Stolen Nauticam Housing

Hi all,

My Nauticam Housing for a Nikon D850 was pilfered from my bag while travelling. Please take note if anyone should see one for sale. It had a white and black "rope" handle on top for ease of carrying. NA-D850 housing SN: A417627.

Also taken were 2 x Nautieye video lights.

Thanks

Anthony

Really sorry to read that, Anthony. That’s really annoying and the response from the insurers (your second post) seems bizarre. 

That sucks. Sorry to hear that, Anthony. 

Is there a particular destination we should all be careful about, or do you think it was a one off?

10 hours ago, Alex_Mustard said:

That sucks. Sorry to hear that, Anthony. 

Is there a particular destination we should all be careful about, or do you think it was a one off?

Not sure! It was taken on my flight from Newark, USA to Johannesburg, South Africa. I have travelling all around the glode with my housing in the same pelican, for 20 years +, and this is the first time I have ever lost anything!! Doing some research, it does appear that the large ports in the USA are targets ... so not sure if Newark is a problem or not. When I went to Grand Cayman, I flew through Newark, and my housing arrived safely in the Caymans, but the return, not so lucky!

Funny enough, I did mention to a fellow diver, I would love to know how the likes of someone like yourself, that travels more than most with their housings, handles their equipment for travel. Would be nice to hear?

Certainly hope it was a once off, unless certain people are wising up to the value of uw housings these days, as they are pretty pricey!!! So future travels are going to be interesting as I will not be checking my housing (if I can afford to get a new one) ever again!!!

1 hour ago, wildafrica said:

I would love to know how the likes of someone like yourself, that travels more than most with their housings, handles their equipment for travel.

There are tons of posts about this on WP so worth doing a search. Everyone has their personal tricks, bags and strategies.

I've been using a Pelican 1520 as a roller bag (housing, strobes, camera body, macro port) into the cabin for at least 10 years combined with a backpack (extra camera body, lenses, WA port). Never had a major problem. I go with the smile, friendly-chat technique with the check-in staff. Any concerns I explain that it is very delicate camera gear. 

If our relationship is on a good day,  I get my partner to tow the Pelican case gracefully on to the plane. She does it better than me. If it's a very good relationship day, she takes the backpack, and I do the Pelican pas de deux. Then we try not to show the cabin staff that the cabin-approved sized roller bag weighs about 20kgs. Ditto backpack. 

Arms, clamps, do-dads in checked baggage with dive gear. Clothes? Who needs them?

@wildafrica Sorry to year about your experience. Am I correct in assuming your housing was in your checked baggage when it was stolen? If that's the case, then you may have a claim against the airline.

Was the housing in a Pelican case? I've often wondered whether Pelican cases signal expensive gear to thieves and thus are targeted more often?

16 hours ago, wildafrica said:

Funny enough, I did mention to a fellow diver, I would love to know how the likes of someone like yourself, that travels more than most with their housings, handles their equipment for travel. Would be nice to hear?

I have too much gear to be able to take it all as carry-on. Also a number of flights from the UK (especially those going East) have very strict carry-on limits. So we are forced to check in the majority. 

I used to use a special hard case for ultimate protection. But I had issues with it missing flights as it clearly attracted extra attention both from security and customs officials. And if you are unlucky, probably criminals too. I switched to using a lightweight hard shell suitcase, with items wrapped inside in bubble wrap. I've used that for at least 15 years, without any damage to items and no hassle. So that is what I recommend. Being lightweight it also allows me to take more gear within my allowances. 

Alex

On 12/21/2022 at 9:27 AM, Alex_Mustard said:

I have too much gear to be able to take it all as carry-on. Also a number of flights from the UK (especially those going East) have very strict carry-on limits. So we are forced to check in the majority. 

I used to use a special hard case for ultimate protection. But I had issues with it missing flights as it clearly attracted extra attention both from security and customs officials. And if you are unlucky, probably criminals too. I switched to using a lightweight hard shell suitcase, with items wrapped inside in bubble wrap. I've used that for at least 15 years, without any damage to items and no hassle. So that is what I recommend. Being lightweight it also allows me to take more gear within my allowances. 

Alex

Second this. 

I just travelled from Amsterdam to Cape Town with a lot of camera gear/housing etc. I decided that a hard shell case that can be locked was the way to go. I bought a Samsonite case in Amsterdam for the princely sum of 219 Euro! Expensive as it was, it was a lot cheaper then losing my beloved lenses and the Seacam housing Harold just sent up to Amsterdam for me.

While looking for a hard shell suitcase I saw several that had a hard shell but with zips to close the two shells together. No good. A thief could just cut through the Zip material and gain access to the internals of the bag. The Samsonite I bought is light weight but has two hard plastic shells that close together and are hinged with hard plastic hinges and then has a lock where the front handle is.

This is the only way to stop pilfering of your bag on flights. Its not 100% fool proof - the whole bag can just disappear - but that's a whole lot harder for baggage handlers to pull off - Vs breaking into a bag and grabbing something and then pushing the bag back onto a conveyor belt to go on its way.

sorry for your loss - its a horrible feeling to discover your stuff has been stolen.

