case. This would be fine if there were two zipper pulls that could be locked with a third-party, TSA-approved lock, but there is only one pull, leaving no other means to secure the case or even prevent the zipper from opening accidentally.
Overall, this product does not live up to its name and I was not impressed. It would be a fine travel tube to take on a road trip in your own vehicle, but it has too many shortcomings for me to recommend for serious airline travel. I don't think the people who designed this tube have any experience travelling with fly rods or they would have designed it differently. My advice would be to buy a Boulder Landing case instead.
Overall Rating: 2/5 (not recommended)