Roadwired The Podzilla Holster Style SLR Camera Bag, Olive Green, #RW520106

Rating:
Summary: Sturdy, but not as roomy as it looks
Review: You get a mini-DV camcorder and immediately you have a small collection of necessities, including power cord/charger and remote. Add a few extra battery packs, a few cables, a lens extender and the pile grows. There's your challenge.

The promotional photos of Podzilla make it look like it can swallow it all, no problem. Lots of wings and pockets and stuff. Ok, sold.

Maybe I need to give the bag some time to break in, you know, "loosen up." But as it stands now, I still don't have as much room as I expected.

Maybe I just expected too much. The advertising gives measurements that I assume are accurate. I know how to assess sizes pretty well -- I'm an engineer who does a lot of home projects. But when the bag came, I was still faced with a session of "triage," trying to figure out which item or item that I wanted to haul along with me were going to have to stay behind and clutter up the landscape. Turns out that those items are my Firewire cable and the camcorder's manual (which, printed in three languages, is a different story altogether. Why can't a manufacturer recognize that (1) users, at least at first, want to carry and use the manual, and (2) most users really only need the manual in one language. C'mon -- print three separate manuals so we can at least throw two of 'em away and not have to haul around the other two). So now these items stay behind. Maybe I need to get a carry bag to hold my Podzilla and my other items that the Podzilla won't hold!

OK, I'm grousing. Maybe when the bag breaks in, I'll be able to stuff it with the leftovers.

If you've been patient, here's the good news. The materials and construction are durable. There is a cooch for just about every size and shape trinket you could carry. Lenses are a challenge, but just about everything else is positively stored in a way that both protects the item and keeps it just where you left it. There's also a "secret" pocket for things like small amounts of cash, credit card, driver's license and the like. Lots of elastic "pockets" and a few bungee cable restraints. Each side flap is equipped with little nylon restraints that keeps it from flopping all the way open (that way, you can drop things in there as a little tray when you're changing tape or lenses) and keeps stuff from drifting away in the process. The back of the pack has two sets of loops for attaching to a waist or shoulder belt. The carrying handle is very comfortable, the top cover is fastened both by a velcro strip for temporary security and also by a Delrin snap-latch mounted on an elastic loop. This allows for some "expandability" when the case is really stuffed.

And mine is really stuffed!

Rating:
Summary: Sturdy, but not as roomy as it looks
Review: You get a mini-DV camcorder and immediately you have a small collection of necessities, including power cord/charger and remote. Add a few extra battery packs, a few cables, a lens extender and the pile grows. There's your challenge.

The promotional photos of Podzilla make it look like it can swallow it all, no problem. Lots of wings and pockets and stuff. Ok, sold.

Maybe I need to give the bag some time to break in, you know, "loosen up." But as it stands now, I still don't have as much room as I expected.

Maybe I just expected too much. The advertising gives measurements that I assume are accurate. I know how to assess sizes pretty well -- I'm an engineer who does a lot of home projects. But when the bag came, I was still faced with a session of "triage," trying to figure out which item or item that I wanted to haul along with me were going to have to stay behind and clutter up the landscape. Turns out that those items are my Firewire cable and the camcorder's manual (which, printed in three languages, is a different story altogether. Why can't a manufacturer recognize that (1) users, at least at first, want to carry and use the manual, and (2) most users really only need the manual in one language. C'mon -- print three separate manuals so we can at least throw two of 'em away and not have to haul around the other two). So now these items stay behind. Maybe I need to get a carry bag to hold my Podzilla and my other items that the Podzilla won't hold!

OK, I'm grousing. Maybe when the bag breaks in, I'll be able to stuff it with the leftovers.

If you've been patient, here's the good news. The materials and construction are durable. There is a cooch for just about every size and shape trinket you could carry. Lenses are a challenge, but just about everything else is positively stored in a way that both protects the item and keeps it just where you left it. There's also a "secret" pocket for things like small amounts of cash, credit card, driver's license and the like. Lots of elastic "pockets" and a few bungee cable restraints. Each side flap is equipped with little nylon restraints that keeps it from flopping all the way open (that way, you can drop things in there as a little tray when you're changing tape or lenses) and keeps stuff from drifting away in the process. The back of the pack has two sets of loops for attaching to a waist or shoulder belt. The carrying handle is very comfortable, the top cover is fastened both by a velcro strip for temporary security and also by a Delrin snap-latch mounted on an elastic loop. This allows for some "expandability" when the case is really stuffed.

And mine is really stuffed!