On 12/21/2022 at 7:27 AM, Alex_Mustard said:

I have too much gear to be able to take it all as carry-on. Also a number of flights from the UK (especially those going East) have very strict carry-on limits. So we are forced to check in the majority. 

I used to use a special hard case for ultimate protection. But I had issues with it missing flights as it clearly attracted extra attention both from security and customs officials. And if you are unlucky, probably criminals too. I switched to using a lightweight hard shell suitcase, with items wrapped inside in bubble wrap. I've used that for at least 15 years, without any damage to items and no hassle. So that is what I recommend. Being lightweight it also allows me to take more gear within my allowances. 

Alex

Yep, I agree. I used a  Pelican or similar case a few times and after I had hassle with it being "delayed" I switched to my housing and ports in my main hard shell suitcase wrapped in bubbles etc., My camera and lenses, strobes always in carry on now plus majority of batteries and laptop due to battery restrictions. The UK airports are very keen on weighing your carry on these days and no amount of smiling gets you past the 8Kg unless you fly Business/1st of course!

I use the bright Yellow Storm /Pelican cases-all my luggage is Bright yellow-no issues-its a color that jumps out so thieves would stand out with a YELLOW bag. Black and grey cases are a dime a dozen easy to steal and blend in. Its the Banana Yellow concept.The brighter the better

The hard lightweight suitcases are lighter than any pelcican case and a bright color may be my next Move to save on weights

1 hour ago, onokai said:

The brighter the better

I'm not as bright as a banana but printing my face on my suitcase will definitely make my luggage stand out

Found this online :

Talk about inviting attention !

You should get it silk screened across the forehead..."If this is not the person with this case - call police."

On a serious note, I frequently hear that brightly colored luggage is less likely to get stolen.   I can see where it is less likely to get picked up by accident, but I have never found anything that supports the theft idea.  I can alos appreciate that if lost, it might be easier to find, but then a picture of a "lost luggage" store suggests otherwise.

Seriously, is there anything that supports the bright luggage gets stolen less often idea or is it just internet lore?  My limited exposure to thieves suggests they don't think that way.

1 hour ago, Draq said:

 

Seriously, is there anything that supports the bright luggage gets stolen less often idea or is it just internet lore?  My limited exposure to thieves suggests they don't think that way.

 

a thief would rather choose a bag that no one can immediately identify from 50 feet away.  If you had to walk out of an airport unnoticed would you grab one of the 100 black bags or the one neon yellow bag?

5 hours ago, Draq said:

On a serious note, I frequently hear that brightly colored luggage is less likely to get stolen.   I can see where it is less likely to get picked up by accident, but I have never found anything that supports the theft idea.  I can alos appreciate that if lost, it might be easier to find, but then a picture of a "lost luggage" store suggests otherwise.

Seriously, is there anything that supports the bright luggage gets stolen less often idea or is it just internet lore?  My limited exposure to thieves suggests they don't think that way.

 

This is all about percentages.  If the thief is operating around baggage carousels it would certainly help and any situation where the whole bag is stolen.  There is no one solution to all possibilities.

13 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

This is all about percentages.  If the thief is operating around baggage carousels it would certainly help and any situation where the whole bag is stolen.  There is no one solution to all possibilities.

Too true.   In this instance, since the housing was stolen from within the bag, the most likely scenario is some employee opening the bag.  Maybe they were going through many bags, maybe trying to pick bags that looked like they contained valuables, who knows?

By the way, although i do still use TSA locks, "universal" tsa keys are readily available for purchase on line, and instructions for 3-D printing them are also online.

As if travel did not enough headaches.

Wildafrica, my sympathies.  Keep an eye on ebay...

We switched from Pelicans to Thinktank cases because we dive alot in the Revillagigedos, and we thought they would aid in evading Mexico's dreaded housing tax. It worked for a few years, but we just got hit a few weeks ago. However, I think they look less "professional" to most people, and I think that helped us negotiate a lower tax at Los Cabos. We paid $190 for both a Nauticam NA-5DIII and a NA-A1. Another guy got hit for $600 for a 10 year old Nauticam for a Nikon DSLR. He had a pelican case. Who knows if it was the Pelican or being able to speak a bit of Spanish to help the customs guys understand that we are retired and that we do U/W photography as a hobby.

The Thinktanks are really lightweight and the Logistics Manager 30, in particular, holds a bit more than the Pelican 1620.

I'll add a couple of things here:

We travel with (now) 3 housings and camera set ups when we dive as a family. Each of the kids brings their housing & lenses in a roll-on carry on. Camera and strobe are in their backpacks. Ports get put in Cinebags padded bags and checked in non-descript luggage.

New addition: Airtags in all the bags. It won't prevent someone from opening a bag and taking a housing or parts, but it does give you a litle bit of extra information if your bag goes missing (won't work in Indonesia or the Solomons though, as examples), like you are waiting at a baggage carousel but the airtag says your bag is still at your destination, or worse, ended up at a different spot than you.

I have checked my housing on a number of occasions (usually if there's just one flight on the itinerary), no issues yet, but there's always a first time.